Gallo Glass Co. v. Superior Court

Petitioners seek a writ of mandate directing respondent court to grant their motion for summary judgment.

The major issue before us is whether an employee can maintain a tort action against his employer, permissibly self-insured for workers compen sation liability, for the employer’s alleged fraudulent investigation of a compensation claim asserted by the employee. A related issue is whether Unruh v. Truck Insurance Exchange (1972) 7 Cal.3d 616 [ 102 Cal.Rptr. 815 , 498 P.2d 1063 ] applies to permissibly self-insured employers. We will conclude that such an action does not lie.

Facts

Real parties (plaintiffs) are plaintiffs in a civil action pending before respondent court; petitioners (defendants) are named defendants in that action.

The complaint alleges: Plaintiffs are husband and wife. On August 18, 1980, plaintiff Dan Emfinger (Dan) was injured while working for defendant Gallo. Defendant Ford was the manager of defendant Gallo’s “self-insured division.” Defendants wrongfully failed to pay workers’ compensation benefits to Dan. When Dan returned to work on December 1, 1980, defendants required and coerced him to sign a paper indicating that his absence from work…