Alabama Workers' Comp Blawg

  • 28
  • Sep
  • 2010

RICO Not an Exception to the Exclusive Remedy Provision in Michigan

Brown v. Cassens Transport Co.

As previously discuss in our Blawg, the Federal District Court in Michigan was presented with a RICO claim based on the actions of the employer, insurer, and others involved in the handling of the employee’s workers’ compensation claim. The lower court initially dismissed the RICO claim. This decision was later reversed by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court later denied defendants’ writ of certiorari, which allowed the RICO claim to go forward in the lower court.

Upon rehearing before the lower court on Monday, September 27, 2010, the RICO case was once again dismissed. The court stated that the exclusive remedy provision in Michigan’s workers’ compensation system barred the employee’s RICO claim.

This goes along with U.S. District Court’s (Eastern District of Michigan) previous ruling in Jackson v. Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc. based on the same reasoning.

There has been no indication if the employee will once again appeal this decision in Brown v. Cassens Transport Co.

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