Car accident Involving Co-Workers in Personal Vehicle Leads To Examination of Iowa’s Worker’s Comp Law

November 30, 2009 | Erin Herbold

Here, co-workers were driving a non-work vehicle to a job-site when the vehicle collided with another vehicle on the interstate. The passenger claimed that the driver was driving his own personal vehicle negligently and was, therefore, liable as the driver of the vehicle for his injuries. The driver responded that since they were co-employees and in the scope of their employment at the time, the passenger’s damages were limited to those allowable under worker’s compensation. At trial, the court cited prior law stating that a non-employer vehicle owner is not protected from suit by the worker’s compensation statute. Thus, the trial court did not grant the driver’s request for dismissal of the case. At trial, the passenger argued that Iowa Code §321.493 gave him a right to recover against the owner of a car who drives negligently and that right is not barred by the Iowa Worker’s Compensation Statute (Iowa Code §85.20). 

On appeal, the driver reasserted his position with respect to the worker’s comp statute barring recovery for the passenger against him personally. The Iowa Court of Appeals disagreed with the trial court, stating that “The rights and remedies provided in this chapter . . . for an employee . . . on account of injury . . . shall be the exclusive and only rights and remedies of the employee . . . on account of such injury . . . against . . . the employee’s employer [or] any other employee of such employer, provided that such injury . . . arises out of and in the course of such employment and is not caused by the other employee’s gross negligence” (Iowa Code §85.20). Since the passenger could not establish gross negligence in this case, the worker’s comp statute applies. The appellate court reiterated prior case law and their belief that the state legislature intended the worker’s compensation statute to be the exclusive remedy in this case. White v. Kilby, No. 9-707/09-0076, 2009 Iowa App. LEXIS 1555 (Iowa Ct. App. Nov. 25, 2009).