Goings v. CalPortland Co.

Under ORS 656.156, an employee may sue their employer for an injury covered under workers’ compensation law if the injury resulted from a deliberate intent of the employer to produce the injury.

Goings appealed dismissal of all of his claims against defendants CalPortland, Glacier Northwest, and Michael Fields, arguing that under ORS 656.156(2), an employee may sue his or her employer for an injury covered under the workers’ compensation law “if the injury ‘results from the deliberate intention of the employer of the worker to produce such injury.’” Bundy v. NuStar GP, LLC, 277 Or. App. 785 (2016). The Court held that nothing in the employer’s policies supported an inference that Goings was injured as a result of company policy, and therefore that Goings’s complaint against the company was correctly dismissed. The Court also held that Goings failed to state a claim against the company on a vicarious-liability theory. However, the Court held that Goings’s complaint did allege facts sufficient for a factfinder to infer that Fields directed Goings to perform an action he knew would likely injure Goings. Dismissal of claims against Fields reversed and remanded; supplemental judgment award to Fields reversed; otherwise affirmed.