## Facts

- Henry Legault was employed by Edmund Brown and Brown & Reagan (the employer).
- Legault suffered personal injuries arising out of and in the course of his employment, including injuries from a fall while working on a suspended scaffold when a rope gave way.
- At the time of the accident, the employer had workers’ compensation insurance in full force and effect.
- Legault applied for and received workers’ compensation benefits for the injury, ultimately retaining substantial payments (reported as more than $10,000).
- After receiving compensation, Legault commenced a separate civil action against the employer seeking damages.
- In the tort complaint, Legault characterized the employer’s conduct as a “willful and intentional assault,” alleging the employer knowingly placed him in a dangerous position.
- The employer moved for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, arguing that workers’ compensation was the exclusive remedy and that Legault’s acceptance of benefits barred the civil action.
- The trial court denied summary judgment, and the employer appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether an employee who has accepted and retained workers’ compensation benefits for a work-related injury may maintain a civil action for damages against the employer arising from the same injury.
2. Whether labeling the employer’s conduct as “willful and intentional assault” avoids the exclusive-remedy and election principles of the Workmen’s Compensation Law after the employee has accepted benefits.

## Decision

- The Appellate Division ruled for the employer.
- The court held that it was undisputed the employer had workers’ compensation coverage and that Legault had taken the benefits of that coverage for the injury at issue.
- The court concluded that, having accepted and retained workers’ compensation benefits, Legault could not maintain a civil action against the employer for damages based on the same workplace injury, even though the claim was pleaded as willful and intentional wrongdoing.
- The Appellate Division reversed the order denying summary judgment and directed dismissal of the complaint.

## Legal Principles

- When an employer has secured workers’ compensation coverage and an employee is injured in the course of employment, the workers’ compensation remedy is exclusive as against the employer for that injury.
- An employee’s acceptance and retention of workers’ compensation benefits for a workplace injury constitutes an election of the statutory remedy that bars a later tort action against the employer seeking damages for the same injury.
- An employee cannot avoid the bar of the Workers’ Compensation Law by reframing a work-injury damages claim as “willful,” “unlawful,” or an “intentional assault,” where the claim is based on the same occurrence for which compensation benefits were accepted.

## Conclusion

Legault v. Brown holds that where an employer has workers’ compensation insurance and the employee accepts and keeps workers’ compensation benefits for a work-related injury, the employee may not later sue the employer in tort for damages arising from that same injury, even if the complaint alleges the employer acted willfully or intentionally by placing the employee in a known dangerous position.


Legault v. Brown, 127 N.Y.S.2d 601, 283 A.D. 303 (1954)