## Facts

- Naomi Snyder, an employee of Michael’s Stores, was exposed at work to hazardous levels of carbon monoxide when a contractor operated a propane-powered floor-buffing machine without adequate ventilation.
- Naomi was pregnant at the time of the exposure.
- The complaint alleged the carbon monoxide exposure caused Mikayla Snyder, Naomi’s unborn child, to suffer permanent brain and nervous system damage in utero.
- Mikayla sued Michael’s Stores and the store manager for negligence, seeking damages for her own physical injuries.
- Mikayla’s parents also sought damages for increased medical, educational, and related expenses allegedly caused by Mikayla’s condition.

## Issues

1. Whether California workers’ compensation exclusivity (Lab. Code §§ 3600–3602) bars a civil negligence action by a child for injuries suffered in utero due to the pregnant employee-mother’s workplace exposure.
2. Whether a child’s prenatal-injury claim is “derivative” of the employee-mother’s workplace injury (and thus barred) or an independent claim by a non-employee (and thus not barred).

## Decision

- The California Supreme Court affirmed the judgment reversing dismissal after demurrer.
- Workers’ compensation exclusivity did not bar Mikayla’s negligence claim because she was not an employee and sued for her own injuries.
- The trial court should have overruled the employer’s demurrer.
- The court disapproved the contrary rationale that treated fetal injury claims as legally derivative of the mother’s workplace injury.

## Legal Principles

- Workers’ compensation exclusivity under Labor Code § 3600 bars tort actions only for injuries sustained by employees arising out of and in the course of employment.
- A non-employee’s claim for personal physical injury is not barred by exclusivity even if the injury resulted from an employee’s workplace exposure.
- A prenatal injury to a child is an independent injury to a distinct person, not a derivative claim based on the mother’s injury, for purposes of workers’ compensation exclusivity.
- On review of a demurrer, courts accept properly pleaded material allegations as true and determine only whether the complaint states a cause of action.

## Conclusion

A child alleging physical injuries suffered in utero from an employer’s negligence may pursue a civil tort action because workers’ compensation exclusivity applies only to employee injuries, and the child’s prenatal injury claim is independent rather than derivative of the employee-mother’s workplace injury.


Snyder v. Michael's Stores, Inc., 16 Cal. 4th 991 (Cal. 1997)