Tue, Jul 10, 2012
Governor Nixon signs House Bill 1540
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon signed House Bill 1540 which restores an employee’s immunity for a co-employee’s workplace injury or death except where the employee engaged in “an affirmative and negligent act that purposefully and dangerously caused or increased the risk of injury.” The legislation was in response to an August, 2010 Western District of Missouri Court of Appeals opinion, Robinson v. Hooker, that interpreted the Missouri Workers’ Compensation Statutes as amended by 2005 tort reform as not providing immunity for co-workers from liability in civil negligence claims brought by injured co-employees.