Court Concludes that Workers Compensation Remedy is Exclusive in Death Case

In Estate of Brehm v. Dubuque Community School District, No. 12-0176 (Iowa App. Oct. 3, 2012), the court of appeals addressed the issue of exclusive remedy in the death benefits case.  Claimant had died while performing one of two full time jobs, and under the provisions of the workers' compensation statute, was paid benefits based only on the wages earned on that full time job.  Claimant's estate argued that this remedy wasn't adequate, and that therefore the workers' compensation statute should not have been the exclusive remedy in the case.

Because the damages arose from a work related injury, and the employer had paid the damages owed under the workers' compensation act, the court concluded that the remedy was adequate and affirmed the decision of the district court.  The court noted that in situations where there was not an adequate remedy, claims may fall outside of the exclusive remedy provisions, but found that this was not such a case.  The court concluded that the facts of the case were within the contemplation of the workers' compensation statute, unlike those cases, such as breach of fiduciary duty and bad faith, where the harm being protested was not within the ambit of the workers' compensation statute.   The court concluded further that the fact that there was no recovery for wages from other jobs did not make the remedy inadequate, it simply reflected the legislative choice not to provide such a remedy.