Court overturns decision over clash between state comp systems

A truck-driver-in-training who was on duty in Arizona when she was injured in a rollover and collected workers compensation benefits in Nebraska, where the trucking firm is domiciled, may be able to sue a third party after the Supreme Court of Arizona on Wednesday overturned a ruling based on Arizona state comp law, saying that the laws of Nebraska apply.

Stephanie Jackson, a South Carolina resident, was employed as a truck driver for Drivers Management LLC, a Nebraska company. DM contracted with Eagle KMC LLC, an Arizona company, to provide training for Jackson in Arizona, according to documents in Stephanie Jackson v. Eagle KMC LLC, aka Eagle KMC Transportation, aka Eagle Transportation Co., aka Eagle J&K Transportation LLC, aka Eagle Tucson South LLC, aka Eagle Transportation LLC, and Arizona corporation; Rachael Gabriella Hender, a single woman; Werner Enterprises Inc., a foreign corporation; Drivers Management LLC, a foreign corporation, et. al, filed in Phoenix.

In February 2014, Ms. Jackson was a passenger in a semitruck driven by Rachael Hender, an Eagle employee, and was injured when Ms. Hender rolled the semitruck while driving in Arizona. She subsequently applied for and received workers compensation in Nebraska, paid for by Drivers Management, a self-insured company, according to records.

A few days before Arizona’s two-year statute of limitations expired in 2016, Ms. Jackson filed a personal-injury suit against Eagle, Ms. Hender and Werner Enterprises, the registered owner of the semitruck, alleging strict liability, negligence and “statutory violations.”

In accordance with Nebraska law, because Drivers Management had a subrogation claim against any third-party recovery, Ms. Jackson named it as a defendant. The defendants collectively filed a motion to dismiss, and later a summary judgment, arguing that pursuant to Arizona state law Ms. Jackson had no legal interest in the action, according to records.

Arizona law states that if a person entitled to compensation under Arizona’s workers compensation laws does not file an action against a third person who caused the injury within one year of the action accruing, the action is deemed to be assigned to the employer or the workers compensation insurer. The superior court granted a summary judgment in favor, records state.

The Arizona court of appeals reversed, holding that Arizona law did not apply to Ms. Jackson’s claim because her workers compensation benefits were adjudicated and paid in Nebraska and therefore the law of Nebraska “governs subrogation, lien, and assignment rights in this action,” records state.

The Supreme Court in its ruling Wednesday reversed the summary judgment and vacated the appeals court decision, remanding the case to the superior court for further proceedings in line with its decision that “because Jackson received workers’ compensation benefits in Nebraska, that state’s law regarding assignment applies to her claims against Eagle in this action. Thus, because Nebraska does not have an automatic assignment provision, Jackson has a legal interest in those claims.”