Opinion
No. DA 12-0191
01-30-2013
DAVID W. HARRIS, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. STATE OF MONTANA, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, and FICTITIOUS DEFENDANTS 1-10, Defendants and Appellees.
SYNOPSIS OF THE CASE
The Montana Supreme Court held in this case that workers' compensation was the exclusive remedy for a prison employee injured during a taser training conducted at the Montana State Prison.
David Harris (Harris), a 13-year employee of the Department of Corrections (DOC), participated in a non-compulsory training program in 2006 to become authorized to use tasers at the Prison. The training included a classroom component and a five-second taser exposure. After being fully informed of the risks of taser exposure, and signing a written consent form, Harris was tased. As a result of the taser exposure, Harris was injured. He received workers' compensation benefits.
In 2009, Harris sued the State of Montana and the DOC, claiming that he suffered an intentional infliction of personal injury by his fellow employee when he was tased at the training. The District Court dismissed Harris's suit on the grounds that workers' compensation was Harris's sole remedy.
On appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of Harris's claims. The Court held that the defendants did not intend to injure Harris when tasing him. Although DOC knew that using a taser created a risk of harm, Prison officials did not know with certainty that Harris would be injured as a result of the tasing. The warden himself and other senior officials had gone through the same training without injury. Therefore, the Court determined there was no intentional injury as defined by § 39-71-413, MCA, and Harris's claims did not fall into the narrow exception to workers' compensation exclusivity. Justice Jim Rice concurred, stating that although the Court's decision was correct, the Court should not have relied on cases decided prior to the 2001 amendments of § 39-71-413, MCA.