Esterline Technologies Corporation; Armtec Countermeasures Co.; and Charles King v. Aaron Brownlee and Mary Brownlee

Summary

The court granted a writ of prohibition because the Workers’ Compensation Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over Brownlee’s workplace-injury claims and related determinations, including whether Esterline was his employer and whether the respondents owed him duties. The court held that seeking declaratory relief rather than damages did not remove the dispute from the Commission’s primary jurisdiction, and that the circuit court therefore lacked jurisdiction. The court also rejected Brownlee’s judicial-estoppel argument because the petitioners consistently challenged the circuit court’s jurisdiction.