Annabelle Crippen

Summary

The Supreme Court reversed the Appellate Division’s grant of summary judgment dismissing the intentional tort claim, holding that the employer’s deliberate failure to abate serious OSHA violations and its intentional deception of OSHA satisfy the "intentional wrong" exception to the Workers' Compensation Act’s exclusive remedy provision. The Court remanded for trial, finding that a jury could reasonably conclude the employer acted with knowledge of a substantial certainty of injury. Justice Zazzali and Justice Verniero filed concurring opinions, the former urging abandonment of the context prong and the latter emphasizing the necessity of deception to overcome the bar.