ST. LOUIS – The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri granted the defendants' motion to dismiss a tree trimming company employee’s workers’ compensation claim.
Fenton-based Shade Tree Service Co., The North River Co., and United States Fire Insurance Co. successfully obtained an order from U.S. District Judge Shirley Padmore Mensah to toss John Fletcher’s lawsuit against them on April 16.
Fletcher pursued legal action on allegations his employer Shade Tree discouraged him from filing the claim following a 2016 on-the-job injury. The plaintiff apparently feared that “if the workers’ compensation action is not resolved in his favor, then he may be liable for certain medical expenses, and that this would somehow violate the provisions of the LINECO (Line Construction Benefit Fund) Plan,” Mensah wrote.
His suit requested the court to clarify who is “primarily liable to pay the current and future medical expenses for accidental injuries sustained in the course and scope of his employ, and that defendant LINECO’s benefit fund provides coverage secondary to defendant North River Insurance Co.,” the ruling states.
Fletcher’s workers’ compensation matter is currently pending before the Missouri Division of Workers’ Compensation.
In their motion, the defendants argued that Fletcher’s action has not yet ripened into an actual case or controversy appropriate for judicial review.
“The court concludes that this case is not ripe,” wrote Mensah. “In essence, the plaintiff is attempting to assert federal jurisdiction by purportedly bringing a claim under (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) § 502(a)(3) to enjoin an alleged violation of the LINECO Plan, and/or to obtain ‘other appropriate equitable relief to redress such violations.’ However, any such violation has not yet come to pass, and may never do so.”
Mensah added that even if Fletcher were to prevail in the workers’ compensation case, and the insurance companies were to refuse payment, “it is unclear to the court how or whether that would be a violation of the LINECO Plan.”