Setliff Law is pleased to announce that the Virginia Court of Appeals has affirmed an order dismissing a $3.5 million wrongful death claim against its clients. The case, Satterwhite, Administrator of the Estate of Jerry Dean Robbins v. Wilbourne Land and Timber, Inc., and Javier Salas-Zarate Francisco, arose from a workplace accident at a logging site in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. The case was dismissed when Circuit Court Judge Stephen Nelson sustained a plea in bar filed by Wilbourne Land and Timber and Mr. Francisco, and the Virginia Court of Appeals has now issued an order affirming the Circuit Court’s decision.
The plea in bar sought dismissal of the case on the grounds that Virginia’s Workers’ Compensation Act barred the lawsuit. The decedent, Mr. Robbins, was working as a truck driver for Wilbourne Farms Trucking when he died in an accident at a logging site operated by Wilbourne Land and Timber. The accident involved a truck that Mr. Robbins used to haul logs from the site and a skidder, a piece of logging equipment that an employee of Wilbourne Land and Timber was operating. Mr. Robbins’s estate filed a wrongful death lawsuit that asserted claims for negligence against both Wilbourne Land and Timber and its employee, Mr. Francisco, who was operating the skidder.
Virginia’s Workers’ Compensation Act expressly provides that when a person is injured in the course and scope of his employment, the exclusive remedy for those injuries is under workers’ compensation laws. See Va. Code § 65.2-3079(a). This provision bars tort claims against an injured employee’s direct employer and a party who meets the definition of a “statutory employer” under the Act.
Mr. Robbins’s estate did not name his direct employer, Wilbourne Farms Trucking, as a defendant in the lawsuit, and Wilbourne Land and Timber sought dismissal of the case on the grounds that it was his statutory employer. Under the Act, a statutory employer includes a business owner who “undertakes to perform or execute any work which is part of his trade, business, or occupation and contracts with any other person . . . for the execution or performance” of that work. Va. Code § 65.2-302(A). Wilbourne Land & Timber argued that it was a statutory employer of Mr. Robbins because the transportation of felled trees from its logging sites to its customers is part of its trade, business, or occupation; Wilbourne Land & Timber uses Wilbourne Farms Trucking for that part of its business; and the accident occurred while Mr. Robbins was engaged in that part of Wilbourne Land & Timber’s business.
At a hearing on the plea in bar, Judge Nelson heard testimony from Adam Wilbourne, the owner of both Wilbourne Land & Timber and Wilbourne Farms Trucking, who testified that both companies work together to accomplish the business objectives of Wilbourne Land & Timber. Mr. Wilbourne testified that Wilbourne Land & Timber could not continue to operate without delivering logs to its customers, and that Wilbourne Farms Trucking performs that part of the business. The court also heard testimony and received evidence about several ways in which the companies operate together, including that Wilbourne Land & Timber foremen oversee, and have the authority to discipline or fire, Wilbourne Farms Trucking employees; Wilbourne Land & Timber employees also drive trucks owned by Wilbourne Farms Trucking; Wilbourne Land & Timber owns trailers that Wilbourne Farms Trucking uses to haul logs; Wilbourne Land & Timber has purchased fuel and parts for trucks owned by Wilbourne Farms Trucking; and Wilbourne Land & Timber mechanics service trucks owned by Wilbourne Farms Trucking.
After more than a year of discovery, including on facts in dispute for the plea in bar, and shortly before trial was scheduled to begin, Judge Nelson informed the parties in June 2023 that he was sustaining the plea in bar and dismissing the case.
Mr. Robbins’s estate appealed the order dismissing the case to the Virginia Court of Appeals, which received briefs from the parties and heard oral arguments. The Court of Appeals recently issued a unanimous decision affirming the Circuit Court’s order dismissing the case. The Court of Appeals held that the record supported the Circuit Court’s determination that Mr. Wilbourne was a statutory employee of Wilbourne Land and Timber, and that the civil lawsuit was therefore barred by the exclusivity provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act. The decision in the Court of Appeals is styled as Satterwhite v. Francisco et al., No. 1868-23-2 (Va. Ct. App. Mar. 18, 2025).
Setliff Law attorneys Steve Setliff and Danielle Brim led the defense of the case with the assistance of senior paralegal Julie Turner. If you would like more information about the case, or about the defense of personal injury cases in general, please contact Danielle Brim (dbrim@setlifflaw.com) at (804) 377-1264 or Steve Setliff (ssetliff@setlifflaw.com) at (804) 377-1261.
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