6th Circuit Finds for Ford in Analyzing Worker’s Intentional Tort Claim

CINCINNATI — The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) after concluding that a worker injured in a fall failed to show that Ford intended to injure in directing workers to remove a protective railing to facilitate a manufacturing process.

The Circuit Court concluded March 11 that Ford rebutted the intent-to-injury presumption that would have allowed a exception to workers' compensation exclusivity, but that the worker failed, then, to offer sufficient evidence of an intentional tort on the part of the employer.

Norman Rudisill was seriously injured while working on a mold …