Summary: Workers compensation insurance stood for more than fifty years as the sole recourse of employees injured on the job. This “exclusive remedy” embodied in workers compensation statutes was designed to provide injured employees with a schedule of benefits in exchange for their giving up the right to sue the employer. The statutes provided immunity to employers from common law actions brought by their employees seeking payment for injuries suffered arising out of and in the course of employment.

However, since the case of Duprey v. Shane, 249 P.2d 8 (1952), various legal doctrines have eroded the exclusive remedy concept and the seemingly clear cut insurance situation. For example, common law suits against employers have been successfully brought on the basis of dual capacity, intentional tort, and third-party-over doctrines. This article discusses the erosion of the exclusive remedy rule.