Workers’ Comp Case Denied/Dismissed Based on “Farm Labor” Exemption

Loraleigh C. Phillips tried and won a defense verdict before the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission based on the “farm laborer” exemption to the Workers’ Comp Act in Yates v. Triple D, Inc, a trucking company. The Claimant appealed but the Full Commission and the Court of Appeals upheld the defense verdict. Joe Willie Yates filed a workers’ compensation claim against Triple D Inc., Nancy Denton, Scotchie Denton, and Benchmark Insurance Company, alleging that he sustained work-related injuries from a severe motor vehicle accident in June 2016. The trial centered on determining who employed Yates at the time of his accident and whether Yates sustained compensable injuries under the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Act. Upon hearing the testimony of numerous witnesses, the administrative judge entered an Order finding the character of the work regularly performed by Yates was that of a farm laborer, which is exempted from mandatory workers’ compensation coverage under Miss. Code Ann. § 71-3-5. As a result, Yates’s work was not covered by the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Act. Furthermore, the administrative judge found that Nancy, Scotchie, and Triple D were not alter-ego employers, and therefore, Triple D’s purchase of workers’ compensation insurance does not waive the statutory farm exemption. Yates appealed to the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission (“the Commission”), which affirmed the administrative judge’s decision. Yates again appealed, and the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission.