Worker's Compensation - Jenson v. Floair: Restrictions on the Extraterritorial Applicability of the Nebraska Workmen's Compensation Act
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Authors
Goffi, Robert J.
Issue Date
1984
Type
Journal Article
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION|In Nebraska, employees may initiate actions against their employers for injuries arising out of and in the course of employment under the guidelines set forth in Nebraska's Workmen's Compensation Act. The compensatory provisions of the act are administered and enforced by the Nebraska Workmen's Compensation Court. In the recent decision of Jensen v. Floair Inc., the Nebraska Supreme Court confronted the issue of whether a nonresident employer was subject to the Nebraska Workmen's Compensation Act for an out-of-state injury to a Nebraska resident when the employer's sole contact with Nebraska was entering into the contract of employment within the state. The legislatures and courts of other states and the Supreme Court of the United States have recognized this basis for extraterritorial jurisdiction as valid. However, the Nebraska Supreme Court held that under the Nebraska Workmen's Compensation Act, the sole act of entering into a contract of hire in Nebraska, standing alone, does not confer jurisdiction to the Nebraska Workmen's Compensation Court unless the nonresident employer is performing work in the state. Moreover, in reaching its decision, the court, through its interpretation of the Nebraska Workmen's Compensation Act, avoided application of the "contract theory" of extraterritorial jurisdiction which the legislature had adopted. Utilization of this theory would have made the Nebraska Workmen's Compensation Act applicable in situations similar to the one which occurred in the instant case...
Description
Citation
17 Creighton L. Rev. 635 (1983-1984)
Publisher
Creighton University School of Law