Peter Verniero

“ Second, the worker must show that the circumstances surrounding the injury constituted “more than a fact of life of industrial employment” and that they were “plainly beyond anything the Legislature intended the Workers' Compensation Act to immunize.” Ibid.
When evaluating whether a claimant has satisfied those two conditions, we consider “the totality of the facts contained in the record [.] ” Id. at 623, 790 A.2d 884. We have emphasized that an employer's mere knowledge that the workplace is dangerous does not qualify as an intentional wrong. ”

“ If deception is proved, a jury could decide based on the totality of circumstances “that [defendant] evidenced an awareness of the ‘virtual’ certainty of injury [that could arise] from the [unabated violations] .” ”

“ The Act reestablishes sovereign immunity by providing that, " [e] xcept as otherwise provided by this [A] ct, a public entity is not liable for an injury, whether such injury arises out of an act or omission of the public entity or a public employee or any other person." N.J.S.A. 59:2-1a. In structuring the Act in that fashion, the Legislature explicitly adopted the same policy rationales undergirding the California statute. ”

“ To vault the exclusivity bar, an injured worker must satisfy two conditions first articulated in Millison v. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 101 N.J. 161, 501 A.2d 505 (1985) . First, he or she must allege sufficient facts demonstrating that an employer knew that its actions were “substantially certain to result in injury or death to the employee [.] ”

“ Third, it would protect generally against an increase in litigation and its costs to pub-lic entities. Fourth, it would ensure the stability of insurance premiums by providing insurers with a description of the types of circumstances that could result in a public entity's liability. ”

“ In making that recommendation, the Task Force cited the same basic policy goals used to advance the California statute. Id. at 10-11. In short, the Task Force advocated that the Legislature enact a "selective and intelligent waiver of [] immunity." Id. at 8. Our Legislature responded by adopting the Act and declaring:
The Legislature recognizes the inherently unfair and inequitable results which occur in the strict ap-plication of the traditional doctrine of sovereign immunity. ”