Workers’ Comp Exemption Requires Intent to Kill ‘Particular Individual’ SCOTX Rules in ‘Tired Trucker’ Case

There’s strong evidence that Mo-Vac Service Company, an oilfield trucking outfit, engaged in egregious behavior during drilling boom times eight years ago, according to the Texas Supreme Court. The company allegedly forced drivers to work excessive hours and told them to falsify driving logs. A senior manager was said to have shrugged off warnings that one of its drivers was likely to fall asleep at the wheel.

Egregious or not, however, Mo-Vac’s actions were not “substantially certain” to result in the death of driver Fabian Escobedo on a two-lane West Texas highway in the early morning hours of May 30, 2012, the court said, ending a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Escobedo’s parents.