FARLEY v. CITY OF CLAREMORE Skip to Main Content Accessibility Statement Help Contact Us e-payments Careers Home Courts Decisions Programs News Legal Research Court Records Quick Links OSCN Found Document:FARLEY v. CITY OF CLAREMORE Previous Case Top Of Index This Point in Index Citationize Next Case Print Only FARLEY v. CITY OF CLAREMORE2020 OK 30Case Number: 115400Decided: 05/05/2020THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA Cite as: 2020 OK 30, __ P.3d __ NOTICE: THIS OPINION HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED FOR PUBLICATION. UNTIL RELEASED, IT IS SUBJECT TO REVISION OR WITHDRAWAL. SHELLI FARLEY, individually and as surviving spouse of JASON FARLEY, deceased, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. CITY OF CLAREMORE, OKLAHOMA, Defendant/Appellee. APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF ROGERS COUNTY ¶0 Surviving spouse of a former fireman for the City of Claremore filed a petition in the District Court of Rogers County against the City of Claremore. Surviving spouse sought damages for wrongful death and an injunction against the City of Claremore. The City of Claremore filed a motion to dismiss seeking dismissal of the action with prejudice. The Honorable Sheila A. Condren, District Judge, granted the motion to dismiss and the surviving spouse appealed. The appeal was retained for disposition by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. We hold: (1) A tort action seeking damages for a surviving spouse, surviving child, and parents of a deceased adult child does not survive in a 12 O.S. § 1053 wrongful death action when: (a) Statutes provide an exclusive worker's compensation remedy for survivors which is substituted for a wrongful death action; and (b) The decedent's employer possesses governmental tort claim sovereign immunity barring a tort action for damages at the time of decedent's death; (2) The brother of the deceased did not possess a section 1053 claim for loss of companionship; and (3) Plaintiff lacked standing to seek injunctive relief. DISTRICT COURT ORDER DISMISSING ACTION WITH PREJUDICE AFFIRMED Steven R. Hickman, Frasier, Frasier & Hickman, L.L.P., Tulsa, Oklahoma, for Plaintiff/Appellant. Andrew W. Lester, Courtney D. Powell, Spencer Fane L.L.P., Edmond, Oklahoma, for Defendant/Appellee. EDMONDSON, J. ¶1 Plaintiff, a surviving spouse, successfully obtained a death benefits award in the Workers' Compensation Commission. She then brought a District Court action for damages alleging the death of her spouse was caused by negligence and an intentional tort committed by her spouse's employer who is a local government entity. She argued her action was also for the benefit of her surviving child, as well as the surviving parents and brother of the deceased. We conclude: A tort action for damages suffered by a surviving spouse, surviving child, and parents of a deceased adult child does not survive for the purpose of a 12 O.S. § 1053 wrongful death action when: (a) The wrongful death action arises from an injury compensable by an exclusive workers' compensation remedy and the tort action is brought against the employer of the deceased; and (b) The employer possesses governmental tort claim sovereign immunity. The wrongful death injury was adjudicated and compensated by a successful workers' ...
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