North Carolina court denies lawsuit for heat-stricken farm worker

The North Carolina Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling dismissing a civil lawsuit filed by Carlos Vargas Moreno, a farm worker who suffered a debilitating heat stroke in July 2022. The court affirmed summary judgment for the defendants, including Florida Orange Gold LLC and Howell Farming, ruling that the employer's actions did not meet the high legal threshold required to bypass the state's workers' compensation exclusivity.

Moreno suffered a heat stroke while working in direct sunlight during extreme heat, resulting in permanent disability. The court noted several failures by the company, including the absence of a supervisor and the fact that Moreno was transported to the hospital in the bed of a pickup truck rather than via emergency services. Despite a previous worker death from heat stroke in 2020 and subsequent citations from the Occupational Safety and Health Division, the court determined that the company's failure to fully implement its heat-stress prevention program was negligent but did not constitute the intentional misconduct necessary to trigger the “Woodson” exception.

Under North Carolina law, the “Woodson” exception allows civil actions only when an employer's misconduct is “substantially certain” to cause serious injury or death. The court concluded that while the company's failures were “flagrant,” they did not meet this specific legal standard.