Larson • King Obtains Eighth Circuit Victory on Issue of Joint Enterprise Liability in the Employment Context

Melissa M. Weldon, Mark A. Solheim and Darryl C. Thomas obtained a victory for their client in Helen Fu v. Ebonie Owens, et al., — F.3d —-, 2010 WL 3894192, (8th Cir. Oct. 6, 2010) (No. 09-2489), when the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment in favor of the defendants and against the plaintiff employee. In Fu v. Owens, the Eighth Circuit ruled that two entities were not engaged in a joint enterprise for employment law purposes when their written agreement expressly provided that they were operating independently. Moreover, the employee’s remedies for injuries that occurred as the result of an assault while at work were exclusively provided under Minnesota’s workers compensation statute. Melissa argued the case before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on May 12, 2010.