JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — In an opinion issued Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that Missouri Department of Transportation supervisors have immunity from wrongful death lawsuits in a crash that killed two MoDOT workers and an unborn child.
Kaitlyn Anderson, 25, and James Brooks, 58, were killed in 2021 when a car drove through traffic cones and struck them while they were working on Telegraph Road.
Anderson was six months pregnant with her unborn son, Jaxx, who also died. A third worker was seriously injured.
"If they would have followed the protocols, I would be watching my grandson here at this park instead of sitting with you, and that's a hard pill to swallow," Kaitlyn's mother Tanya Musskopf said in an interview with 5 On Your Side.
Musskopf and Jaxx's father filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the man who caused the crash, the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission, and four supervisors, alleging the supervisors knew Anderson was pregnant and failed to protect her on the job.
MoDOT in return argued that Anderson's unborn child was an employee, which would entail a worker's compensation case rather than a wrongful death lawsuit.
The Missouri Supreme Court heard oral arguments from both sides in March.
The court ruled unanimously on Tuesday that supervisors can be shielded from the lawsuit according to the doctrine of official immunity.
The opinion pointed out that the "most egregious" reading of accusations set out in the lawsuit would be that supervisors intentionally refused to ensure safety measures in retaliation against Anderson for asking to be placed in a safer role while pregnant.
"But ... that reading still establishes at most the employees intentionally failed to perform the discretionary duties required of them by law, which is negligence covered by official immunity," the opinion stated. "Even if one were to argue the intentional policy violations amount to gross negligence or recklessness, official immunity still applies. Missouri does not recognize a cause of action for gross negligence, and official immunity applies to recklessness to the same extent and negligence."
5 On Your Side legal analyst Nanette Baker explained, "It doesn't really have to do with willfulness or even the degree of negligence, it has to do with the fact that the individuals who are protected from the immunity are actually acting in their capacity as state officials."
Baker said you often see the law being applied to police officers, and more recently, some teachers.
"It appears to be unfair in many cases, so it's not unusual for people to have questions when the law is applied... Even though there's been a wrong, or an accident, or some act that has harmed someone, the fact that that person or those individuals or their family can't recover because of this doctrine appears to be unfair to lay people who are just looking at this," Baker continued.
A bill in the Missouri House called HB 2578, or Jaxx's Law, would prevent a business from considering an unborn child an employee for civil actions.
"All she was doing was working.... She was deserving to live and she was deserving to have that baby," Musskopf said.
Before Tuesday's decision, Musskopf had already planned a 5k walk called Slow Down - Move Over. It will happen Saturday at Arnold City Park at 9 a.m. There's a $25 fee, which includes food and a T-shirt. You can find more about the event here.