When corporations put the bottom line ahead of worker health and safety, our civil justice system provides accountability. Supervisors at Phelps Dodge in New Mexico knew that safely retrieving a ten-foot-tall vessel of molten metal would mean shutting down operations for several hours. Instead, they ordered 33-year-old Reynaldo “Junior” Delgado to drive a flammable vehicle into a pool of molten slag to retrieve the container. Delgado was burned alive trying to accomplish the totally unnecessary task. Although the company’s actions were negligent enough to meet the state’s test of second-degree murder, supervisors’ management actions did not permit Delgado’s wife, Michelle, to sue outside the state’s workers’ compensation system.

Michelle’s attorney fought her case all the way to New Mexico’s Supreme Court, winning compensation for her family. New Mexico’s workers also can now hold the state’s employers accountable for transgressions outside the state’s workers’ compensation system.