Sawmill firm’s ‘not our worker’ stance backfires in paralysis lawsuit

The worker was employed by CDT HR, a staffing agency that assigned him to Edwards’ sawmill in Laurinburg, North Carolina, as a mechanic. He started on September 14, 2023. Eight days later, at around 5:30 a.m., he was part of a three-man crew changing saw blades when a crane cable snapped. The steel blade holder fell and struck him. He was airlifted to UNC Hospital. A blood sample taken at 7:50 a.m. showed a blood-alcohol level of .186. 

He was permanently paralyzed from the waist down. 

The worker filed a workers’ compensation claim against CDT. During those proceedings, Edwards fought a subpoena for video footage of the incident, telling the Industrial Commission in its filings that “an employer-employee relationship has never existed” between it and the worker, and that the worker was injured “while employed by [CDT] at a facility owned by [Edwards].” Edwards went further, arguing the Commission should not help advance “a potential civil action” against it. 

Then came the civil suit. The worker filed negligence and gross negligence claims against Edwards in September 2024, seeking compensatory and punitive damages. Edwards responded by raising a defense it had already contradicted – that the worker was effectively its employee under the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Act, which would bar any civil lawsuit. 

The argument relied on the “special employer” doctrine. Under that framework, a worker supplied by a staffing agency can sometimes be treated as the employee of the company they are assigned to. If that relationship exists, both the staffing agency and the host company are shielded from negligence suits – the worker is limited to workers’ comp benefits.