PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 19-1643

SALLIE M. ZEIGLER, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Alton Ray Zeigler,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v.

EASTMAN CHEMICAL COMPANY; MUNDY MAINTENANCE SERVICE AND OPERATIONS LLC,

Defendants - Appellees.

No. 19-1646

JACOB S. JACKSON,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v.

EASTMAN CHEMICAL COMPANY; MUNDY MAINTENANCE SERVICE AND OPERATIONS LLC,

Defendants - Appellees.

No. 19-1647

KEVIN R. VANN; KELLI D. VANN,

Plaintiffs - Appellants, USCA4 Appeal: 19-1643 Doc: 158 Filed: 11/23/2022 Pg: 2 of 26

v.

EASTMAN CHEMICAL COMPANY; MUNDY MAINTENANCE SERVICE AND OPERATIONS LLC,

Defendants - Appellees.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Orangeburg. J. Michelle Childs, District Judge. (5:17-cv-01010-JMC; 5:17-cv-01015- JMC; 5:17-cv-01013-JMC)

Argued: September 14, 2022 Decided: November 23, 2022

Before WYNN and HARRIS, Circuit Judges, and KEENAN, Senior Circuit Judge.

Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Judge Harris wrote the opinion, in which Judge Wynn and Senior Judge Keenan joined.

ARGUED: Louis M. Bograd, MOTLEY RICE LLC, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Allen Mattison Bogan, NELSON MULLINS RILEY & SCARBOROUGH LLP, Columbia, South Carolina; Keith D. Munson, RIMON LAW, Greenville, South Carolina, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Heath P. Taylor, TAYLOR LAW FIRM LLC, West Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellant Jacob S. Jackson. Charles T. Slaughter, WALKER MORGAN, LLC, Lexington, South Carolina, for Appellants Kevin R. Vann and Kelli D. Vann. George C. Johnson, JOHNSON, TOAL & BATTISTE, P.A., Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellant Sallie M. Zeigler. T. David Hoyle, John David O’Neill, Marlon E. Kimpson, MOTLEY RICE, LLC, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, for Appellants. John F. Kuppens, Blake T. Williams, Columbia, South Carolina, Samuel O. Outten, NELSON MULLINS RILEY & SCARBOROUGH LLP, Greenville, South Carolina, for Appellee Eastman Chemical Company. Catherine F. Wrenn, WOMBLE BOND DICKINSON (US) LLP, Greenville, South Carolina, for Appellee Mundy Maintenance Service and Operations, LLC.

2 USCA4 Appeal: 19-1643 Doc: 158 Filed: 11/23/2022 Pg: 3 of 26

PAMELA HARRIS, Circuit Judge:

These consolidated tort actions arise out of a 2016 industrial accident at a South

Carolina chemical-manufacturing plant. Three independent contractors of Eastman

Chemical Company were severely injured, one of them fatally, when a pump exploded

during maintenance. Eastman moved to dismiss their state-law personal injury suits,

contending that the contractors qualified as Eastman’s “statutory employees” under the

South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Law – which would mean that workers’

compensation was their exclusive remedy and that the courts lacked jurisdiction to hear

their claims. See S.C. Code §§ 42-1-10 et seq.

The district court agreed that the plaintiffs were Eastman’s “statutory employees”

under the workers’ compensation law and dismissed their actions. On appeal, we held their

cases in abeyance pending the dec