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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS


SHARON K. BENSON, Personal Representative of THE ESTATE OF DAVID LEE BENSON, Deceased, and SHARON K. BENSON, Individually, Plaintiff-Appellant, v CONSUMER POWER COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee.

UNPUBLISHED November 8, 1996

No. 183379, 186488 LC No. 92-015075-NI

Before: Michael J. Kelly, P.J., and O'Connell and K.W. Schmidt,* JJ. PER CURIAM. Plaintiff appeals the grant of defendant's motion for a directed verdict in plaintiff's intentional tort action against defendant in which she sought to recover for decedent's death by electrocution during his employment with defendant. We affirm. I Plaintiff challenges the trial court's grant of defendant's motion for a directed verdict pursuant to MCR 2.515. Such a motion may be granted when, after viewing the evidence presented by plaintiff in her case-in-chief in a light most favorable to the nonmovant, the trial court determines that plaintiff failed to establish a prima facie case. Lock v Pachtman, 446 Mich 216, 223; 521 NW2d 786 (1994). We will not disturb a trial court's grant of a motion for a directed verdict unless there was a clear abuse of discretion. Phillips v Deihm, 213 Mich App, 389, 395; 541 NW2d 566 (1995). As a general rule, an employee's work-related injury is covered by the exclusive remedy provision of the Worker's Disability Compensation Act [WDCA], MCL 418.131(1); MSA 17.237(131)(1). However, an exception exists where the injury is the result of an "intentional tort," which is defined in

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