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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT JACKSON
December 12, 2012 Session CELIA MOODY RODGERS and SHERRY MOODY GONZALEZ, Sole Survivors of Joan Lois Moody v. GCA SERVICES GROUP, INC. And WEAKLEY COUNTY TENNESSEE
Direct Appeal from the Circuit Court for Weakley County No. 2011-CV21 William B. Acree, Judge

No. W2012-01173-COA-R3-CV - Filed February 13, 2013

This appeal involves injuries allegedly sustained by an employee as a result of her employment. The heirs of the deceased employee filed this lawsuit asserting numerous common law tort claims against the deceased employee's employers. The employers filed separate motions to dismiss, arguing that the exclusive remedy for the alleged injuries was pursuant to the workers' compensation law, and that the plaintiffs' common law tort claims were barred. The trial court granted the motions to dismiss. Plaintiffs appeal. We affirm.

Tenn. R. App.P. 3; Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Circuit Court Affirmed A LAN E. H IGHERS, P.J., W.S., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which D AVID R. F ARMER, J., and J. S TEVEN S TAFFORD, J., joined. Larry E. Parrish, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellants, Celia Moody Rodgers and Sherry Moody Gonzalez Bridgid M. Carpenter, Caldwell G. Collins, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee, GCA Services Group, Inc. Jeffery T. Washburn, Dresden, TN, for the appellee, Weakley County, Tennessee

OPINION I. F ACTS & P ROCEDURAL H ISTORY

Joan Lois Moody ("Mrs. Moody") was a long-time custodian at Westview High School. She began working for Weakley County in that capacity in 1975.1 In 1997, Westview High School relocated to a new building, and Mrs. Moody began rendering her services there. In 1998, there was a malfunction with the HVAC system at the new Westview High School, which caused vast amounts of water to infiltrate the premises inside Westview. For reasons not clear from the complaint, the water remained undiscovered and undisturbed for weeks. When the condition was discovered, there was a "slime"-like layer of mold and mildew growing on vent covers, walls, floors, ceilings, library books, chairs, desks and other fixtures. The County initially attempted to remediate the problem with fans and janitorial efforts, with little success. Weakley County then retained a restoration company to conduct emergency dehumidification in the school from August to September 1998. The restoration company, with the aid of an industrial hygienist, conducted an inspection of Westview in order to determine how to remediate the mold problem and eliminate the source of water intrusion. The restoration company estimated that the cost to remediate these conditions would be nearly $1.3 million. It was later determined that the losses incurred at Westview would not be covered by insurance. Weakley County did not engage anyone to perform the extensive remediation recommended by the restoration company. It did, however, file a lawsuit against entities that were involved in the construction of Westview High School, apparently seeking to recover its losses in that manner. In the years after the 1998 malfunction, Mrs. Moody and her janitorial co-workers were required to work in close proximity to the mold by disinfecting and wiping visible mold spores on Westview's walls and by replacing any discolored ceiling tiles. At some point after 2000, Weakley County "contracted out" its cleaning and janitorial services to a third-party contractor, and Mrs. Moody became employed by the contractor rather than by Weakley County. However, her duties basically remained the same. She routinely cleaned up mold and mildew until she ceased working on or about October 30, 2010. Mrs. Moody was admitted to a hospital on November 3, 2010, and was informed that she had pneumonia. Mrs. Moody died at a nursing home on January 19, 2011.

Because this case was resolved on a motion to dismiss, the facts recited in this opinion are taken from the complaint, which must be accepted as true at this stage of the proceedings. See Webb v. Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity, Inc., 346 S.W.3d 422, 426 (Tenn. 2011).

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Mrs. Moody's two daughters filed this lawsuit against Weakley County "d/b/a Weakley County Board of Education" and against GCA Services Group, Inc., the "cleaning company" contractor with whom she was employed during the latter years of her service at Westview. The Plaintiffs' initial complaint was 97 pages in length. It basically alleged that Mrs. Moody's mold exposure at Westview caused her to suffer from mycotoxin poisoning and that such condition ultimately led to her death. Numerous causes of action were asserted against Weakley County and against GCA. Plaintiffs later filed an amended complaint, and then a second amended complaint, which totaled 122 pages and contained 619 paragraphs of allegations.2 The eleven causes of action asserted against Weakley County and GCA were described as:

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