By Pierre Grosdidier ( March 21, 2018, 11:26 AM EDT) -- In Halferty v. Flextronics America LLC, the Corpus Christi Court of Appeals followed its Houston sister court in holding that a general contractor, or GC, that required its subcontractor to maintain workers' compensation insurance for the subcontractor's employees did not "provide" coverage pursuant to Texas Labor Code Section 406.123(a) so as to enjoy the exclusive remedy defense.[1] The case is important because it confirms that the higher participants in the usual construction contractual chain (owners, GCs, and higher-tier subcontractors) cannot merely push workers' compensation requirements down to the lowest-tier subcontractors and still enjoy the exclusivity defense. The defense's applicability starts with the party that provides the coverage, not the party that contractually imposes it below....