Trinity Hospitals v. Mattson

• Decision Date: 15 November 2006
• Docket Number: No. 20060121.,20060121.
• Citation: 2006 ND 231,723 N.W.2d 684
• Parties: TRINITY HOSPITALS, a North Dakota non-profit corporation, Petitioners, v. The Honorable Douglas L. MATTSON, Judge of the District Court, Northwest Judicial District, and Laura Phillips, as Co-Personal Representative, of the Estate of Eleanor Neiss and on behalf of the Heirs at Law of Eleanor Neiss, Respondents.
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

Page 684

723 N.W.2d 684

2006 ND 231

TRINITY HOSPITALS, a North Dakota non-profit corporation, Petitioners, v. The Honorable Douglas L. MATTSON, Judge of the District Court, Northwest Judicial District, and Laura Phillips, as Co-Personal Representative, of the Estate of Eleanor Neiss and on behalf of the Heirs at Law of Eleanor Neiss, Respondents.

No. 20060121.

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

November 15, 2006.

Brenda L. Blazer (argued) and Michael T. Andrews (on brief), Vogel Law Firm, Bismarck, N.D., for petitioners.

Anthony J. Weiler (argued) and David S. Maring (appeared), Maring Williams Law Office, Bismarck, N.D., for respondents.

CROTHERS, Justice.

[¶ 1] Trinity Hospitals, a North Dakota non-profit corporation, petitions for a supervisory writ, asking this Court to direct the district court to vacate its order denying Trinity Hospitals' motion for summary judgment and to dismiss a wrongful death action by Laura Phillips, as personal representative of the estate of Eleanor Neiss, against Trinity Hospitals. We conclude Trinity Hospitals is immune from suit under the exclusive remedy provisions of workers' compensation law, and we direct the district court to dismiss Phillips' action.

I

[¶ 2] Phillips brought a wrongful death action against Trinity Hospitals, alleging Neiss was employed by Trinity Health, a North Dakota non-profit corporation, and was walking in a service tunnel that was owned by Trinity Hospitals and that connected Trinity Hospital St. Joseph's with the Health Center Medical Arts building in Minot when she fell and hit her head, resulting in serious injuries that led to her death. The accident occurred while other Trinity Health employees were stripping and waxing the floor of the service tunnel. At the time of the accident, Neiss had been assigned to clean the second floor of the Medical Arts building and was using the service tunnel to return to the Medical Arts building from a cafeteria in Trinity Hospital St. Joseph's. A "skywalk and service tunnel access and utilities easements agreement" provided that Trinity Hospitals was responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the service tunnel. Phillips alleged Trinity Hospitals was negligent in "failing to keep the service tunnel in good working order and condition, failing to make necessary repairs, failing to properly maintain, failing to prevent leakage and seepage into the service tunnel, failing to maintain a dry walking/working surface for employees of Trinity Health or others using the tunnel, failing to warn, failing to take reasonable precautions to prevent people from being injured/ killed, and/or otherwise failing to take appropriate safety precautions."

[¶ 3] Trinity Hospitals answered and moved for summary judgment, asserting Neiss' surviving spouse had received Workforce Safety and Insurance ("WSI") benefits through Trinity Health and Phillips was barred from suing Trinity Hospitals under the exclusive remedy provisions of workers' compensation law because Trinity Health and Trinity Hospitals were the same entity. Trinity Hospitals claimed it is part of Trinity Health, an integrated healthcare system consisting of four nonprofit corporations, Trinity Hospitals, Trinity Homes, Trinity Kenmare Hospital, and Trinity Health Foundation; Trinity Health is governed by a single board of directors and operated by a single administrative team; Trinity Health controls all operations and facilities of the integrated healthcare system, including the repairs, maintenance, and housekeeping for the properties of all four of the related nonprofit corporations; although the assets and liabilities of each corporation are tracked separately, all four corporations' financial statements are consolidated in Trinity Health's financial statement; Trinity Health, under its own name and under the name "Trinity Health and Affiliates," is the only entity that files a tax return, which includes the revenues and expenses for all four corporations; Trinity Hospitals has no employees and all employees in the healthcare system are employees of Trinity Health; Trinity Health is responsible for the payroll of all employees within its healthcare system and Trinity Hospitals does not pay wages to anyone; Trinity Health prepares and distributes all W-2 forms to its employees; Trinity Health uses one employee handbook for all employees in its healthcare system; Trinity Health has one Human Resources Department; Trinity Health employees work between and among all the facilities within the healthcare system and an employee's salary generally is allocated to the respective entity according to the time the employee works at each entity; Trinity Health pays the WSI premiums for all the employees in the healthcare system; WSI has determined that Trinity Hospitals is not a separate entity from Trinity Health for purposes of WSI coverage; and Trinity Health's premium payments to WSI covered all employees in the Trinity Health system, including those employees working at Trinity Hospitals.

[¶ 4] The district court denied Trinity Hospitals' motion for summary judgment, concluding Trinity Hospitals was not immune from tort liability under the exclusive remedy provisions of workers' compensation law. The court, relying upon a parent and subsidiary analysis in Wodogaza v. H & R Terminals, Inc., 161 Mich. App. 746, 411 N.W.2d 848 (1987), concluded Trinity Hospitals was not the same entity as Trinity Health for purposes of the exclusive remedy provisions. The court decided WSI's "assessment of the Trinity Health system [was not] of any import" to the issue and Phillips' action against Trinity Hospitals was not barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of workers' compensation law. The court thereafter denied Trinity Hospitals' motion for reconsideration.

II

[¶ 5] Trinity Hospitals petitions this Court for a supervisory writ, asking us to direct the district court to vacate its denial of Trinity Hospitals' motion for summary judgment and to dismiss Phillips' action. Trinity Hospitals argues the district court's decision is erroneous because Trinity Hospitals and Trinity Health are the same entity for purposes of the exclusive remedy provisions. Trinity Hospitals seeks a supervisory writ, asserting the district court's decision is not appealable and requires Trinity Hospitals to defend a lawsuit in which it is immune from liability. Trinity Hospitals claims it has no adequate alternative remedy. Phillips responds that Trinity Hospitals' petition for a supervisory writ should be denied because Trinity Hospitals has a right to appeal from any subsequent adverse judgment. Phillips argues Trinity Hospitals is not immune from suit under the exclusive remedy provisions and the district court did not err in denying Trinity Hospitals' motion for summary judgment.

A

[¶ 6] Our authority to issue supervisory writs originates from N.D. Const. art. VI, § 2, and is a discretionary power that we exercise rarely, cautiously, and not as a matter of right. Dimond v. State Bd. of Higher Educ., 1999 ND 228, ¶ 19, 603 N.W.2d 66. We issue supervisory writs only in extraordinary cases to rectify errors and to prevent injustice when no adequate alternative remedy exists. Id.

[¶ 7] In State v. Haskell, 2001 ND 14, ¶ 4, 621 N.W.2d 358, we concluded a supervisory writ was appropriate to review a district court's denial of the State's motion to dismiss a State employee's termination action where the employee failed to present a statutorily required notice of claim, because the case was extraordinary, the district court erred, and the State had no adequate alternative remedy for appeal from a nonappealable order denying the motion to dismiss. In Mitchell v. Sanborn, 536 N.W.2d 678, 683 (N.D.1995), we concluded a supervisory writ was appropriate because that case embodied important public and private interests in the significance of the exclusive remedy provisions of workers' compensation law and allegations of a co-employee's horseplay, and in the posture of that case, there was certain liability against only the co-employee and a reasonable suggestion that expensive and extensive medical discovery would be necessary before a trial on damages.

[¶ 8] We conclude this case is controlled by Mitchell because in this case a similar important public interest in the workers' compensation immunity provisions is present. We further conclude this case is extraordinary and Trinity Hospitals has no adequate alternative remedy because the denial of a motion for summary judgment is not appealable. We therefore hold this is an appropriate case in which to exercise our discretionary authority and invoke our supervisory jurisdiction.

B

[¶ 9] Trinity Hospitals argues it is the same entity as Trinity Health and is immune from suit under the exclusive remedy provisions of the workers' compensation law in N.D.C.C. tit. 65. Trinity Hospitals claims it is completely controlled by Trinity Health and the two entities are so integrated that neither can be viewed as a separate economic entity. Phillips responds that Neiss' employer, Trinity Health, did not own the service tunnel and was not responsible for its maintenance and that Trinity Hospitals, the corporation that owned the tunnel and was responsible for its maintenance, is a third party responsible for Neiss' death under N.D.C.C. § 65-01-09.

[¶ 10] The district court decided this case in the posture of a denial of a motion for summary judgment, and our analysis is within that context. Summary judgment is a procedural device for promptly resolving a controversy on the merits without a trial if either party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and if no dispute exists as to either the material facts or the inferences to be drawn from undisputed facts, or if resolving disputed facts would not alter the result. ACUITY v. Burd & Smith Constr., Inc., 2006 ND 187, ¶ 6, 721 N.W.2d 33. The party moving for summary judgment must show there are no genuine issues...