Tripplett v. Workers’ Comp. Appeals Bd.
| Decision Date | 28 June 2018 |
| Docket Number | G054825 |
| Citation | 235 Cal.Rptr.3d 879,25 Cal.App.5th 556 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Larry C. TRIPPLETT, Petitioner, v. WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARD, Indianapolis Colts et al., Respondents. |
Leviton, Diaz & Ginocchio and Christopher C. Ginocchio, Santa Ana, for Petitioner.
Pearlman, Borska & Wax and Melissa E. Amitrano, Orange, for Respondent Great Divide Insurance Co.
John Shields, Santa Rosa, for Respondent Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board.
Larry C. Tripplett, a former professional football player, petitioned for review of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board’s (WCAB) decision to deny his claim for worker’s compensation for cumulative injuries he suffered during his career. We issued a writ of review, and now affirm the WCAB’s decision.
Tripplett’s primary contention is that the WCAB erred because he satisfied his evidentiary burden of proving he was hired by the Indianapolis Colts in California for purposes of Labor Code sections 3600.5, subdivision (a), (3600.5(a) ) and 53051 , and thus was eligible for workers compensation under California law.
Although the workers compensation judge (WCJ) found jurisdiction was established by the fact Tripplett’s agent had "negotiated" his contract with Indianapolis while located in California, the WCAB reversed. It suggested instead that the salient question in assessing whether Tripplett was "hired" in California was whether he or his agent executed the written employment agreement in this state.
We agree with the WCAB that Tripplett was hired when he executed the written employment agreement offered by Indianapolis. Because the evidence supported the WCAB’s conclusion that both Tripplett and his agent were outside of California when they signed the agreement, Tripplett failed to satisfy his burden of proving he was hired in California.
Tripplett also claims, in conclusory fashion, that the WCAB erred by concluding there was no other basis for establishing subject matter jurisdiction over his cumulative injury claim. He asserts that his residency in the state, combined with his participation in two games in California during his career, demonstrated he had a greater than de minimus contact with the State of California. But Tripplett’s residency in California provides no basis for establishing subject matter jurisdiction over his injury, and we find no error in the WCAB’s conclusion that his participation in two games in California, out of more than 100 in his career, reflected no significant connection between this state and his cumulative injury.
Larry Tripplett was a professional football player who played defensive tackle for the Indianapolis Colts from 2002 to 2006, then played for the Buffalo Bills from 2006 to 2008, and played briefly for the Seattle Seahawks in 2008. In his six-year career, Tripplett played approximately 110 games of professional football, but only played two games in California.
In September 2009, Tripplett filed a claim for workers’ compensation benefits, alleging injury to multiple body parts throughout the course of his National Football League (NFL) career. Each of the defendant football teams and insurers denied his claim.
According to the WCAB’s opinion, both Buffalo and Seattle disputed California jurisdiction, and thus in January 2012, a trial was conducted at which
At that trial, Tripplett testified about his hiring by Indianapolis, explaining that his agent David Dunn, who was located in Newport Beach, negotiated all of his contracts. Tripplett asserted he was living in Los Angeles when he signed his Indianapolis contract in his agent’s Newport Beach office. At the end of Tripplett’s cross-examination, he moved to " "
Tripplett’s employment agreement with Indianapolis is in writing, and signed by Tripplett, by Robert Terpening on behalf of the team, and by Tripplett’s agent, all on July 26, 2002. Although the agreement is formatted so that all three signature lines are on a single page, only Tripplett and Terpening signed on the same page. Tripplett’s agent signed a different copy of the page, which was then faxed from a telephone number in Buffalo, New York.
On September 14, 2015, the matter proceeded to a further trial against Indianapolis. At that further trial, Tripplett again testified he was a California resident when Indianapolis hired him, and to the best of his knowledge he had signed his Indianapolis employment agreement at his agent’s office in California. However, after Tripplett was provided with a copy of that agreement, showing he and his agent, Joby Branion,2 had signed separate copies of the signature page, he acknowledged "I honestly don’t remember" where he signed the agreement.
Tripplett also testified that although he "put a lot of trust in [his] agent" to negotiate his employment agreements, and "whatever he advised me to do, that’s what I signed," it was Tripplett himself who "had the final say."
Indianapolis’ witness, Terpening, testified he signed Tripplett’s employment contract in his capacity as the team’s executive vice-president. He explained he had negotiated the terms of the agreement over the phone with Tripplett’s agent, Branion, whose principal place of business was in California.
Terpening testified Tripplett likely signed the contract in Indianapolis while attending the team’s minicamp on July 24 through July 26, 2002, and Branion had transmitted his signature via facsimile from New York.
Terpening also explained Tripplett was not eligible to play for Indianapolis until he signed his agreement: "The NFL constitutes [sic] that anybody that is an unsigned player on your reserve list cannot report, play or be in training camp until they sign the NFL Player Contract."3 That testimony was consistent with the contract itself, which specified it "will begin on the date of execution, or March 1, 2002, whichever is later."
At the conclusion of the trial, the WCJ found that Tripplett had sustained cumulative injury to multiple body parts while employed by the three football teams, causing 67 percent permanent disability and need for future medical treatment.
The WCJ also found that the WCAB had jurisdiction over the claim for benefits, explaining that although Tripplett had not signed the agreement in Indianapolis, his agent
Indianapolis filed a petition for reconsideration with the WCAB, arguing the WCJ erred in finding jurisdiction because there was no substantial evidence to support its determination that Tripplett’s contract for hire was made in California.
The WCAB panel granted the petition for reconsideration and reversed the WCJ’s finding of jurisdiction based on Tripplett’s hiring in California. The panel noted the evidence demonstrated "that neither [Tripplett] nor his agent were in California when the employment was accepted and the contract was signed." And "[w]hile it [is] not necessary that all the terms of an employment agreement be finalized within California in order for the WCAB to obtain jurisdiction pursuant to sections 3600.5(a) and 5305, there must nevertheless be-evidence sufficient to support a finding that a hiring occurred in California by the acceptance of employment within this state in order for that jurisdictional basis to apply."
The WCAB panel also concluded there was no other basis for WCAB jurisdiction over Tripplett’s claim, and noted "the limited number of professional games played by [Tripplett] in this state would support a timely objection to adjudication of the claim in California."
( New York Knickerbockers v. Workers’ Comp. Appeals Bd . (2015) 240 Cal.App.4th 1229, 1237-1238, 193 Cal.Rptr.3d 287 (Macklin) .)
Before addressing the merits of Tripplett’s contention that the WCAB erred in concluding it lacked jurisdiction over his claim, we consider his assertion that Indianapolis waived the contention by not raising a timely objection.
The jurisdiction at issue is the WCAB’s subject matter jurisdiction over Tripplett’s injury.4 The WCAB is solely a creation of the Legislature, and thus its fundamental subject matter jurisdiction is limited by statute. Article XVI, section 4, of the California Constitution provides that the Legislature "is ... expressly vested with plenary power, unlimited by any provision of this Constitution, to create, and enforce a complete system of workers’ compensation, by appropriate legislation." ( Cal. Const., art. XIV, § 4.) Thus, in the absence of a statute affirmatively conferring subject matter jurisdiction over a claim to the WCAB, it lacks the power to adjudicate that claim. In this case, Tripplett relied on sections 3600.5(a), and 5305 to establish WCAB jurisdiction over his claim on the basis that he was hired in California.
The existence of subject...
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