Andover Volunteer Fire Dep't v. Grinnell Mut. Reins. Co.

• Decision Date: 13 August 2010
• Docket Number: No. 08-1628.,08-1628.
• Citation: 787 N.W.2d 75
• Parties: ANDOVER VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT and Travelers Insurance Company, Appellees,v.GRINNELL MUTUAL REINSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

787 N.W.2d 75

ANDOVER VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT and Travelers Insurance Company, Appellees,v.GRINNELL MUTUAL REINSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant.

No. 08-1628.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Aug. 13, 2010.

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Charles A. Blades of Scheldrup, Blades, Schrock, Smith, and Aranza, P.C., Cedar Rapids, for appellant.

Aaron T. Oliver of Hansen, McClintock & Riley, Des Moines, for appellees.

CADY, Justice.

Justin Faur died attempting to save the life of another person. He was twenty-three years old. His heroic efforts denied him a full life, but left behind the true measure of his abundant character. These efforts are documented in this opinion because they serve as the backdrop to a legal dispute over the interpretation of Iowa Code section 85.61(7)( a ) (2009). ¹ We resolve the dispute by affirming the decision of the district court.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

Justin Faur died ten days after he sustained an anoxic brain injury from the inhalation of methane gas. He was employed by Johnson Valley Beef, a farm corporation owned by Dwight Johnson and located in rural Andover. Justin worked as a farmhand on the farm. The farm operation consisted of raising crops and livestock, including approximately 1200 head of cattle. Justin was a dependable and reliable worker and maintained a close relationship with Dwight and his wife, Sherril.

Justin was also a volunteer firefighter for the Andover Volunteer Fire Department. As a volunteer firefighter, Justin wore a pager issued by the volunteer department. The pager allowed him to be notified when his services as a volunteer firefighter were needed. Each volunteer firefighter normally had the responsibility to promptly report to duty when paged.

The pager system was tied to the county 911 emergency system. The volunteer fire department was part of the enhanced 911 emergency services system in the county. All emergency calls from the public were directed to the communication center in Clinton, and a dispatcher at the center would notify the appropriate emergency responder. When a call required the services of the fire department, the dispatcher would send a page to the volunteer firefighters. Some volunteer firefighters carried their uniform and equipment in their vehicles and could proceed directly to the scene of the emergency in response to a page. Other volunteer firefighters kept their uniform and equipment at the fire station and would first proceed to the station in response to a page before going to the scene of the emergency. Justin kept his uniform and equipment at the station.

On April 16, 2005, Justin and Dwight spent most of the day cleaning a manure pit under a cattle confinement barn on the farm. After draining and washing the pit, Dwight apparently climbed into the manure pit to retrieve a chain that had dropped and was overcome by methane fumes. Methane gas inhibits the ability of a person to breathe when inhaled into the lungs, and the effects can be immediate and dramatic. In addition to its natural state, it is produced by the fermentation of organic matter such as manure. Methane gas produced by manure can be highly toxic in a closed environment, especially when the manure is wet.

Justin ran to the farmhouse, approximately 150 yards from the barn. He told Sherril that Dwight had fallen into the pit and to call 911. Justin promptly returned to the barn and apparently attempted to remove Dwight from the pit on his own. There were no witnesses, however, to the event. Justin was found a few minutes later lying face down in the pit near Dwight. Like Dwight, he had been overcome by methane gas. The gas rendered Justin unconscious and unresponsive.

The men were removed from the pit after rescue personnel arrived, which included members of the Andover Volunteer Fire Department. The Andover volunteer firefighters were paged one minute and eight seconds after the law enforcement center received the 911 call from Sherril. It is unknown if the page was sent to the volunteer firefighters before Justin was overcome by methane gas.

Dwight died four days after the incident. Justin died in the hospital ten days later. He never regained consciousness. He posthumously received a national award for his heroic actions from the Carnegie Foundation.

The workers' compensation carrier for Johnson Valley Beef, Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance (Grinnell), paid the workers' compensation benefits for Justin's injuries and death. Grinnell then sought contribution or indemnity from the workers' compensation carrier for the Andover Volunteer Fire Department, Travelers Insurance Company (Travelers). Grinnell claimed Justin was acting as a volunteer firefighter at the time of his death because he had been “summoned to duty as a volunteer fire fighter” in accordance with Iowa Code section 85.61(7)( a ) once he witnessed that Dwight had fallen unconscious into the manure pit.

A deputy workers' compensation commissioner determined Justin's death arose out of and in the course of his employment with both Johnson Valley Beef and the Andover Volunteer Fire Department. In reaching this decision, the deputy concluded a volunteer firefighter is not in the course of employment for purposes of Iowa Code section 85.61(7)( a ) until summoned by a third party. However, he determined Justin was summoned to duty by the dispatcher either before or after he was overcome by the methane gas. In any event, the deputy determined the summons preceded his death, which meant that some of the injuries he sustained that led to his death occurred in the course of employment as a volunteer firefighter. As a result, the deputy found Travelers was responsible for one-half of the workers' compensation benefits payable as the result of Justin's injuries and death.

Travelers appealed.² The workers' compensation commissioner affirmed the decision of the deputy, but on different grounds. The commissioner concluded the timing of the page was not critical to the determination of coverage under section 85.61(7)( a ) because Justin had been summoned to duty as a volunteer firefighter by the circumstances themselves. The commissioner determined that the failure to allow volunteer firefighters to call themselves to duty after witnessing an emergency situation would have the absurd result of deterring them from immediately rendering assistance upon encountering an emergency. The commissioner stated:

For by acting immediately the firefighter would jeopardize the firefighter's or any dependent's entitlement to workers' compensation benefits if the firefighter were injured while so acting. Given that result from immediate action, the rational volunteer firefighter would call 911 and then wait to receive a summons from the appropriate entity before initiating actions consistent with a firefighter's duties to the general public. Certainly, in situations of imminent peril minutes and seconds do matter. A volunteer firefighter's failure to act immediately could well increase the peril to the public or decrease the possibility of averting disaster. Common sense compels the conclusion that the legislature did not intend such absurd results.

The commissioner determined a volunteer firefighter is summoned to duty when “a reasonable firefighter faced with the circumstances presented would have felt called upon to act in a manner consistent with the duties a voluntary firefighter assumes as regards the general public.”

Travelers sought judicial review. The district court rejected the ruling of the commissioner. It concluded a volunteer firefighter cannot be summoned to duty by circumstances, but can only be summoned by the fire department or some other official channel. It concluded that Justin could only be summoned in this case by a page from the emergency communication center. It remanded the case to the workers' compensation commissioner for further proceedings under the correct legal standard. Grinnell appealed.

II. Scope of Review.

The standards of chapter 17A are applied to determine whether the conclusions we reach are the same as those of the district court. Mycogen Seeds v. Sands, 686 N.W.2d 457, 464 (Iowa 2004). If the conclusions are the same, we affirm. Id. Otherwise, we reverse. Id. Our review of agency decisions begins with proper direction from Iowa Code chapter 17A. Renda v. Iowa Civil Rights Comm'n, 784 N.W.2d 8, 10 (Iowa 2010). Ordinarily, “the interpretation of a statute is a pure question of law over which agencies are not delegated any special powers by the General Assembly....” Arthur E. Bonfield Amendments to Iowa Administrative Procedure Act, Report on Selected Provisions to Iowa State Bar Association and Iowa State Government 62 (1998). However, we recently clarified that we defer to the agency's interpretations of statutes when the legislature has clearly vested the agency with the proper authority to do so based on the agency's expertise on the subject matter. Renda, 784 N.W.2d at 11. We do not focus our inquiry on whether the agency does or does not have the broad authority to interpret the act as a whole. Id. at 10. Instead, when determining whether the legislature has clearly vested the agency with authority to interpret, “each case requires a careful look at the specific language the agency has interpreted as well as the specific duties and authority given to the agency with respect to enforcing particular statutes.” Id. at 13.³ If we find the legislature has clearly vested the agency with interpretive authority for the phrase under consideration, we reverse only if the interpretation is “irrational, illogical, or wholly unjustifiable.” Iowa Code § 17A.19(10)( l ). On the other hand, if we do not find that the legislature has clearly granted the agency authority to interpret, we do not defer to the agency's interpretation. Id. § 17A.19(11)( b ). We will reverse if we find the agency's decision was “[b]ased upon an erroneous interpretation of a provision of law.” Id. § 17A.19(10)( c ).

In the...