Beckley v. Kirk, s. 22242

• Decision Date: 02 March 1995
• Docket Number: 22471,Nos. 22242,s. 22242
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: Daniel G. BECKLEY, Robert L. Clay, Thomas S. Cueto, and Charles W. Rumbaugh, Appellants, v. Colonel T.L. KIRK, Superintendent, West Virginia Division of Public Safety; Darrell V. McGraw, West Virginia Attorney General; and Andrew N. Richardson, Commissioner, West Virginia Workers' Compensation Fund, Appellees. Danny G. BECKLEY, Appellant, v. WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSIONER and the West Virginia Division of Public Safety, Appellees.

Page 817

455 S.E.2d 817

193 W.Va. 258

Daniel G. BECKLEY, Robert L. Clay, Thomas S. Cueto, and Charles W. Rumbaugh, Appellants, v. Colonel T.L. KIRK, Superintendent, West Virginia Division of

Public Safety; Darrell V. McGraw, West Virginia Attorney

General; and Andrew N. Richardson, Commissioner, West

Virginia Workers' Compensation Fund, Appellees.

Danny G. BECKLEY, Appellant, v. WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSIONER and the West Virginia

Division of Public Safety, Appellees.

Nos. 22242, 22471.

Supreme Court of Appeals of

West Virginia.

Submitted Jan. 18, 1995.

Decided March 2, 1995.

Syllabus by the Court

1. Notwithstanding the broad language of the Workers' Compensation Act § 23-2-1(a) [1991], uniformed members of the West Virginia Division of Public Safety, who are covered under the Death, Disability and Retirement Fund, are not eligible for coverage under the Workers' Compensation System.

2. " 'Statutes in pari materia, must be construed together and the legislative intention, as gathered from the whole of the enactments, must be given effect.' Point 3., Syllabus, State ex rel. Graney v. Sims, 144 W.Va. 72 [105 S.E.2d 886 (1958) ]. Syl. pt. 1, State ex rel. Slatton v. Boles, 147 W.Va. 674, 130 S.E.2d 192 (1963)." Syl. pt. 1, Transamerica Com. Fin. v. Blueville Bank, 190 W.Va. 474, 438 S.E.2d 817 (1993).

3. " 'Where a statute is of doubtful meaning, the contemporaneous construction placed thereon by the officers of government charged with its execution is entitled to great weight, and will not be disregarded or overthrown unless it is clear that such construction is erroneous.' Syllabus point 7., Evans v. Hutchinson, 158 W.Va. 359, 214 S.E.2d 453 (1975)." Syl. pt. 8, Smith v. State Workmen's Compensation Commissioner, 159 W.Va. 108, 219 S.E.2d 361, 367 (1975).

4. " 'Where a particular construction of a statute would result in an absurdity, some other reasonable construction, which will not produce such absurdity, will be made.' Syl. pt. 2, Newhart v. Pennybacker, 120 W.Va. 774, 200 S.E. 350 (1938)." Syl. pt. 3, State v. Kerns, 183 W.Va. 130, 394 S.E.2d 532, 537 (1990).

Terry M. Jordan, Robinson & Rice, L.C., Huntington, for appellants.

Darrell V. McGraw, Jr., Atty. Gen., K. Keian Weld, Asst. Atty. Gen., Charleston, for appellee Andrew N. Richardson.

Darrell V. McGraw, Jr., Atty. Gen., Bradford W. Deel, Asst. Atty. Gen., Charleston, for appellee Colonel T.L. Kirk and appellees in No. 22471.

NEELY, Chief Justice:

Daniel G. Beckley, Robert L. Clay, Thomas S. Cueto and Charles W. Rumbaugh were each injured in the line of duty as state troopers employed by the West Virginia Division of Public Safety (hereinafter "DPS"). Only Trooper Beckley timely filed a Workers' Compensation claim. On 2 March 1993 appellants Clay, Cueto and Rumbaugh sought a writ of mandamus in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County to compel the DPS to subscribe to the Workers' Compensation Fund (hereinafter "WC Fund") or to become a true self-insurer under W.Va.Code 23-2-9 [1991] and to compel the WC Fund to process the claims of uniformed DPS employees (hereinafter "state troopers"). On 13 October 1993 the Circuit Court entered an order denying the Writ and dismissing the case. On 29 July 1994, the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board denied Mr. Beckley's claim. Both the Order of the Circuit Court and the Order of the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board were appealed to this Court. The two cases were consolidated and we decide them both now.

State troopers have traditionally received compensation for work-related injuries through the Death, Disability and Retirement Fund (hereinafter "DDR Fund"), a special plan designed specifically for state troopers. The issue before this Court is whether state troopers are also covered under the West Virginia Workers' Compensation Act.

The West Virginia Workers' Compensation Act defines those who must subscribe to the Fund as follows:

The state of West Virginia and all governmental agencies or departments created by it, including county boards of education, political subdivisions of the state, any volunteer fire department or company and other emergency service organizations ... regularly employing another person or persons for the purpose of carrying on any form of industry, service or business in this state, are employers within the meaning of this chapter and are hereby required to subscribe to and pay premiums into the workers' compensation fund for the protection of their employees and shall be subject to all requirements of this chapter and all rules and regulations prescribed by the commissioner....

W.Va.Code 23-2-1(a) [1991]. On its face this statute appears to include the Division of Public Safety; however, proper treatment of this issue requires a brief historical review and comparison of the Workers' Compensation Fund and the Death, Disability and Retirement Fund.

The West Virginia Workmen's Compensation Fund, ¹ adopted in 1913, was amended in 1919 to allow all governmental agencies to participate. 1919 Acts of the Legislature, Regular Session, c. 131, § 9. The Department of Public Safety, ² however, was either excluded by legislative intent or declined to participate. In 1922 the Superintendent of State Police, in his report to the Governor, complained that there was no pension provision or any other fund to provide troopers disabled in the line of duty a living allowance. Jackson Arnold, Report to the Governor, 8 (30 June 1922).

In 1923, apparently in response to the 1922 report, the Legislature authorized the Superintendent to compensate injured troopers from the DPS operating budget. 1923 Acts of the Legislature, Regular Session, c. 147, § 58. The 1924 report of the Superintendent complained that the funds budgeted by the 1923 Legislature would soon expire, again leaving disabled members without benefits. Jackson Arnold, Biennial Report of the West Virginia State Police, 12 (1924). In 1925, the Legislature created the Death and Disability Fund. ³ 1925 Acts of the Legislature, Regular Session, c. 4, §§ 1, 2, 3. The purpose of the Death and Disability Fund was, and is, to provide compensation to injured state troopers.

The DPS Superintendent once again complained to the Governor in his 1928 report. This time the Superintendent expressly stated that state troopers did not receive the protection of the Workers' Compensation Fund and requested legislation to place members under such protection (although troopers would have been much less generously compensated under Workers' Compensation than under their own system, the Death and Disability Fund. ⁴ ), R.E. O'Connor, Fifth Biennial Report of the Department of Public Safety, 16 (1928). Subscription to the WC Fund became mandatory for state agencies in 1937, yet no effort was made to compel subscription by the DPS. 1937 Acts of the Legislature, Regular Session, c. 104, § 1. Moreover, the Legislature has never appropriated funds for the DPS to pay Workers' Compensation premiums.

As we stated in syllabus point one of Transamerica Com. Fin. v. Blueville Bank, 190 W.Va. 474, 438 S.E.2d 817, 823 (1993), " 'Statutes in pari materia, must be construed together and the legislative intention, as gathered from the whole of the enactments, must be given effect.' Point 3., Syllabus, State ex rel. Graney v. Sims, 144 W.Va. 72 [105 S.E.2d 886 (1958) ]. Syl. pt. 1, State ex rel. Slatton v. Boles, 147 W.Va. 674, 130 S.E.2d 192 (1963)." When viewing the history of the Death, Disability and Retirement Fund in conjunction with the history of the Workers' Compensation Fund, it becomes clear that the Legislature intended the DDR Fund to be a comprehensive system of compensation and never intended for state troopers to be covered under the Workers' Compensation Fund.

If state troopers had been covered under the WC Fund it would not have been necessary to create the DDR. The reports of the DPS superintendents reinforce this conclusion. Obviously, if the WC Fund covered state troopers, the superintendents would not have complained of the lack of coverage for disabled troopers or specifically have requested...