Brookhaven Bap. Ch. v. W.C.A.B. (Halvorson)

• Decision Date: 27 December 2006
• Citation: 912 A.2d 770
• Parties: BROOKHAVEN BAPTIST CHURCH, Appellant v. WORKERS' COMPENSATION APPEAL BOARD (HALVORSON), Appellees.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

912 A.2d 770

BROOKHAVEN BAPTIST CHURCH, Appellant v. WORKERS' COMPENSATION APPEAL BOARD (HALVORSON), Appellees.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted July 26, 2005.

Decided December 27, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Denis Matthew Dunn, Media, for Brookhaven Baptist Church, appellant.

Amber Marie Kenger, Richard C. Lengler, Harrisburg, for W.C.A.B., appellee.

Arthur G. Girton, Chester, for Edwin Halvorson, appellee.

BEFORE: CAPPY, C.J., CASTILLE, NEWMAN, SAYLOR, EAKIN, BAER AND BALDWIN, JJ.

OPINION

Justice NEWMAN.

We are called upon to determine whether Edwin Halvorson (Decedent) was an employee of the Brookhaven Baptist Church (the Church) for purposes of the Fatal Claim Petition filed by Thelma Halvorson (Mrs. Halvorson) pursuant to the Workers' Compensation Act (Act).¹ The Commonwealth Court determined that he was an employee of the church and we now reverse.

FACTS and PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Mrs. Halvorson and Decedent were married in 1938 and began attending the Church in early 1989. The Church had a small congregation at the time, only registering twenty-five members. Because contributions were meager, Church members performed the majority of the necessary Church maintenance. In fact, the Church Constitution designated the Board of Trustees as the persons responsible for: "Maintenance and Protection of Church Building, Grounds, Furnishings and Equipment; Operational Supervision; Building Improvements; [and] Plans for Future Building Needs of the Church." Constitution of the Brookhaven Baptist Church 8 (effective May 8, 1963, as amended December 1, 1975). These duties were carried out on a voluntary basis. The single exception to the obligations of the Board of Trustees was that the Church paid to have the grass cut on the approximately 1.5-acre Church property. For some years prior to 1989, the Church employed John Coppock (Mr. Coppock), a local student, to cut the grass. The Trustees completed all other grounds maintenance, such as edging the gardens, planting flowers, and pruning the shrubs and trees.

Beginning in the Spring of 1989, following Mr. Coppock's departure for school, Decedent agreed to cut the grass for twenty-five dollars per week.² The Church supplied the tractor-mower and the gasoline to operate it. Decedent determined whether the grass needed to be cut and when he would cut the grass. His usual custom, according to Mrs. Halvorson, was to mow half of the grassy area on one day and the remaining half on another day.

The Halvorsons became members of the Church in October of 1989. Decedent was appointed a Church Trustee in January of 1990. As a Trustee, Decedent performed various maintenance duties for the Church such as painting the men's bathroom, changing light bulbs, vacuuming rugs, washing windows, cleaning restrooms, and other chores. He also continued to run the Church tractor to cut the grass for twenty-five dollars per week. Decedent and the other Trustees routinely came to the Church on Friday mornings throughout the year to fulfill their Church maintenance obligations.

On June 7, 1991, a Friday, Decedent left home around 8:30 A.M. telling Mrs. Halvorson that he would be back later to take her shopping and that he was going to the Church to cut the grass. Unbeknownst to her, he also took his hedge cutting shears with him. Pearl Moore, a neighboring property owner, walked her new dog that morning and saw Decedent in the parking lot of the Church. When Mr. Geiger arrived at the Church at approximately 8:45 A.M., Decedent was trimming the bushes beneath one of the Church windows. Mr. Geiger yelled a greeting and waived at Decedent, who hollered and waived back. Mr. Geiger went into the Church, checked the basement windows for break-ins, and got out the vacuum cleaner, preparing to vacuum the Church hallway. He heard a loud noise, saw a cloud of black smoke, and observed Decedent emerge from the black smoke engulfed in flames. Apparently, Decedent had gathered up the shrub clippings, piled them on the grass in the far corner of the Church driveway, and set fire to them using a can of gasoline. The fire department and an ambulance were called, with the fire chief, Gary Thompson (Thompson) arriving only moments later. Decedent was conscious and said to Thompson, "I think I screwed up" and "is my face burn[ed]?" (Thompson Deposition, October 17, 1996, p. 5.) Decedent died on July 1, 1991, nearly a month after suffering severe burns.

Mrs. Halvorson filed a Fatal Claim Petition on March 5, 1992, alleging that her husband died as a result of the work-related injuries he sustained while within the scope of his employment with the Church. She also filed a third-party legal action against the Church. On April 4, 1993, the workers' compensation matter was placed on an indefinite postponement pending the outcome of the common pleas court action.³ The workers' compensation action was reactivated on July 27, 1995, and hearings were held before the WCJ on April 18, 1996, and November 7, 1996.

After some procedural irregularities,⁴ the WCJ⁵ held two more hearings and issued her decision on June 7, 2001. The WCJ generally found all witnesses credible and that: (1) Decedent was employed to cut the grass; (2) the Church provided all of the materials and equipment necessary to carry out the task; and (3) trimming the bushes was "incidental and necessary for Decedent to perform in order to accomplish his task of grass cutting." (Decision of WCJ Sarah Makin dated June 7, 2001, p. 2.) The Church appealed to the Board.

The Board rendered a decision on December 16, 2003, affirming the Order of the WCJ. The Board observed that cutting the grass did not require special skills and that the Church supplied all the tools, equipment, and gasoline required to perform the task. Further, the Board found it significant that Decedent was compensated on a weekly basis for cutting the grass, also relying on the conclusion of the WCJ that trimming the bushes was an essential adjunct to Decedent's primary task. The Church appealed this decision to the Commonwealth Court.

In a Memorandum Opinion issued on October 20, 2004, the Commonwealth Court affirmed. Brookhaven Baptist Church v. Workers' Comp. Appeal Bd. (Halvorson), No. 2785 CD 2003 (Pa. Cmwlth. filed October 20, 2004). The Church raised four issues before the court essentially challenging the absence of medical evidence linking Decedent's death to the fire injuries, asserting in the alternative that Decedent was either a volunteer or an independent contractor, and arguing that the twenty-five dollars paid to Decedent was an honorarium rather than compensation.

The court concluded that Mrs. Halvorson carried her burden of establishing that the fire caused the death of her husband, despite the absence of expert medical testimony, because there was an obvious causal connection between the third-degree burns sustained by Decedent and his death. The court noted that Decedent had emerged from the black smoke "fully engulfed in flames" and suffered third-degree burns over sixty-seven percent of his body. Id. at 5.

The court additionally determined that Decedent was an employee of the Church because he received "valuable consideration" for his services. Id. at 10. It analogized this case to the decision of the Superior Court in Schreckengost v. Gospel Tabernacle, 188 Pa.Super. 652, 149 A.2d 542 (1959) (en banc), where the victim fell from the roof of the church he attended while it was under construction. The victim had volunteered to help with the construction of the church and, in exchange, the value of his labor was to be applied toward the payment of his tithes. The Superior Court found that the victim was an employee and had received valuable consideration.

The Commonwealth Court determined that Decedent was not a volunteer on the basis that he received valuable consideration for cutting the grass. It found no error in the determination of the WCJ that trimming the bushes on the Church property was essential to the completion of his primary task. Relying on the decision of the Iowa Supreme Court in Gardner v. Trustees of Main Street Methodist Episcopal Church, 217 Iowa 1390, 250 N.W. 740 (Iowa 1933), the court concluded that cutting the grass was within the purview of "church business."

Finally, the court concluded that Decedent was not an independent contractor because the Church furnished the tools. The court observed that, although the Church exerted little direct supervision over Decedent when he was cutting the grass, this was due to the lack of special expertise necessary to complete the job.

Judge Leavitt filed a Dissenting Opinion. It was her belief that Decedent was a volunteer or possibly an independent contractor, but definitely not an employee. She noted that the Church exercised little, if any, control over the grass-cutting activities where Decedent alone decided when and how to cut the grass. She characterized the payments to Decedent for his grass-cutting services as simply a reflection of the unique relationship that existed between the Church and its congregants. She analogized Decedent's services with those of the foster grandparents in Wolf v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (County of Berks), 705 A.2d 483 (Pa. Cmwlth.1997), where the Commonwealth Court concluded that providing foster grandparents with transportation, meals, and a stipend of $2.35 per hour did not transform them from volunteers to employees.

We granted allowance of appeal to determine whether an employer-employee relationship existed and to examine Mrs. Halvorson's entitlement pursuant to the Act.

DISCUSSION

The Church contends that Decedent was a "volunteer" and that the money that he received for cutting the grass was a "nominal honorarium." The Church argues that Decedent was not cutting the grass when he sustained the fatal injury, but was performing volunteer services for the Church by trimming the bushes. Thus, the Church complains, Decedent's...