Colo. Dep't of Labor v. Dami Hospitality, LLC

• Citation: 442 P.3d 94
• Decision Date: 03 June 2019
• Docket Number: Supreme Court Case No. 17SC200
• Parties: COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT, Division of Workers’ Compensation, Petitioner v. DAMI HOSPITALITY, LLC; and Industrial Claim Appeals Office, Respondents.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

442 P.3d 94

COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT, Division of Workers’ Compensation, Petitioner

v.DAMI HOSPITALITY, LLC; and Industrial Claim Appeals Office, Respondents.

Supreme Court Case No. 17SC200

Supreme Court of Colorado.

June 3, 2019

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing June 17, 2019

Attorneys for Petitioner: Philip J. Weiser, Attorney General, John T. Lee, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Emmy A. Langley, Assistant Solicitor General, Denver, Colorado

Attorneys for Respondent Dami Hospitality, LLC: Law Offices of Daniel T. Goodwin, Daniel T. Goodwin, Paige Orgel, Broomfield, Colorado

Attorney for Amici Curiae Cato Institute and Independence Institute: David B. Kopel, Denver, Colorado

No appearance on behalf of Industrial Claim Appeals Office.

En Banc

JUSTICE HART delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 This case requires us to consider whether the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on the government imposition of "excessive fines" applies to fines levied on corporations.¹ We conclude that the purpose of the Excessive Fines Clause is to prevent the government from abusing its power to punish by imposing fines, and nothing in that purpose or in the text of the Eighth Amendment limits its reach to fines imposed on individuals. We further conclude that the proper test to assess the constitutionality of government fines under the Eighth Amendment is that set forth by the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Bajakajian , 524 U.S. 321, 334, 118 S.Ct. 2028, 141 L.Ed.2d 314 (1998), which requires an assessment of whether the fine is grossly disproportional to the offense for which it is imposed. We thus reverse the court of appeals’ ruling and remand to that court for return to the Division of Workers’ Compensation with instructions to, as appropriate and necessary, develop an evidentiary record sufficient to determine whether the $ 250–$ 500 fine that a business was required to pay for each day that it was out of compliance with Colorado’s workers’ compensation law is proportional to the harm or risk of harm caused by each day of noncompliance.

I. Facts and Procedural History

¶2 Dami Hospitality, LLC ("Dami") is the owner-operator of a Denver motel located on Peoria Street. Dami employs between four and ten people at any given time. As an employer, Dami is required by statute to maintain workers’ compensation insurance. See § 8-43-409, C.R.S. (2018).

¶3 Dami allowed its workers’ compensation coverage to lapse on or about July 1, 2005. Upon receiving notification of the lapse from the Division of Workers’ Compensation ("DWC"), Dami conceded the violation and paid a corresponding settlement in June 2006.

¶4 Approximately two months later, Dami again allowed its workers’ compensation coverage to lapse. This time, Dami went without coverage from August 10, 2006, through June 8, 2007.

¶5 From June 9, 2007, to September 11, 2010, Dami carried the proper insurance, but the company’s workers’ compensation coverage again lapsed on September 12, 2010. Dami was without such insurance from that time until July 9, 2014.

¶6 On February 19, 2014, the DWC discovered that Dami had allowed its workers’ compensation insurance to lapse for these periods of time and issued a notice to Dami regarding this. That written correspondence was dispatched to Dami’s Peoria Street address, which was the address on file with the Colorado Secretary of State for both the limited liability company and its registered agent, Soon Pak. The DWC notice advised Dami that it had twenty days to return an enclosed compliance questionnaire and to submit documents either establishing that it had maintained coverage during the relevant periods or demonstrating an exemption from the coverage requirement. It also specified that Dami could "request a prehearing conference on the issue of default."

¶7 After Dami failed to respond to the notice of subsequent violation, the DWC mailed a second notice to Dami on June 25, 2014, this time sending it to an East Dartmouth Place address.² For the second time, Dami was given twenty days to return the same compliance questionnaire and to submit documents either establishing coverage during the relevant periods or demonstrating an exemption from the coverage requirement. The DWC also specified, again, that Dami could request a prehearing conference on the issue of default.

¶8 On July 11, 2014, the DWC received a faxed certificate of workers’ compensation insurance for Dami effective from July 10, 2014, through July 10, 2015. Dami did not offer any other documentation or any explanation for the extended periods of noncompliance.

¶9 Having received no claim of exemption or proof of coverage for the second and third periods of noncompliance, and no request for a prehearing conference, the DWC concluded its legally mandated investigation into Dami’s noncompliance on October 29, 2014. The applicable statutory framework provides that the DWC shall:

For every day that the employer fails or has failed to insure or to keep the insurance required by articles 40 to 47 of this title in force, allows or has allowed the insurance to lapse, or fails or has failed to effect a renewal of such coverage: impose a fine of: (I) Not more than two hundred fifty dollars for an initial violation; or (II) Not less than two hundred fifty dollars or more than five hundred dollars for a second and subsequent violation.

§ 8-43-409(1)(b), C.R.S. (2018). In implementing this provision, the DWC promulgated Rule 3-6(D), 7 CCR 1101-3, which provides that:

For the Director’s finding of an employer’s second and all subsequent defaults in its insurance obligations, daily fines from $ 250/day up to $ 500/day for each day of default will be assessed in accordance with the following schedule of fines until the employer complies with the requirements of the Workers’ Compensation Act regarding insurance or until further order of the Director:

                             Class VII 1-20 Days $250/Day
                            Class VIII 21-25 Days $260/Day
                             Class IX 26-30 Days $280/Day
                             Class X 31-35 Days $300/Day
                             Class XI 36-40 Days $400/Day
                              Class XII 41 Days $500/Day
                

¶10 The DWC applied this statutory and regulatory regime in calculating the fine for Dami’s second and third periods of noncompliance with the Workers’ Compensation Act. On October 30, 2014, the DWC sent its "Specific Findings of Fact, Conclusions and Order to Pay Fine–Subsequent Violation" (the "Order") to Dami. This document categorized the fine amounts owed by Dami by the six classes of violation defined in DWC Rule 3-6(D), noting the per diem amount owed for each of the corresponding date ranges. The final paragraph of the order explained that the total amount Dami owed as a result of the 1,698 per diem fines was $ 841,200.

¶11 On November 18, 2014, the DWC received correspondence from Soon Pak, Dami’s registered agent. In a letter written on Dami’s behalf, Pak conceded that the business had failed to maintain workers’ compensation insurance during the noticed periods. Pak explained that Dami’s failure to consistently maintain coverage was a result of her reliance on others to maintain "business coverage." Pak stated that Dami’s annual payroll is less than $ 50,000, and that the aggregate fine proposed by the DWC exceeded the business’s gross annual income. Pak informed the DWC that Dami was thus unable to pay the aggregated per diem fines and requested leniency in the form of a penalty "that is more reasonable to the size of [the] business." Pak also asserted that there had never been a worker-related accident or injury at the motel, either when coverage was in place or during any period of Dami’s noncompliance. Pak did not request a hearing on the issue of Dami’s default on its workers’ compensation insurance obligation.

¶12 The DWC construed Pak’s correspondence as a petition to review the Order. The DWC then made settlement overtures, offering to decrease the fine by nearly half, to $ 425,000 (the aggregated minimum per diem fines permissible under section 8-43-409(1)(b)(II) ). Dami did not accept the settlement, and instead submitted a brief in furtherance of the petition to review. Dami argued that (1) it had "reasonably believed that it was in compliance with the statute" at all relevant times; (2) the DWC failed to provide adequate and timely notice of Dami’s noncompliance; (3) because Dami promptly cured its default upon receiving notice, it should be assessed no penalty or at least a much smaller penalty; and (4) the assessed per diem fines were constitutionally excessive in violation of the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment.

¶13 The DWC issued an order upholding the fines. The DWC began by noting that the per diem fines were "not discretionary" and were properly calculated pursuant to section 8-43-409 and Rule 3-6(D)’s assessment classification schedule. Next, the DWC observed that the law places the responsibility for knowing whether workers’ compensation coverage is consistently maintained on the employer and not on the DWC. Further, the order explained that Dami’s policy was cancelled in 2006 due to nonpayment of required premiums and "its 2010 policy was cancelled for failure to comply with terms & conditions or audit failure." The DWC determined that both of those reasons for cancellation were within Dami’s control. The DWC stated that Dami’s procurement of coverage after receiving actual notice of its subsequent violation did not relieve it of responsibility to pay the statutory fines imposed for the prior 1,698 days of noncompliance. Finally, the DWC declined to address Dami’s constitutional arguments, concluding that administrative agencies are not authorized to "pass on the constitutionality of statutes."

¶14 Dami appealed to the Industrial Claim Appeals Office ("ICAO"). The ICAO rejected all but Dami’s excessive fines argument. The ICAO remanded the matter to the DWC, directing it to review the constitutionality of the aggregated per diem fines...