Davis v. Dyncorp

• Decision Date: 01 September 1993
• Docket Number: No. 155,155
• Parties: Robert L. DAVIS v. DYNCORP et al. ,
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 226

336 Md. 226

647 A.2d 446

Robert L. DAVIS v. DYNCORP et al.

No. 155, Sept. Term, 1993.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Sept. 15, 1994.

Richard W. Galiher, Jr. (Galiher, Clarke & Galiher, on brief), Rockville, for appellant.

Kathryn S. McAleer (Timothy E. McLaughlin, Dirska & Levin, on brief), Columbia, for appellee.

Argued Before MURPHY, C.J., and ELDRIDGE, RODOWSKY, CHASANOW, KARWACKI, BELL and RAKER, JJ.

CHASANOW, Judge.

In this appeal, we are called upon to determine whether appellant's "mental disease," allegedly resulting from on-the-job harassment, "is due to the nature of an employment in which hazards of the occupational disease exist." Maryland Code (1991 Repl.Vol.), Labor and Employment Article, § 9-502(d)(1)(i). ¹ For the following reasons, we hold that the disease alleged in the instant case is not due to the nature of appellant's employment and, therefore, is not compensable under the Maryland Workers' Compensation Act.

I.

In July of 1990, Appellant Robert L. Davis filed a claim with the Workers' Compensation Commission against the Appellee Dyncorp and its insurer National Union Fire Insurance Company. The crux of Davis's claim was that he suffered a disabling occupational disease as the result of "continual harassment" by both management and fellow employees at Dyncorp. Davis had been employed by Dyncorp since February 1986 as a computer operator.

At a 1992 hearing on his workers' compensation claim, Davis explained that, beginning in April of 1987 and extending over a couple of years, he was subjected to the following incidents of "harassment": (1) someone at work placed an explosive in his cigarette; (2) a co-worker placed a tack on his seat; (3) he was denied the use of a refrigerator and told to pay $10 if he wished to continue using it because he failed to take his turn cleaning it; (4) a "match box sticker" was placed on his desk, which explained how to obtain a high school diploma in one's spare time (Davis is a college graduate); (5) co-workers defaced a Department of Defense decal on Davis's vehicle at a nightclub; (6) after leaving work one day, a co-worker followed Davis in his vehicle "too close[ly]" for about a quarter mile; (7) while walking in the street on his way to the store, Davis was frightened by a co-worker, who pulled up behind Davis in an automobile, roared the engine, then hit the brakes; (8) Davis received annoying phone calls at home; and (9) Davis was called racially offensive names by fellow workers. ² As a result of these and other similar incidents, Davis alleged that he experienced restlessness, sleeping problems, headaches, and developed post-traumatic stress syndrome, which prevented him from returning to work. Davis therefore maintained that he was entitled to workers' compensation benefits because of a disabling occupational disease.

The Workers' Compensation Commission, however, disallowed Davis's claim based on its finding that Davis "did not sustain an occupational disease of mental disorder arising out of and in the course of employment." Subsequently, Davis appealed to the circuit court. In a motion for summary judgment, Dyncorp maintained that even if all of Davis's allegations were true, Dyncorp was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Their first argument in support of their motion relied on language in Belcher v. T. Rowe Price, 329 Md. 709, 621 A.2d 872 (1993), in which we stated that " 'a mere showing that a mental injury was related to general conditions of employment, or to incidents occurring over an extended period of time, is not enough to entitle the claimant to compensation. The mental injury must be precipitated by an accident, i.e., an unexpected and unforeseen event that occurs suddenly or violently.' " 329 Md. at 739-40, 621 A.2d at 887 (quoting Sparks v. Tulane Med. Ctr. Hosp. & Clinic, 546 So.2d 138, 147 (La.1989)). Dyncorp therefore argued that this language in Belcher precluded Davis's recovery because his mental injury was related to general conditions of his employment. Davis, arguing to the contrary, maintained that Belcher was limited to accidental injury cases, and therefore was not controlling with respect to occupational diseases.

Another ground for Dyncorp's motion was that the language of § 9-502(d) did not encompass Davis's claim. That section limits an employer's and an insurer's liability to cases where:

"(1) the occupational disease that caused the death or disability:

(i) is due to the nature of an employment in which hazards of the occupational disease exist and the covered employee was employed before the date of disablement; or

(ii) has manifestations that are consistent with those known to result from exposure to a biological, chemical, or physical agent that is attributable to the type of employment in which the covered employee was employed before the date of disablement; and

(2) on the weight of the evidence, it reasonably may be concluded that the occupational disease was incurred as a result of the employment of the covered employee." (Emphasis added).

Id. Focusing on § 9-502(d)(1)(i), the parties primarily disagreed over whether an injury allegedly resulting from harassment could be deemed "due to the nature" of Davis's employment as a computer operator.

The Circuit Court for St. Mary's County (Briscoe, J.), appeared to accept Dyncorp's characterization of the quoted language from Belcher. Nevertheless, the court held that even if Belcher 's language did not apply to an occupational disease, as Davis contended, summary judgment should be granted for Dyncorp based on § 9-502(d)(1). Addressing § 9-502(d)(1), Judge Briscoe stated the following:

"Harassment by fellow employees is neither a hazard within the nature of the employment of a computer data operator nor a biological, chemical or physical agent attributable to the type of employment."

The judge thus concluded that, "[a]s a matter of law, the Plaintiff's condition is not compensable under the Workers' Compensation statutes [and] ... summary judgment is granted to the Defendants."

Davis appealed to the Court of Special Appeals, and prior to the intermediate appellate court's consideration of the case, we granted Davis's petition for certiorari to address the following issues: (1) Whether the quoted language in Belcher applies only to accidental injury cases, or whether it extends to occupational diseases and therefore prohibits Davis, as a matter of law, from receiving compensation benefits for "post-traumatic stress syndrome arising from harassment by fellow employees"; and (2) Whether § 9-502(d)(1) requires the employer to provide occupational disease compensation for "job harassment which causes mental injury." We shall address each issue respectively.

II.

In Belcher, we were "called upon to determine the expanse of the phrase 'accidental personal injury' in the contemplation of the [Workers' Compensation] Act." 329 Md. at 711, 621 A.2d at 873. In that case, a three-ton beam crashed without warning through the concrete roof of the claimant's office and landed five feet from her desk. "The sound was deafening; it was [as] if a bomb had exploded. The lights in the office went out; pipes and wires were ripped apart; debris sifted over her and her surroundings; concrete dust went down her throat." 329 Md. at 713, 621 A.2d at 874. As a result of this incident, Ms. Belcher suffered from post traumatic stress disorder. 329 Md. at 714, 621 A.2d at 874-75.

After recognizing that "mental injuries can be as real as broken bones and may result in even greater disabilities," 329 Md. at 736, 621 A.2d at 885, this Court in Belcher held that "an injury under the Act may be psychological in nature if the mental state for which recovery is sought is capable of objective determination." 329 Md. at 745-46, 621 A.2d at 890. We cautioned, however, " 'that a mere showing that a mental injury was related to general conditions of employment, or to incidents occurring over an extended period of time, is not enough to entitle the claimant to compensation. The mental injury must be precipitated by an accident, i.e., an unexpected and unforeseen event that occurs suddenly or violently.' " 329 Md. at 739-40, 621 A.2d at 887 (quoting Sparks, 546 So.2d at 147 (emphasis in original)). Based on this language, Dyncorp contends that Belcher controls the instant case. We disagree.

We specifically stated in Belcher that we were addressing the scope of the phrase "accidental personal injury." 329 Md. at 711, 621 A.2d at 873. No reference to occupational diseases is made anywhere in the opinion. The statement that a mental injury must be "precipitated by an accident," rather than from "incidents occurring over an extended period of time," was intended to be read within the context of ascertaining whether there was a compensable accidental injury. 329 Md. at 739-40, 621 A.2d at 887 (quoting Sparks, 546 So.2d at 147). In determining whether the mental injury in Belcher was an accidental personal injury, we did not intend to address the complicated question of whether and what types of mental injuries are compensable under the rather antithetical category of occupational diseases. See Lovellette v. City of Baltimore, 297 Md. 271, 284, 465 A.2d 1141, 1148 (1983) ("[O]ccupational diseases and accidental personal injuries are, in general, antithetical in nature...."). Because Belcher does not resolve, as a matter of law, Davis's claim for compensation under the occupational disease statute based on "post-traumatic stress syndrome arising from harassment by fellow employees," ³ we shall now address whether the language of § 9-502(d)(1) precludes such a claim.

III.

In support of their arguments regarding the compensability of work-induced mental stress as an occupational disease, Davis and Dyncorp have cited cases from other jurisdictions respectively accepting or rejecting the notion that mental stress in the workplace can be compensable as an occupational...