Freeman v. Kelvinator, Inc.

• Decision Date: 01 May 1979
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 572314.
• Parties: Donna FREEMAN, Gloria McDowell, Mary Lou Chapel, Deborah Gritter, Marilyn Kuiper, and Linda Prantel, Plaintiffs, v. KELVINATOR, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

469 F. Supp. 999

Donna FREEMAN, Gloria McDowell, Mary Lou Chapel, Deborah Gritter, Marilyn Kuiper, and Linda Prantel, Plaintiffs, v. KELVINATOR, INC., Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 572314.

United States District Court, E. D. Michigan, S. D.

May 1, 1979.

Jean L. King, Ann Arbor, Mich., for plaintiffs.

Jack B. Combs and Edward Malinzak, Warner, Norcross & Judd, Grand Rapids, Mich., Thomas H. Barnard and Timothy J. Sheeran, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, Cleveland, Ohio, for defendant.

OPINION

FEIKENS, District Judge.

On January 19, 1979 I granted Plaintiffs leave to amend their complaint to include a prayer for compensatory and exemplary damages under the Michigan Elliot-Larson Civil Rights Act, M.C.L.A. § 37.2101 et seq. Plaintiffs submitted a proposed amendment. Defendant opposes paragraphs "BB" and "CC" and requests I deny their addition to the complaint.¹

Defendant's motion could be denied under Rule 12(g) of the F.R.Civ.P. which requires all grounds for a motion to be joined. Defendant has previously argued that plaintiffs should not be allowed compensatory damages under state law. However, plaintiffs have not argued this, and I decline to decide on that ground.

Defendant argues that the damages plaintiffs seek—for the indignity of discrimination, humiliation and the invasion of their right not to be discriminated against—are barred by the exclusive remedy provision of the Michigan Worker's Disability Compensation Act (MWDCA), M.C. L.A. §§ 418.131 and 418.301.

Section 418.301 provides:

(1) An employee who receives a personal injury arising out of and in the course of his employment by an employer who is subject to the provisions of this act, at the time of such injury, shall be paid compensation in the manner and to the extent provided in this act . . .

Section 418.131 says, in part:

the right to the recovery of benefits as provided in this act shall be the employee's exclusive remedy against the employer . . .

Defendant claims the damages claimed in "BB" and "CC" result from personal injuries as defined in the MWDCA. It argues that mental injuries caused by even nonphysical stimuli are covered by worker's compensation, and concludes that because both exemplary and compensatory damages are sought for mental injury or distress, the MWDCA's exclusivity provision applies. Defendant emphasizes that exclusivity is determined by whether the injuries are covered and not by whether compensation will be paid.

Defendant's argument is entirely misconceived. The MWDCA was designed to redress "industrial injuries" sustained from "trade risks relating to the industry". Milton v. Oakland County, 50 Mich.App. 279, 283, 213 N.W.2d 250, 252 (1973). In Sheppard v. Michigan National Bank, 348 Mich. 577, 83 N.W.2d 614 (1957), the court noted that American acts cover what the English called "injury by accident," in an industrial context.

The Worker's Compensation Act was the culmination of a struggle against the debilitating societal problem of industrial injuries that went unredressed as a result of such discredited doctrines as the "fellow-servant rule" and contributory negligence. Crilly v. Ballou, 353 Mich. 303, 91 N.W.2d 493 (1958). Being a remedial statute, it has been broadened by interpretation to provide benefits to workers whose injuries are intangible mental injuries—even when they are the result of nonphysical causes. Ritter v. Allied Chemical Corp., 295 F.Supp. 1360 (D.S. C.1968); 2A, A. Larson, Workmen's Compensation Laws, § 68.34. But it would be wrong to plunge headlong to the conclusion that all "injuries" in any form whatsoever are recoverable only under the MWDCA. Just because mental damages from accidental industrial injuries are compensable does not mean mental injuries from other sources must unthinkingly be barred by the exclusivity provision.

The Civil Rights Act was the culmination of a long fight against another great evil in our society: discrimination. The evils at which it aims are entirely different from those of the compensation statute. The civil rights law aims at the prejudices and biases one race or sex bears against another. It is designed to abolish the smallness of mind that clings to pernicious stereotypes founded not on fact but upon historical misconceptions and fear. Its purpose is to guarantee equal opportunity in the marketplace and redress the injuries that those in protected groups suffer. Now defendant would pit one great remedial statute against the other and both against the plaintiffs, barring their recovery. Such a result cannot be countenanced. The two schemes—MWDCA and the Civil Rights Statute—were aimed at separate and distinct problems. There is no indication whatever that the discrimination law was to have an exception for injuries arguably redressed by the MWDCA, nor is there any indication that the MWDCA was impliedly expanded when the Civil Rights Act was passed.

The source of defendant's misconception is perhaps its belief that the injury which flows from discrimination is akin to mental injuries sustained by workers from compensable sources. It is not. The discrimination injury is unique. Its source is deliberate or inadvertent disregard by the employer of the fundamental rights of his employees. M.C.L.A. § 37.2101 et seq. Likewise, though the victim of discrimination may feel embarrassment, humiliation, outrage and disappointment, thus likening the injury to those of "dignitary" torts such as defamation, it would be wrong to equate the two. Note, Developing "Tort" Standards for the Award of Mental Distress Damages in Statutory Discrimination Actions, 11 U.Mich.J.L.Ref. 122, nn. 1, 2 & 3 (Fall 1977).

To illustrate the error in what defendant proposes, consider the result if a class action like this one was brought under the MWDCA. First, the Hearing Referee and the Appeals Board would be unable to handle the case. Second, the case would be dismissed because the plaintiffs do not allege any disability. Although the injury might be covered, no compensation would be paid. The MWCDA does not provide any remedy for the injuries at issue.

This failure of the quid pro quo basis of worker's compensation is a good reason not to remit plaintiffs to the Bureau. A similar situation was presented in Ritter v. Allied Chemical Corp., supra. There the plaintiff suffered mental injuries resulting from an assault by his superior. The court refused to apply the exclusivity provision of South Carolina's worker's compensation law, stating:

The mere fact that the employer and employee are subject to the act does not deprive them of their common-law remedies if conditions in the case place it outside the scope of the act, as, for example, where the injury suffered was not caused by an accident or did not result in disability. 295 F.Supp. at 1362.

Thus, though defendant argues that exclusivity of the MWDCA is governed by whether the injury is covered, the fact that an injury is not compensable weighs strongly against confining an injured party to that remedy.

This principle is more fully illustrated by Milton v. Oakland County, 50 Mich.App. 279, 213 N.W.2d 250 (1973). There the plaintiff sued his employer claiming his rights under a merit system had been violated. He sought damages for mental anxiety and for the disabling nervous condition he said resulted. Defendant argued that the MWDCA provided the plaintiff's exclusive remedy. The court concluded that only a "cursory review" of the MWDCA was necessary to reject defendant's argument insofar as it pertained to the mental anguish resulting from defendant's alleged violation of plaintiff's merit system rights. Conceding that recovery for disability could be had only under the MWDCA, the court said "it is beyond question that plaintiff's claims of mental distress for the violation of the merit system if proved, cannot be classified as industrial injuries within the meaning of the Workmen's Compensation Act. While plaintiff's alleged injuries for muscle fatigue and mental depression fall within the act and are in that respect his exclusive remedy, plaintiff has a right to judicial review of his claims for additional compensation, improper discharge, and violation of the merit-system rules." Id. at 284, 213 N.W.2d at 252. The court concluded:

"the exclusive-remedy bar is inapplicable when the challenged injury is not . . . compensable under the act . . .. Plaintiff attempted to allocate his claims appropriately between his workmen's compensation action and civil action. The mere fact that the compensation remedy was sought simultaneously cannot destroy the separate identity of his contractual rights for which no compensation could be awarded. Plaintiff's damage claims fell outside the purview of the apparent scope of the act." Id., at 284-5, 213 N.W.2d, at 252-253.

The reasoning of Milton applies with even greater force to an employer's attempt to relegate a claim of discrimination to the Bureau.

Subsequent cases have affirmed this position. Broaddus v. Ferndale Fastener, 84 Mich.App. 593, 597-600, 269 N.W.2d 689 (1978) (Workmen's Compensation Act no bar to claim of emotional distress for intentional withholding of Workmen's Compensation benefits); Szydlowski v. General Motors, 59 Mich.App. 180, 182, 229 N.W.2d 365, 367 (1975) (suit is not barred when "other than personal injuries are involved"). See also Sullivan v. United States, 428 F.Supp. 79, 81 (E.D.Wis.1977) (denying government's claim that 39 U.S.C. § 1005(c) was exclusive remedy for employee who claimed discrimination in employment). An earlier case is, Moore v. Federal Department Stores, Inc., 33 Mich.App. 556, 190 N.W.2d 262, leave denied, 385 Mich. 784 (1971). See 2A, A. Larson, Workmen's Compensation Laws, § 68.34.²

The most troubling aspect of defendant's argument is the case law it cites on the same or very closely related issues. The exclusivity bar of the MWDCA in the discrimination context first appeared in Stimson v. Bell Telephone Co., 77 Mich.App. 361, 258...