Gates v. Trans. Video Corp.

• Decision Date: 18 May 1979
• Citation: 155 Cal.Rptr. 486,93 Cal.App.3d 196
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: Henry GATES, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. TRANS VIDEO CORP., et al., Defendants and Appellants. Civ. 52368.

Page 486

155 Cal.Rptr. 486

93 Cal.App.3d 196

Henry GATES, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. TRANS VIDEO CORP., et al., Defendants and Appellants.

Civ. 52368.

Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 5, California.

May 18, 1979.

Rehearing Denied June 6, 1979.

Hearing Denied Aug. 1, 1979.

Bradford F. Ginder and Don Dewberry, a Professional Corporation, Ventura, for defendants and appellants.

Walter R. Larsen, Santa Barbara, for plaintiff and respondent.

STEPHENS, Associate Justice.

Respondent Henry Gates brought an action against appellants Trans Video Corporation, his employer, and Merle Block, the general manager, on theories of intentional infliction of emotional distress and conversion arising out of two encounters between Gates and Block at the employer's premises in September 1974. Appellants appeal from the judgment entered upon the jury's verdict in favor of Gates in the amount of $40,000 on the intentional infliction of emotional distress cause of action and $25.00 on the cause of action for conversion.

Henry Gates began working for Santa Barbara Cable TV as a construction supervisor in 1963, which company was acquired by Trans Video Corporation, a subsidiary of Cox Broadcasting Co., in late 1971 or early 1972. On May 30, 1974, Gates injured his back while digging on a job site and eventually required hospitalization for a laminectomy in June and July of 1974. While convalescing, Gates received sick pay in an amount that compensated him for the difference between workers' compensation disability payments and his regular salary. Although his employer's policy was that only a total of five days of sick pay was allowed, an exception was made and Gates continued to receive sick pay to augment his disability benefits until a total of an equivalent of sixteen full days of sick pay had been paid. In August of 1974, Gates learned from his employer that the sick pay benefits had been exhausted. Gates subsequently phoned Santa Barbara Cable TV and made an appointment with Block, the general manager, to talk about vacation and overtime pay he thought was owed to him.

On September 11, 1974, Gates went to his employer's premises during the regular office hours pursuant to his prior telephone conversation with Block. He presented a written list of demands to Block which concerned, in the first part, sick pay and what Gates apparently thought was an unfair double standard regarding corporate officers and salaried supervisors. However, no actual demand for a further extension of sick pay benefits was made. The second part consisted of a demand for payment of 15 days of vacation pay and for compensation for Saturdays worked from June 19, 1969 to June 19, 1972. ¹ The total amount demanded was $2,804.40.

During the hour long conversation between Block and Gates, Block indicated that any such demands would have to be sent to the company headquarters and that this, considering a long-standing disaffection between Gates and one of the corporate officers, would probably result in his termination; at that point, Gates threatened legal action to enforce his rights. Towards the end of the discussion, tempers flared and Gates used derogatory words in reference to the company and Block heatedly told Gates to leave the premises.

However, rather than directly leaving the premises, Gates went into the bookkeeper's office to inquire about a check the company owed his son, who was also an employee. Apparently surprised to see Gates still on the premises and concerned regarding his announced intention to bring suit, Block told Gates in a loud voice that if he was going to sue the company he was not allowed access to company personnel or records. He again told Gates to leave and instructed the bookkeeper not to give Gates any information.

Gates then started diagonally across the office, not in the direction of the exit and Block called after him asking him where he was going. Gates replied that he would not leave until he had a copy of his demands. A copy was made for him and Block escorted Gates to the front door, telling him not to set foot on the property again and to direct further communication through the company's attorney.

Although Gates apparently suffered no immediate ill effects from this encounter, at home an hour later he began trembling and had tears in his eyes. His wife called the doctor who had performed the back surgery and tranquilizers were prescribed.

On September 25th Gates received a letter dated September 24th informing him of his termination as of that date. The next day he received a phone call from Bill Kambarn, the person appointed to take Gates' place. Kambarn requested that Gates return the company's keys, tools and uniforms. Block called a few minutes later and repeated the request.

On September 27th Gates returned to Santa Barbara Cable TV with his son. After depositing the keys, tools and uniforms at the stockroom and while waiting for a receipt, Gates went to his old office to get his personal belongings from his desk. While he was looking in the desk and file cabinet, Block entered the office. Surprised to see Gates, he asked in a harsh, loud voice what Gates was doing and told him to leave. When told that Gates' attorney had told him he could get his personal effects, Block replied, "I don't give a damn about your attorney." Another employee testified that Block was close to yelling when he told Gates to remove his posterior from the premises.

Gates silently left the office, taking only his coffee cup, having been told by Block that the company would inventory the contents of the desk and return his property to him. However, rather than going towards his truck and the gate, he headed for the stockroom to pick up his receipt. Block shouted to Gates from a distance of about 20 feet asking where he was going and telling him to leave. Gates' son testified that Block shouted repeated "get outs." After picking up his receipt, Gates left without further incident.

After these incidents, Gates, his family and friends, testified that he was a changed man. He spoke daily of his termination and his health and friends visited less frequently. He had difficulty sleeping at night, the pain in his back, leg and chest got worse and he was constantly pre-occupied with the incidents. His condition interfered with his sexual relations with his wife.

Gates was treated by a number of doctors for his physical and emotional complaints. He was rehospitalized for tests to determine if there was a physical cause for the continued pain, such as failure of the surgery. When these tests were negative, he was referred to a neurologist who hospitalized him at a pain control center in Bel Air. Finally, he was counseled by a psychologist for about two hours a day for fifteen days. Thereafter, he saw the neurologist about once a month during the year before trial.

On March 23, 1977, an order approving compromise and release for $40,000.00, minus permanent disability payments already paid, was executed by Charles F. Sorrow, Referee for the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board for the injury sustained by respondent on May 30, 1974. Trial in superior court, which is the subject of the instant action, commenced on April 20, 1977. After a seven-day trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of respondent for $40,000 for compensatory damages and $25 for conversion. No punitive damages were awarded. This appeal followed.

Appellants contend that the superior court lacked jurisdiction to grant judgment for intentional infliction of emotional distress because the injury was compensable under the workers' compensation statutes. Appellants assert that respondent's injury was sustained while he was acting in the scope of his employment and that, therefore, his exclusive remedy was compensation from workers' compensation, not damages in a civil suit. We will take these arguments one at a time in the order stated.

I. Were Respondent's Injuries Incurred While He was Still an Employee of Appellants for Workers' Compensation Purposes?

A great deal of case law in the workers' compensation area is devoted to interpreting when an injury is sustained within the course and scope of employment. In addition, subcategories have been developed, each with its own special set of rules and definitions. One such subcategory is the situation where an employee is injured while either picking up his final paycheck, leaving the job site after being fired, or gathering up tools immediately after termination but prior to departure from the premises. (See Argonaut Ins. Co. v. Industrial Acc. Com. (1963) 221 Cal.App.2d 140, 34 Cal.Rptr. 206; Peterson v. Moran (1952) 111 Cal.App.2d 766, 245 P.2d 546; and Mauerhan v. Markowitz (1921) 8 I.A.C. 261, respectively.) We believe that the situation here falls within this category, and that respondent was injured while still an employee for the purposes of workers' compensation.

That a person who has been discharged and sustains an injury while in the process of leaving the job site is still considered an employee for the purpose of compensation coverage stems from the provision of section 3202 of the Labor Code which requires that the provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act "be liberally construed by the courts with the purpose of extending their benefits for the protection of persons injured in the course of their employment." We feel that we must heed this legislative mandate in this case, regardless of the fact that it is invoked by appellants in an effort to bar respondent's civil suit.

In a recent case, the First District was called upon to decide a case on facts which, while somewhat unique, are analogous to the facts of this case. In Mitchell v. Hizer (1977) 73 Cal.App.3d 499, 140 Cal.Rptr. 790, (following several days' absence) Robbins and Mitchell returned to the logging camp where they had been employed. They were returning to see if they could resume employment notwithstanding their...