Gleneagles, Inc. v. Hanks

• Decision Date: 11 March 2005
• Docket Number: No. 57,57
• Citation: 385 Md. 492,869 A.2d 852
• Parties: GLENEAGLES, INC., et al. v. Linda M. HANKS.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

869 A.2d 852

385 Md. 492

GLENEAGLES, INC., et al. v. Linda M. HANKS.

No. 57, Sept. Term, 2004.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

March 11, 2005.

Lance G. Montour (Herwig & Humphreys, LLP, Baltimore, on brief), for petitioners.

David E. Fink, Baltimore, for respondent.

Argued before BELL, C.J., and RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL, HARRELL, BATTAGLIA, GREENE, JJ.

GREENE, J.

Linda Hanks filed a claim with the Workers' Compensation Commission, seeking benefits for an occupational disease sustained on March 1, 1990. The Commission determined on April 22, 1991, that Ms. Hanks should be compensated. Thereafter, Ms. Hanks filed several issues, requesting additional relief from the Commission. Gleneagles, Inc., the employer, contested Ms. Hanks's entitlement to additional benefits. In April 2000, Ms. Hanks impleaded the Subsequent Injury Fund.

In May, 2003, the Commission held a hearing and issued an Award of Compensation, finding, among other things, that Ms. Hanks had sustained a permanent partial disability, of which 50% was attributable to the occupational disease of March 1, 1990. The Commission also found that Ms. Hanks's claim was not barred by limitations. The Commission ordered Gleneagles to pay Ms. Hanks $282.00 per week, beginning April 28, 1992, and continuing for 333 weeks. The Commission also ordered the Fund to pay Ms. Hanks $144.00 per week, beginning at the end of Gleneagles' payments and continuing for 240 weeks. The award accounted from 1992, resulting in an obligation of $93,906 for Gleneagles and $34,560 for the Fund.

Gleneagles¹ filed a Petition for Judicial Review in the Circuit Court for Harford County. Gleneagles also filed a Request for Immediate Temporary Restraining Order and Request for Stay and/or Preliminary Injunction. On May 22, 2003, a judge of the Circuit Court held a hearing in chambers on those requests. The court granted injunctive relief to Gleneagles on May 27, 2003, issuing a temporary restraining order and stating that the Commission's order of May 9, 2003, "is stayed by this order and the employer and insurer are required to make no monetary payments to the claimant pursuant to that order."

The court held another hearing on July 28, 2003, to address Ms. Hanks's request to review the Temporary Restraining Order. The court issued an Order and Memorandum Opinion on September 19, 2003, striking the prior order and stating that the court had no authority to grant a stay of an Award of Compensation issued by the Commission. Gleneagles appealed. In a reported opinion, the Court of Special Appeals affirmed the circuit court. Gleneagles, Inc. v. Hanks, 156 Md.App. 543, 847 A.2d 520 (2004).² Gleneagles petitioned this Court for certiorari, which we granted. Gleneagles v. Hanks, 382 Md. 687, 856 A.2d 723 (2004).

The issue before the Court is whether the circuit court has the authority to grant injunctive relief in a workers' compensation case pending an appeal of an award of monetary benefits from the Workers' Compensation Commission. We affirm the intermediate appellate court and hold that the court does not have the authority to issue a stay or an injunction pending the appeal of an award of monetary benefits from the Workers' Compensation Commission. We shall adopt the Factual and Procedural History section of the Court of Special Appeals' opinion, located at 156 Md.App. at 547-50, 847 A.2d 520, in order to avoid repeating the detailed facts, none of which are disputed by the parties.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Md. Rule 8-131 requires the appellate court to review actions tried without a jury on the law and the evidence. There is no factual dispute in the case at bar. The question in this case is a legal one. While we have previously stated that trial courts have broad authority to issue injunctive relief Roper v. Camuso, 376 Md. 240, 260, 829 A.2d 589, 601 (2003), this case is ultimately a question of statutory interpretation; and, therefore, we review the Circuit Court's interpretation of the statute de novo. See Davis v. Slater, 383 Md. 599, 604, 861 A.2d 78, 80 (noting that because "... provisions of the Maryland Code, and the Maryland Rules are appropriately classified as questions of law, we review the issues de novo to determine if the trial court was legally correct in its rulings on these matters.").

DISCUSSION

We begin by noting that the Workers' Compensation Act "`should be construed as liberally in favor of injured employees as its provisions will permit in order to effectuate its benevolent purposes. Any uncertainty in the law should be resolved in favor of the claimant.'" Harris v. Board of Education of Howard County, 375 Md. 21, 57, 825 A.2d 365, 387 (2003) (quoting Mayor & City Council of Baltimore v. Cassidy, 338 Md. 88, 97, 656 A.2d 757, 761-62 (1995)).

Section 9-741 of the Labor and Employment Article states, in pertinent part, that "[a]n appeal is not a stay of: (1) an order of the Commission requiring payment of compensation[.]" Md.Code (1991, 1999 Repl.Vol.), § 9-741 of the Labor and Employment Article. In addition, Md. Rule 7-205 states:

The filing of a petition does not stay the order or action of the administrative agency. Upon motion and after hearing, the court may grant a stay, unless prohibited by law, upon the conditions as to bond or otherwise that the court considers proper.

The "cross references" note after the Rule only cites § 9-741 of the Labor and Employment Article. We think that notation is significant. The language of § 9-741 of the Labor and Employment Article and the case law interpreting the "no-stay" provision informs us that in the case of a Workers' Compensation Commission award, the court may not grant a stay, under Md. Rule 7-205, because to do so is "prohibited by law."

Gleneagles argues that despite the prohibition of a stay found in § 9-741 of the Labor and Employment Article, the Circuit Court nonetheless had the power to grant some kind of injunctive relief to Gleneagles, pending the appeal of the award to Ms. Hanks. In support of its argument, Gleneagles posits the general equitable power of the courts³ and relies on Md. Rules 15-501, et seq. Md. Rule 15-501 provides, in pertinent part:

(a) Injunction. "Injunction" means an order mandating or prohibiting a specified act.

(b) Preliminary injunction. "Preliminary injunction" means an injunction granted after opportunity for a full adversary hearing on the propriety of its issuance but before a final determination of the merits of the action.

(c) Temporary restraining order. "Temporary restraining order" means an injunction granted without opportunity for a full adversary hearing on the propriety of its issuance.

Gleneagles asserts that to obtain a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction, one must overcome particular obstacles⁴ that are not required when obtaining a stay and, therefore, § 9-741 of the Labor and Employment Article does not prohibit the grant of injunctive relief under Md. Rules 15-501, et seq. of the Maryland Rules.⁵ We disagree. While there are differences in the rules regarding obtaining a stay of an administrative decision and an injunction generally, the result in this case is the same. Whether it is called an injunction, a temporary restraining order, or a stay, Hanks was deprived of her workers' compensation award pending appeal. That is the very result the Legislature intended to avoid by enacting the "no-stay" provision. The general equitable powers of the courts cannot be relied upon in a case in which jurisdiction has been limited by law, as accomplished by § 9-741 of the Labor and Employment Article. As stated in § 1-501 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article,

[t]he circuit courts are the highest common-law and equity courts of record exercising original jurisdiction within the State. Each has full common-law and equity powers and jurisdiction in all civil and criminal cases within its county, and all the additional powers and jurisdiction conferred by the Constitution and by law, except where by law jurisdiction has been limited or conferred exclusively upon another tribunal.

Md.Code (1973, 2002 Repl.Vol.), § 1-501 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article (emphasis added).

In Branch v. Indemnity Ins. Co., 156 Md. 482, 144 A. 696 (1929) we discussed the "no stay" provision of the Workers' Compensation Act and whether that provision violated the right to jury trial because insurer/employers could be forced to pay awards before their appeals had been tried and determined. We determined that the "no stay" provision did not violate the right to jury trial. In addition, we stated:

The right of the Legislature to provide that an appeal from a decision of the State Industrial Accident Commission shall not be a stay could not be denied, consistently with the principle upon which the general validity of the act has been adjudicated. Its design was to insure speedy, as well as certain, relief in proper cases within the scope of its application. That humanitarian policy would be seriously hampered if the weekly payments of compensation awarded by the commission could be suspended because of an appeal. In providing that an appeal should not be a stay the statute was simply adopting a necessary expedient to accomplish one of the important purposes for which it was enacted.

Id. at 489, 144 A. 696 (emphasis added). Suspending payments of a compensation award by means of an injunction is just as detrimental to the claimant as suspending payment by means of a stay. We do not agree with Gleneagles that the different procedures for obtaining an injunction makes the grant of one any more palatable as far as the Workers' Compensation Act is concerned.

Gleneagles argues that to deny them injunctive relief in this case is particularly harsh because of the large lump-sum payments ordered and because the law does not permit them to "recover back" any payments made even if they are ultimately successful on appeal. In St. Paul Fire and Marine...