Hargreaves v. Jack

• Decision Date: 12 May 2000
• Docket Number: No. 98-563-Appeal.,98-563-Appeal.
• Citation: 750 A.2d 430
• Parties: Gail HARGREAVES, Individually and in her capacity as the Administratrix of the Estate of John F. Hargreaves v. Allen JACK et al. Gail Hargreaves, Individually and in her capacity as the Administratrix of the Estate of John F. Hargreaves v. Steven Reis et al.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

750 A.2d 430

Gail HARGREAVES, Individually and in her capacity as the Administratrix of the Estate of John F. Hargreaves v. Allen JACK et al. Gail Hargreaves, Individually and in her capacity as the Administratrix of the Estate of John F. Hargreaves v. Steven Reis et al.

No. 98-563-Appeal.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

May 12, 2000.

Present WEISBERGER, C.J., LEDERBERG, BOURCIER, FLANDERS, and GOLDBERG, JJ.

David Oliveira, for Plaintiff.

Kathleen M. Powers, Marc DeSisto, Providence, for Defendant.

OPINION

WEISBERGER, C.J.

This case came before the Court on the plaintiff's appeal from the entry of summary judgment in the Superior Court in favor of the defendants. For the reasons stated below, we vacate the summary judgment and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

The facts in this case are not in dispute. The plaintiff, Gail Hargreaves (Gail or plaintiff), is thewidow of John F. Hargreaves (Hargreaves), who, after nineteen years of service as a firefighter, suffered a fatal injury while in the course of his employment for the City of Pawtucket on August 22, 1993.¹ He had responded to a fire at 100 Cottage Street in Pawtucket. While he was tending his pumper truck in accordance with departmental policy, and by order of his immediate supervisor, another superior officer ordered Hargreaves into the building. As the conditions worsened, the commanding officer decided to evacuate all firefighters from the building, but the officers in charge were unable to track the whereabouts of all personnel on the scene. Hargreaves was left behind in the building. By the time he was able to escape from the flames, he had suffered fatal injuries, and died one month later.

On March 22, 1996, plaintiff, individually and in her capacity as the administratrix of the estate of John F. Hargreaves, filed a wrongful death action in Providence County Superior Court against the City of Pawtucket (city) and two superior officers. In this original complaint, she sought to hold these defendants liable for their alleged negligence in the management and supervision of the firefighting operation. She alleged that the ordering of Hargreaves into the building by his superiors, and the manner in which the battalion commander managed the fireground violated departmental policy. Subsequent to the filing of this first action, this Court decided Kaya v. Partington, 681 A.2d 256 (R.I.1996), in which we held that G.L.1956 § 45-19-1, otherwise known as the injured-on-duty (IOD) benefits statute, was the exclusive remedy for firefighters and police officers for injuries occurring in the line of duty. Believing that this Court's holding in Kaya essentially would bar her claims against the individual firefighters and the city, and because the statute of limitations was about to terminate inrespect to the first action, plaintiff filed a second complaint against the individual police officers at the scene. She maintained that they were negligent in their provision of fireground support and security in the area surrounding the fire, and that this was a proximate cause of Hargreaves's injuries.

In her second action, plaintiff argued that Kaya does not extend to the individual police officers in the department, and, in the alternative, that the IOD statute violates certain federal and state constitutional provisions.² The defendants removed the case to Federal District Court with respect to the claims arising under the Federal Constitution, and then filed a motion to dismiss. A federal district court judge granted a motion to dismiss the federal claims, and declined to exercise pendent jurisdiction over the claims arising under the Rhode Island Constitution. The judge remanded the remaining state law claims to the Rhode Island Superior Court. Both complaints were consolidated, and defendants moved for summary judgment on the wrongful death action, and to dismiss the second complaint. The trial justice granted both motions. Relying on our decision in Kaya, the trial justice held that the IOD statute was the exclusive remedy for a "firefighter injured in the line of duty," and that it precluded negligence suits against superior and fellow officers. The trial justice reasoned that this Court's decision in Kaya "suggests that [we] would include negligence claims across departmental lines and fellow officers of the same rank." The trial justice further concluded that plaintiff's constitutional challenges had no merit. She specifically noted that the "IOD statute gave plaintiff rights that she would not have had without the statute because of the doctrine of sovereign immunity and the policeofficers'/firefighters' rule." The trial justice also found that the "statute specifically lays out [a rational] principle to which an administrative officer must conform when it compensates firefighters and their families for injuries incurred in the line of duty."

The issues raised by this appeal are whether our decision in Kaya operates as a matter of law to preclude plaintiff's wrongful death action, and, if so, whether the IOD statute violates provisions of the Rhode Island Constitution.

When reviewing the grant of a summary judgment motion, "this Court employs the same standard on review as the trial justice." Splendorio v. Bilray Demolition Co., 682 A.2d 461, 465 (R.I. 1996). We must review "all the pleadings, affidavits, admissions, and other appropriate evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and then [determine] if the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Benner v. J.H. Lynch & Sons, Inc., 641 A.2d 332, 335 (R.I.1994). For the reasons set forth below, we reverse the trial justice's grant of summary judgment.

The history of the IOD statute and its amendments thereto are discussed in detail in Kaya, and do not need repeating here. In that case, we were faced with a police sergeant who was injured by an unknown assailant in the course of making an arrest. See Kaya, 681 A.2d at 258

. Kaya alleged that his employer was negligent in providing white shirts instead of blue shirts as part of his uniform, thereby making him a more likely target for assault, and by failing to give him "riot gear." Id.

In Kaya, we held that § 45-19-1 was the officer's exclusive remedy and precluded a separate tort action against his employer and the municipality. 681 A.2d at 260. We inferred an exclusivity provision implicit in the statutory framework in light of the goals and purposes of the IOD statute. Like the Workers' Compensation Act (WCA), the IOD remedy "allows a recovery without [a] showing of fault and is not subject to the various tort defenses." Id. In order to achieve this goal, the Legislatureexplicitly required that the WCA be the exclusive remedy available to injured workers, completely replacing all other remedies. See id. We inferred a similar implicit intent of exclusivity with respect to the IOD remedy.

In the instant case, we distinguish our opinion in Kaya, wherein the officer received a greater benefit under the IOD statute than he would have received under the WCA. The intent behind § 45-19-1 was to "provide greater work-related-injury benefits to certain public employees whose jobs require them to serve the state or its municipalities, often in dangerous situations." Labbadia v. State, 513 A.2d 18, 21 (R.I.1986). Under the IOD statute, a firefighter injured while in the performance of his duties would receive his full salary, while under the WCA, an "employee [would receive] only [a] percentage of salary provided in G.L.1956 (1979 Reenactment) § 28-33-17." Labbadia, 513 A.2d at 21. In Kaya, we did not, however, confront the impact of the IOD provisions on a surviving spouse's separate statutory right to bring a wrongful death action.³

Subsequent to our decision in Kaya, we examined the effect of the exclusivity provision on independent statutory claims. See Folan v. State/Department of Children, Youth, and Families, 723 A.2d 287 (R.I.1999)

. In Folan, we held that the exclusivity provision in the WCA did not bar a claim under the Fair Employment Practices Act (FEPA) or the Civil Rights Act (CRA). We reasoned that the"disparate purposes of the WCA as compared to the FEPA and the CRA" suggested that the Legislature did not intend the exclusivity provision to bar such claims. Id. at 291. We found that the WCA did not fully remedy the problems that these statutes were designed to address. See id. Hence, the exclusivity clause does not bar a claim "if to do so would frustrate a broad fundamental public policy which fulfills paramount purposes * * *." Id. at 292.

The Wrongful Death Act was designed to remedy the pecuniary loss and the loss of consortium suffered by the surviving spouse although such remedy was unknown to the common law.⁴ The provisions for a surviving spouse under the IOD statute, however, do not even come close to providing such a comprehensive remedy for plaintiff's loss. The greatest benefit that plaintiff could achieve under the IOD scheme would be $3,600 per year — much less than a surviving spouse would receive under the WCA.⁵ Under the WCA, G.L.1956 § 28-33-12 provides in pertinent part:

"(a)(1) If death results from the injury, the employer shall pay the dependents of the employee wholly dependent upon his or her earnings for support at the time of his or her injury or death whichever is the greater in number, a weekly payment equal to the rate that would have been payable for total incapacity to the deceased employee * * *.

"(2) If the dependent is a surviving spouse * * * the employer shall pay the surviving spouse the weekly rate for total incapacity the deceased employee would have been entitled to receive under the provisions of § 28-33-17 plus twenty dollars ($20.00) per week for each dependent child.

"* * *

"(f) When a surviving spouse without dependent children remarries, benefits payable under this section shall cease on the date of the remarriage....