Hill v. Eagle Motor Lines

• Decision Date: 21 May 2007
• Docket Number: No. 26330.,26330.
• Citation: 645 S.E.2d 424
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: Jimmy HILL, Respondent, v. EAGLE MOTOR LINES, Employer and Alabama Truckers Association c/o Attenta, Carrier, Appellants.

645 S.E.2d 424

Jimmy HILL, Respondent, v. EAGLE MOTOR LINES, Employer and Alabama Truckers Association c/o Attenta, Carrier, Appellants.

No. 26330.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

Heard November 15, 2006.

Decided May 21, 2007.

Rehearing Denied June 6, 2006.

R. Mark Davis and William Thomas Bacon, IV, both of McAngus, Goudelock & Courie, of Charleston, for Appellants.

Steve Wukela, Jr., of Wukela Law Firm, of Florence, for Respondent.

Chief Justice TOAL:

In this workers' compensation case, Eagle Motor Lines and Alabama Truckers Association c/o Attenta (collectively, "Appellants") argue that the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Commission did not have jurisdiction over the claim of Jimmy Hill ("Respondent"), and that Respondent's injuries are not compensable under the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Act. We affirm in part and reverse in part, holding that the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Commission had jurisdiction over Respondent's claim and that Respondent suffered compensable injuries.

FACTUAL/PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Respondent, a resident of South Carolina, completed an application for employment as a truck driver with Appellant Eagle Motor Lines ("Employer"). Thereafter, Employer's recruiting manager telephoned Respondent at his home in South Carolina and requested Respondent travel to Employer's headquarters in Alabama to complete an employee screening process. Respondent traveled to Alabama where he completed a drug screening test, a driving test, and other orientation procedures before being assigned a truck. During the course of his employment, Respondent's driving route traversed several states along the east coast.

In 2001, Respondent suffered a brain injury and a broken rib when his truck overturned while driving through Virginia. As a result, Respondent is disabled and unable to return to work as a truck driver. Respondent claimed entitlement to medical and compensation benefits. Appellants initially paid Respondent's medical bills and disability benefits, but terminated benefits after Respondent suffered a stroke allegedly caused by a confrontation with a nurse who was handling Respondent's workers' compensation case.

Respondent filed a Form 50 and Appellants denied Respondent's claim. Following a hearing before the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Commission ("Commission"), the single commissioner found the Commission had jurisdiction over Respondent's claim because: (1) Respondent was hired in South Carolina during a telephone conversation with Employer's recruiter; (2) Employer was not exempt from the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Act because it had four or more employees in South Carolina; and (3) Employer subjected itself to the Workers' Compensation Act by filing for workers' compensation coverage in South Carolina. The commissioner also found Respondent suffered compensable injuries and ordered Appellants to continue providing benefits to Respondent.

On appeal, the Commission's appellate panel affirmed the decision of the single commissioner. On appeal to the circuit court, the court affirmed the appellate panel on all grounds of appeal except the issue of jurisdiction, which the court remanded to the Commission for reconsideration.

This case was certified to this Court from the court of appeals pursuant to Rule 204(b), SCACR. Appellants raise the following issues for review:

I. Did the circuit err in failing to decide whether the Commission had jurisdiction over Respondent's workers' compensation claim?

II. Did the circuit err in failing to find that the Commission did not have jurisdiction over Respondent's claim because Respondent was not hired in South Carolina?

III. Did the circuit court err in failing to find that the Commission did not have jurisdiction over Respondent's claim because Employer did not have four or more employees in South Carolina?

IV. Did the circuit court err in affirming the Commission's findings that Respondent's physical brain injury, stroke, and psychological illness were compensable?

STANDARD OF REVIEW

The Administrative Procedures Act (APA), S.C.Code Ann. § 1-23-310 et. seq. (2005 & Supp.2006), governs appellate review of a final decision from an administrative agency. Shealy v. Aiken County, 341 S.C. 448, 455, 535 S.E.2d 438, 442 (2000). Under the APA, this Court must determine whether the findings of fact of the Commission's appellate panel are supported by substantial evidence in the record and whether the panel's decision is affected by an error of law. S.C.Code Ann. § 1-23-380(A)(5) (Supp.2006); Baxter v. Martin Bros., Inc., 368 S.C. 510, 513, 630 S.E.2d 42, 43 (2006).

When the jurisdiction of the Commission is at issue, the reviewing court is not bound by the Commission's findings of fact upon which jurisdiction is dependent. Gray v. Club Group, Ltd., 339 S.C. 173, 181, 528 S.E.2d 435, 439 (Ct.App.2000). If the factual issue before the Commission's appellate panel involved a jurisdictional question, this Court's review is governed by the preponderance of the evidence standard. Id. "In determining jurisdictional questions, doubts of jurisdiction will be resolved in favor of inclusion of employees within workers' compensation coverage rather than exclusion." Wilson v. Georgetown County, 316 S.C. 92, 94, 447 S.E.2d 841, 842 (1994).

LAW/ANALYSIS

I. The circuit court's remand of the jurisdictional issue.

Appellants argue the circuit court erred in failing to rule on whether the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Commission had jurisdiction over Respondent's workers' compensation claim. We agree.

The circuit court has both the power and duty to review the entire record in order to find the jurisdictional facts without regard to the conclusion of the Commission on the issue of jurisdiction. White v. J.T. Strahan Co., 244 S.C. 120, 125, 135 S.E.2d 720, 723 (1964). Accordingly, the court must decide the jurisdictional question in accord with the preponderance of the evidence, bearing in mind that the basic purpose of the Workers' Compensation Act is to include, rather than exclude, employers and employees within its coverage. Id. Here, the geographical facts and circumstances of Respondent's hiring and employment were determinative of whether the Commission had jurisdiction over Respondent's claim. Therefore, the circuit court had the power and duty to decide the jurisdictional issue and erred by remanding the issue to the Commission for reconsideration.

II. Jurisdiction in the state where an employee is hired

Appellants argue that the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Commission did not have jurisdiction over Respondent's claim because Respondent was neither hired nor employed in South Carolina. We disagree.

An employee covered by the provisions of the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Act is authorized to file his claim under the laws of the state where he is hired, the state where he is injured, or the state where his employment is located. S.C.Code Ann. § 42-15-10 (1976). The parties' central dispute concerns where Respondent was hired.

The employer-employee relationship is the jurisdictional foundation upon which workers' compensation is awarded; the existence of a contract, not the commencement of work, establishes the employer-employee relationship. O'Briant v. Daniel Constr. Co., 279 S.C. 254, 256, 305 S.E.2d 241, 243 (1983). Accordingly, the situs of the contract determines where an employee was hired for purposes of determining jurisdiction under § 42-15-10. Moore v. N. Amer. Van Lines, 310 S.C. 236, 238-39, 423 S.E.2d 116, 118 (1992). The place of contracting is where the minds of the parties meet or the place where the final act occurred which made a binding contract. Id. Where acceptance is given over the telephone, "the place of contracting is where the acceptor speaks his acceptance." O'Briant, 279 S.C. at 256, 305 S.E.2d at 243.

The single commissioner relied on O'Briant v. Daniel Construction Co. in finding that Respondent was hired in South Carolina. In O'Briant, the employee, a construction worker, initially filled out an employment application with a construction company at its Georgia office. The employee was not offered a job at the time, but the construction company later contacted him by telephone at his home in South Carolina offering him employment on a construction site in Georgia. The employee accepted the job offer over the telephone. 279 S.C. at 255-56, 305 S.E.2d at 242. The Court found that although the employee signed his application and enrollment card in the Georgia office, was hired to work at a job site in Georgia, was paid in Georgia, and received his fatal injuries in Georgia, the final act which created a binding contract occurred when the employee verbally accepted the job over the telephone in South Carolina. Id. at 256, 305 S.E.2d at 243. Therefore, the Court held that the employee was hired in South Carolina and the Commission had jurisdiction under § 42-15-10.

We find the present case to be indistinguishable from O'Briant. Pursuant to another employee's recommendation,¹ Respondent called Employer at its office in Alabama and spoke with the recruiting manager about being hired as a driver. The recruiting manager mailed Respondent an employment application to his home in South Carolina, which Respondent filled out and returned to Employer's office in Alabama. After filling out the application and sending it in, Respondent received a telephone call from the recruiting manager a few months later informing Respondent that his application had been approved and that Employer had a position open for him. The recruiting manager informed Respondent that he needed to travel to Alabama for drug screening and a road test; to attend orientation; and to receive his truck assignment. Employer promised to provide, and in fact did provide, Respondent's travel and lodging expenses for this trip. Once in Alabama, and after drug screening and a road test, the recruiting...