Huffman v. City of Poway
| Decision Date | 13 November 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. D032830.,No. D031688.,D031688.,D032830. |
| Citation | 101 Cal.Rptr.2d 325,84 Cal.App.4th 975 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | David W. HUFFMAN, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. CITY OF POWAY et al., Defendants and Respondents. |
John M. Rea, Vanessa L. Holton and Linda L. Peters, San Francisco, for Department of Industrial Relations as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.
Daley & Heft, Robert W. Brockman, Jr., Scott E. Patterson and Lee H. Roistacher, Solano Beach, for Defendants and Respondents.
Appellant David W. Huffman, an actor in a musical play coproduced by Reunion Productions (Reunion) and respondent Arts Alive! Foundation (AAF), was injured while rehearsing the play at a facility owned and operated by respondent City of Poway (City). Huffman's lawsuit alleged claims for negligence against AAF and for premises liability (Gov.Code, § 835) against City. The jury found in favor of Huffman, assessed comparative negligence among the parties, and awarded damages of $93,700.
However, the trial court entered judgments in favor of AAF and City. First, the trial court ruled that because AAF was Huffman's employer and had secured workers' compensation protection, Huffman's exclusive remedy was to collect workers' compensation benefits and he could not pursue a tort claim against AAF. Second, the trial court ruled City was not liable under Government Code section 835 because Huffman was injured on property that City did not own or control. Huffman's appeal challenges both rulings.
Reunion produced the musical play Dracul at the San Diego Lyceum Theater (the Lyceum) during the summer of 1995. Huffman was a professional actor hired by Reunion to perform roles in the play.
After completing its run at the Lyceum, the play was moved to the Poway Center for the Performing Arts (the Center) pursuant to a coproduction agreement between Reunion and AAF.1 The Center is owned and operated by City.
Huffman participated in a scene in the play, entitled "Phobia," during which actors enter and depart from the stage through trap doors in the stage apron. The trap doors were arranged in a triangular configuration at the Lyceum. However, when the play moved to the Center, the configuration and spacing of the trap doors was changed to accommodate the Center's different stage apron configuration.2
Under the coproduction agreement, Reunion supplied the props and stage scenery, the actors, and the director and assistant director; AAF provided the Center and a technical director. Reunion provided the trap door mechanisms that were used at the Lyceum, and AAF installed the mechanisms into the Center's stage apron.3 At the time of Huffman's injury, the trap doors were open for rehearsal of the Phobia scene.
Because the Lyceum's stage had different dimensions from the Center's stage, and the location of the trap doors had been reconfigured, it was necessary to remount and reblock the Phobia scene.4 On October 13, 1995, the troupe convened at the Center for a rehearsal under the direction of Mr. Woodhouse, the director of Dracul. Hamlin was also present at the rehearsal.
The purpose of the rehearsal was to familiarize the cast with the new stage and trap door configuration and to reblock the scene. Because the Phobia scene required use of the trap doors, Woodhouse instructed that the trap doors be open for the rehearsal. Before the rehearsal began, the actors familiarized themselves with the trap doors by inspecting and crawling in and out of the door openings. Woodhouse cautioned the actors to familiarize themselves with the new configuration and to move carefully and slowly through the scene.
Huffman saw that the trap doors were closer together than at the Lyceum and were open. He recognized the different configuration would require extensive adjustments in the blocking of the scene. Huffman suggested that portions of the choreography be moved from the stage apron to the stage away from the trap doors, but Woodhouse rejected that suggestion and instructed Huffman to walk through his steps between the trap doors. Huffman stated "someone better watch me" before beginning his movements.
Huffman knew the open trap door was behind him when he began rehearsing the Phobia scene. Using the original blocking, he took two backward steps away from the center trap door and then began to pivot to face the auditorium as he sang. As he pivoted he fell through an open trap door. No one called out a warning or tried to block his movement into the open trap door. He fell to a platform below the stage apron and injured his leg.
Mr. Schreiber, Huffman's safety expert, testified there were numerous safeguards that should have been but were not implemented to prevent Huffman's injury. First, he testified the trap doors should have remained closed during the initial walk-throughs to give the actors time to become familiar with the new configuration. Second, he testified that when the trap doors were open there should have been either a guardrail or, if that was impractical, a person should have been stationed at the opening to guard against falling through the opening. Third, he testified that the opening should have been made more visible by using Glo-Tape and understage lighting; these elements would have more clearly alerted the actors to the floor openings.5
Within weeks following the accident, Huffman filed a claim for workers' compensation benefits with City, claiming he was an employee of City.6 Huffman's application was accepted and processed by the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority (CJPIA), an insurance pool of 80 municipalities including City. The administrator for CJPIA determined AAF was a protected party under its workers' compensation program and paid approximately $17,000 of Huffman's medical bills.
Huffman's third amended complaint alleged claims against AAF and City for premises liability, negligence and negligence per se.
On Huffman's claim against AAF, the trial court ruled in limine that if the jury found Huffman was an employee of AAF, his claim against AAF was barred by the exclusivity provisions of Labor Code section 3602, subdivision (a). The jury found by special verdict that Huffman was employed by AAF and the court granted a directed verdict in favor of AAF. We evaluate Huffman's challenge to this ruling in part III.
On Huffman's claim against City, the jury was instructed on the elements for holding a public entity liable for dangerous conditions on property owned or controlled by the entity. The jury found by special verdict that City maintained a dangerous condition on its public property and had notice of or created the dangerous condition, and the dangerous condition was a legal cause of Huffman's injuries. However, in a posttrial ruling the trial court concluded City did not own or control the property on which the dangerous condition was located and granted City's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. We evaluate Huffman's challenge to this ruling in part IV.
Huffman argues that under Labor Code section 37007 an employer must secure the payment of workers' compensation by either purchasing insurance or securing a certificate of consent to self-insure from the state Director of Industrial Relations (DIR); absent compliance with one of these two alternatives an employee is not subject to the exclusivity provisions of section 3602, subdivision (a), and may bring a tort action against the employer. Huffman contends AAF did not satisfy either of those two alternatives and therefore the trial court erred by finding Huffman was barred from pursuing his tort claim against AAF. AAF contends, however, that these alternatives are not exclusive and that AAF's method of securing workers' compensation was legally sufficient to entitle it to the exclusivity bar of section 3602, subdivision (a).8
Huffman and AAF litigated the workers' compensation exclusivity issue by pretrial in limine motions.9 AAF did not have workers' compensation insurance. However, AAF asserted it provided the required workers' compensation coverage to its employees as a protected party under City's self-insurance program administered by CJPIA.
Ms. France, the senior risk manager for CJPIA, testified CJPIA administered the workers' compensation self-insurance program for the pool of its member municipalities.10 Membership in CJPIA is restricted to public entities. CJPIA received from DIR a certificate to self-insure for workers' compensation coverage; City participated in CJPIA and had in its own name an affiliate certificate of self-insurance issued by DIR. AAF was not a member of CJPIA and did not have a certificate of self-insurance issued by DIR.
CJPIA also administers a general liability self-insurance program for its members. Under CJPIA's Memorandum of Coverage for its general liability program, the pool provides coverage for its members' liability for specified types of claims. However, the Memorandum of Coverage expressly excludes workers' compensation claims from this coverage.
CJPIA, following its normal procedures, received, processed and accepted Huffman's application for workers' compensation benefits, and paid benefits because it concluded AAF was a covered party under CJPIA's workers' compensation program. France relied on the definitions of protected parties in CJPIA's Memorandum of Coverage for its general liability program to conclude AAF was also protected under CJPIA's workers' compensation program.11
The court ruled that section 3602, subdivision (a)'s exclusive remedy provisions would apply...
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