Jackson County Hosp. v. Alabama Hosp. Ass'n Trust

• Decision Date: 16 April 1993
• Citation: 619 So.2d 1369
• Parties: 61 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1183, 8 IER Cases 714 JACKSON COUNTY HOSPITAL v. ALABAMA HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION TRUST. 1911272.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 1369

619 So.2d 1369

61 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1183, 8 IER Cases 714

JACKSON COUNTY HOSPITAL v. ALABAMA HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION TRUST.

1911272.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

April 16, 1993.

Jack Livingston of Livingston, Porter & Paulk, P.C., Scottsboro, for appellant.

James E. Williams of Melton, Espy, Williams & Hayes, P.C., Montgomery, for appellee.

STEAGALL, Justice.

The Alabama Hospital Association Trust (hereinafter the "Trust") contracted with Jackson County Hospital (hereinafter the "Hospital") to provide general liability insurance and to defend the Hospital in certain kinds of lawsuits. Gerri Adkins, an employee at the Hospital, subsequently sued the Hospital under Ala.Code 1975, § 25-5-11.1, alleging a retaliatory discharge; she alleged that the Hospital had terminated her from her job as a collector solely because she had filed a workers' compensation action against the Hospital. Adkins and another employee, Alice Webb, also filed sex discrimination actions against the Hospital in a federal court. The Trust refused to defend the Hospital against these three actions, which it determined were excluded from coverage under the policy, and it sued for a judgment declaring that it had provided no coverage as to those actions. The trial court entered a summary judgment for the Trust, and the Hospital appeals.

The first issue raised is whether the insurance agreement requires the Trust to defend the Hospital on Adkins's wrongful termination claim under § 25-5-11.1. That statute provides:

"No employee shall be terminated by an employer solely because the employee has instituted or maintained any action against the employer to recover workers' compensation benefits under this chapter...."

The Hospital argues that a claim under § 25-5-11.1 is a traditional tort claim, not a claim under our Workers' Compensation Act, and is thus included under the insurance agreement. This Court has recognized that § 25-5-11.1 was created to "prevent an employee's termination 'solely because the employee [had] instituted or maintained [an] action against the employer to recover worker's compensation benefits.' " Twilley v. Daubert Coated Prods., Inc., 536 So.2d 1364, 1367 (Ala.1988). This Court has not, however, previously determined that a § 25-5-11.1 claim for retaliatory discharge "arises under" the Workers' Compensation Act to the extent that it ceases to be characterized as a "tort claim" in the traditional sense of that term.

To establish that Adkins's § 25-5-11.1 claim was excluded from coverage under the policy, the Trust relied upon Wojciak v. Northern Package Corp., 310 N.W.2d 675 (Minn.1981), wherein the Supreme Court of Minnesota construed an insurance provision similar to that before us to exclude coverage for a retaliatory discharge claim provided for by the Minnesota workers' compensation statutes. The Minnesota statute specifically provides (a) damages for diminution in workers' compensation benefits, (b) punitive benefits not to exceed three times the amount of workers' compensation benefits, and (c) no offset by any worker's compensation to which the employee is entitled. The Minnesota statute thus intertwines damages relating to traditional workers' compensation benefits with the claims of "discharging or threatening to discharge" an employee seeking worker's compensation benefits.

By contrast, the Alabama statute has no special provisions tying the claim to damages relating to workers' compensation benefits; on the contrary, a plaintiff who brings a claim under § 25-5-11.1 can be awarded damages under the general law of torts. Caraway v. Franklin Ferguson Mfg. Co., 507 So.2d 925 (Ala.1987). See, also, Continental Eagle Corp. v. Mokrzycki, 611 So.2d 313 (Ala.1992) (mental anguish and loss of wages compensable "under the general law of torts and, thus, under Ala.Code 1975, § 25-5-11.1." 611 So.2d at 315). The award of such damages could entail proof of damage or harm and could entail jury trials, which are nonexistent in traditional workers' compensation actions and which are not contemplated by the Minnesota workers' compensation law. Based on the differences between the Alabama statute and the Minnesota statute, we find the holding of Wojciak not persuasive here.

We note that claims that do "arise under" workers' compensation laws are generally for occupational diseases and accidental injuries resulting from one's employment. The § 25-5-11.1 action for retaliatory discharge operates to protect an employee who files a traditional worker's compensation claim but, in so doing, does not itself become a "worker's compensation"...