Kaya v. Partington

• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: WEISBERGER; Our brother; FLANDERS
• Citation: Kaya v. Partington, 681 A.2d 256 (R.I. 1996)
• Decision Date: 01 August 1996
• Docket Number: No. 94-523-A,94-523-A
• Parties: John C. KAYA v. John J. PARTINGTON et al. ppeal.

Page 256

681 A.2d 256

John C. KAYA v. John J. PARTINGTON et al.

No. 94-523-Appeal.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

Aug. 1, 1996.

Stephen E. Breggia, Providence, for Plaintiff.

Richard G. Riendeau, Catherine E. Graziano, Providence, for Defendant.

OPINION

WEISBERGER, Chief Justice.

This case comes before us on the appeal of the plaintiff, John C. Kaya (Kaya), from a summary judgment entered in the Superior Court in favor of the defendants, the city of Providence; John J. Partington, commissioner of public safety for the city of Providence; Colonel Bernard E. Gannon, chief of the Providence police department; and Stephen T. Napolitano, treasurer of the city of Providence. We affirm the summary judgment in favor of the city of Providence and all other defendants. The facts of the case insofar as pertinent to this appeal are as follows.

On May 2, 1993, plaintiff, a thirteen-year veteran of the Providence police department who had attained the rank of sergeant, was injured by an unknown assailant while attempting to make an arrest. The plaintiff was dispatched to an area opposite 187 Benefit Street in Providence's East Side along with several other police officers when Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) security officers requested assistance from the Providence police department. A group of several hundred young people was gathered around a bonfire, singing and chanting, near the entrance to an abandoned railroad tunnel located in the area. The police had reason to believe that these youths, most of whom were costumed and several of whom were filming the event, were participating in a "satanic ritual." Upon arriving at the scene the police, including plaintiff, attempted to disperse the group. The crowd grew hostile and violent. The situation became unruly, with many in the crowd shouting obscenities and throwing debris at the officers. In the midst of this melee, several of the officers were seriously injured, including Kaya, who was struck in the face with a chunk of asphalt while attempting to arrest a female participant.

In accordance with G.L.1956 chapter 19 of title 45, and predicated on his work-related injury, plaintiff received "injured-on-duty" (IOD) benefits. The plaintiff was released by his physician and has returned to the full performance of his duties as a police officer.

Kaya subsequently brought this action for damages, claiming that defendants negligently failed to provide him, as well as other ranking officers on the scene, with blue shirts as part of their uniforms, as opposed to the white shirts issued. Kaya alleges that his white shirt made him a "more susceptible and likely target of violent assault" and that he was "specially targeted for such assault by virtue of his uniform." ¹ In addition, plaintiff alleges that he did not have any protective riot gear at the time he approached the disturbance and subsequently sustained his injuries. Kaya specifically contends that defendants acted negligently, willfully, and intentionally by failing to provide a blue shirt and riot gear.

The defendants' motion for summary judgment was granted. The plaintiff filed a timely appeal and contends that the trial justice erred in granting defendants' motion for summary judgment. We disagree.

The issue presented in this case is whether a police officer can maintain an action in tort against a municipality and his or her superior officers for injuries sustained in the course of his or her employment and whether IOD benefits constitute the exclusive remedy of a police officer injured in the line of duty.

Police officers in Rhode Island are statutorily entitled to compensation for injuries incurred in the performance of their duties. General Laws 1956 chapter 19 of title 45 entitled, "Relief of Injured and Deceased Fire Fighters and Police Officers," provides for such compensation and benefits. This statute automatically triggers IOD benefits upon the occurrence of a line-of-duty illness or injury without requiring the police officer to show fault on the part of the respective city, town, fire district, or state. Labbadia v. State, 513 A.2d 18, 21 (R.I.1986). The IOD statute provides that any police officer in Rhode Island who is injured in the performance of his or her duties may recover the benefits under the statutory scheme. Section 45-19-1(a). These benefits include a mandate for payment of medical and related expenses for police officers injured in the line of duty as well as the full salary to which they would be entitled had they not been so incapacitated. Id. In addition, the statute provides that all such medical expenses related to this injury will be covered if he or she retires in a disabled condition as a result of the injury and he or she suffers a recurrence of the injury that caused his or her retirement. Id. Section 45-19-1(b) provides that "the term 'police officer' shall mean and include any chief or other member of the police department of any city or town regularly employed at a fixed salary or wage."

Section 45-19-1 is a separate and distinct compensation statute from the Workers' Compensation Act (WCA) which originally covered police officers. ² Section 45-19-1 is unlike the WCA in that it requires that their full salaries be paid to police officers by the municipality that employs them. Under the WCA injured workers receive only a percentage of their salaries, G.L.1956 § 28-33-17, and coverage under the WCA is optional on the part of the individual employee, G.L.1956 § 28-29-17. Furthermore, when an employee elects coverage under the WCA, he or she is deemed to have waived his or her common-law rights against the employer and its employees, officers, directors, and agents. Boucher v. McGovern, 639 A.2d 1369, 1375 (R.I.1994) (exclusive-remedy provision of WCA immunized driver, as coemployee of passenger, from claims for contribution or indemnity).

In contrast the IOD statute is not optional. It is a mandatory compensation act and must be complied with as the exclusive remedy provided to police officers who become ill or injured in the line of duty. It presents no alternative legal course of action to the police officer with respect to the city or the town that employs that officer. Section 45-19-1.1 establishes a means for reimbursement to the city or the town of the above moneys expended only when the injury or the sickness of the officer "was caused under circumstances creating a legal liability in some person other than the employer." However, the IOD statute does not preclude an officer from seeking recovery of damages, including compensation for pain and suffering, from a third party. Those rights remain intact. It is notable that § 45-19-1 does not provide for such compensation payments by the municipality to the officer.

There have been several amendments since the original enactment in 1944 of § 45-19-1, which then only required municipalities to pay police officers incapacitated during the performance of their duties for the duration of the incapacity. Included among these were changes allowing for other categories of public-safety employees to receive these injury benefits. For example, crash-rescue crewmembers having been previously covered by the WCA were added in 1972 with the enactment of P.L.1972, ch. 212, § 1. Labbadia, 513 A.2d at 20. In Labbadia, this court addressed Labbadia's attempt to recover both under the IOD and the WCA. Id. at 20. Labbadia, a crash-rescue crewmember, sought double compensation because it appeared that when the Legislature provided for members of his occupation to be included under § 45-19-1, it did not specifically exclude them from § 28-29-2. Labbadia, 513 A.2d at 22. In denying Labbadia's appeal, this court recognized that the change of remedies for crash-rescue crewmembers "enhanced the rights and remedies of crash-rescue crewmembers injured in the line of duty." Id. at 21. In Labbadia we stated that "[s]ection 45-19-1 was intended 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." 513 A.2d at 21. This court went on to explain the impact of this statute on those categories of workers who assume the risk of harm every single work day by the very nature of their employment. Specifically, we stated:

"This provision gives police officers, firefighters, and crash-rescue crewmembers greater rights than they would have under either common law (where, for instance they would have to show fault on the part of the employer as well as overcome certain defenses) or the WCA (where, even though the employee is relieved from proving fault, the employee receives only the percentage of salary provided in G.L.1956 (1979 Reenactment) § 28-33-17)." Labbadia, 513 A.2d at 21.

We hold that § 45-19-1 is the exclusive remedy for police officers injured in the line of duty with respect to their employers. The IOD remedy, like workers' compensation benefits, allows a recovery without showing of fault and is not subject to the various tort defenses (contributory negligence, assumption of the risk, lack of foreseeability, lack of a duty or breach of a duty, lack of notice, and intervening causes) that would be available to any alleged tortfeasor, including a municipality, to defeat the claims of a police officer seeking damages under the State Tort Claims Act. (G.L.1956 chapter 31 of title 9). It is noteworthy that Kaya was injured as a direct result of an intentional battery by an unknown assailant. Even if a negligence claim against the city could be established by Kaya, the city's negligence would arguably constitute a remote cause of his injury. However, none of the defenses listed above would be available to the city under the IOD statute to defeat such a claim. However, plaintiff is not precluded by the IOD from bringing suit against the intentional tortfeasor.

The plaintiff makes much of the exclusivity provision of...