Lakeside Casino v. Blue

• Decision Date: 09 November 2007
• Docket Number: No. 03-1221.,03-1221.
• Citation: 743 N.W.2d 169
• Parties: LAKESIDE CASINO and Zurich-American Insurance Group, Appellees, v. Dana BLUE, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

743 N.W.2d 169

LAKESIDE CASINO and Zurich-American Insurance Group, Appellees, v. Dana BLUE, Appellant.

No. 03-1221.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

November 9, 2007.

Max J. Schott of Max Schott & Associates, P.C., Des Moines, for appellant.

Donna R. Miller and Nicholas J. Mauro of Grefe & Sidney, P.L., Des Moines, for appellees.

TERNUS, Chief Justice.

The appellant, Dana Blue, injured her foot when she stumbled on her employer's stairs as she returned to work from a break. The Workers' Compensation Commissioner awarded benefits to Blue for her injury, concluding her work subjected her to the inherently dangerous activity of traversing stairs. On judicial review, the district court rejected the Commissioner's conclusion that stairs are inherently dangerous and reversed the award of benefits, stating Blue's injury coincidentally occurred at work and was not compensable. Blue has appealed this decision. Upon our consideration of the parties' arguments, we reverse the decision of the district court and remand this case for entry of a judgment affirming the Workers' Compensation Commissioner's award of benefits.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

The facts surrounding the occurrence of Blue's injury are largely undisputed. At the time of her injury, Blue was employed as a cocktail server by appellee, Lakeside Casino. On December 31, 2000, she became light-headed and nauseated while on duty and was directed by her supervisor to go to the employee's lounge until she felt better. After spending approximately forty-five minutes in the lounge, Blue's symptoms disappeared, and she felt well enough to return to work. Blue left the lounge with several of her coworkers, walked forty feet to a set of stairs, and descended the stairs with no problem. Still conversing with her coworkers, she turned a corner and began walking down a second set of stairs. As she descended the steps, Blue stumbled and grabbed onto a coworker so as not to fall down the stairs. Although she immediately felt a pain in her ankle, Blue continued to the bottom of the staircase without incident. She later denied any light-headedness or nausea at the time of this incident.

Within the next couple of days, Blue's ankle became painful and swollen, and she could not walk without limping. Despite treatment, Blue continues to have pain in her ankle. She has been diagnosed with possible early complex regional pain syndrome, and her physicians have related this condition to the staircase incident.

Blue sought workers' compensation benefits from her employer and its insurer, appellee Zurich-American Insurance Group. A deputy workers' compensation commissioner presided over the hearing on her claim and determined Blue's ankle problems arose out of and in the course of her employment at Lakeside Casino. Acknowledging there must be "a causal relationship between the employment and the injury" to satisfy the "arising out of" requirement for compensability, the deputy relied on two Iowa Supreme Court cases that stated this requirement was satisfied if "the nature of the employment exposes the employee to risk of such an injury" or if the injury is a "rational consequence of the hazard connected with the employment." See Hanson v. Reichelt, 452 N.W.2d 164, 168 (Iowa 1990); Burt v. John Deere Waterloo Tractor Works, 247 Iowa 691, 700, 73 N.W.2d 732, 737 (1955). The deputy concluded: "Stairs are inherently more dangerous than a flat, smooth, unobstructed walking surface. A stumble while descending stairs in the course of employment can, as here, cause injury arising out of that employment."

On appeal to the Workers' Compensation Commissioner, the Commissioner affirmed and adopted the deputy's decision as the final agency action, supplementing that decision with some additional analysis. The Commissioner stated:

When injured, [Blue] was on duty and on the employer's premises. Her employment compelled her to traverse those stairs. Accordingly, any injury she sustained as a result of traversing the stairs arose out of and in the course of her employment unless something in the evidence establishes otherwise.

The Commissioner then reviewed the evidence and concluded Blue had no health impairment that caused her to trip, and therefore, her stumble was not idiopathic. He further observed there was no evidence of "[a] defect in the stairs or other hazardous condition that caused her to trip, beyond the hazard inherent in stairs." The Commissioner found Blue "simply stumbled, perhaps through her own negligence by not being sufficiently careful while traversing the stairs." Noting "traversing stairs [is] an inherently hazardous activity," the Commissioner ruled Blue's injury was compensable:

[T]he injury occurred from the hazard of traversing stairs and the trauma of stumbling on those stairs while [Blue] was on the employer's premises and performing actions necessary for her to perform in order to perform the duties of her job. Her injury is compensable.

The employer and insurer sought judicial review. The district court reversed the Commissioner's decision, rejecting his "legal conclusion" that stairs are inherently dangerous. The court then applied the actual-risk doctrine and determined Blue's injury did not arise out of her employment. The district court reasoned:

In this case there is no indication that the design of the stairs, condition of the stairs or the lighting of the stairs contributed to Blue's injury. Nor is there any indication that the conditions of Blue's employment exposed her to a hazard not generally associated with traversing stairs (for instance, she was not asked to or required to carry large, heavy, or awkward objects while traversing the stairs). Blue's injury "coincidentally occurred while at work" and therefore did not arise out of work.

Blue has appealed the district court's judicial review decision.

II. Scope of Review.

Our review is governed by Iowa Code chapter 17A. See Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Caselman, 657 N.W.2d 493, 498 (Iowa 2003). We apply the standards of section 17A.19(10) to the Commissioner's decision and decide whether the district court correctly applied the law in exercising its judicial review function. Herrera v. IBP, Inc., 633 N.W.2d 284, 286-87 (Iowa 2001).

In determining the proper standard of review, we must first identify the nature of the claimed basis for reversal of the Commissioner's decision. Here, the employer asserted the Commissioner incorrectly held the employee's injury arose out of her employment. This issue "presents a mixed question of law and fact." Meyer v. IBP, Inc., 710 N.W.2d 213, 218 (Iowa 2006). The factual aspect of this decision requires the Commissioner to determine "the operative events that [gave] rise to the injury." Id. Once the facts are determined, a legal question remains: "[W]hether the facts, as determined, support a conclusion that the injury `arose out of . . . [the] employment,' under our workers' compensation statute." Id. (quoting Hawk v. Jim Hawk Chevrolet-Buick, Inc., 282 N.W.2d 84, 87 (Iowa 1979)).

In the case before us, there is no dispute as to the facts. Rather, the dispute centers on the Commissioner's application of the law to the facts. This aspect of the Commissioner's decision-making process "can be affected by [various] grounds of error such as erroneous interpretation of law; irrational reasoning; failure to consider relevant facts; or irrational, illogical, or wholly unjustifiable application of law to the facts." Id. (citing Iowa Code § 17A.19(10)(c), (i), (j), (m) (2001)).

Based on the arguments made in the petition for judicial review and the district court's discussion of the issues in its decision, we conclude our review is governed by section 17A.19(10)(c), (m):

The court shall reverse, modify, or grant other appropriate relief from agency action . . . if it determines that substantial rights of the person seeking judicial relief have been prejudiced because the agency action is any of the following:

. . . .

c. Based upon an erroneous interpretation of a provision of law whose interpretation has not clearly been vested by a provision of law in the discretion of the agency.

. . . .

m. Based upon an irrational, illogical, or wholly unjustifiable application of law to fact that has clearly been vested by a provision of law in the discretion of the agency.

Iowa Code § 17A.19(10)(c), (m) (2005). "The interpretation of workers' compensation statutes and related case law has not been clearly vested by a provision of law in the discretion of the agency." Finch v. Schneider Specialized Carriers, Inc., 700 N.W.2d 328, 330 (Iowa 2005). Therefore, we give the Commissioner's interpretation of the law no deference and are free to substitute our own judgment. Id. On the other hand, application of the workers' compensation law to the facts as found by the Commissioner is clearly vested in the Commissioner. See Mycogen Seeds v. Sands, 686 N.W.2d 457, 465 (Iowa 2004). Therefore, we may reverse the Commissioner's application of the law to the facts only if it is "irrational, illogical, or wholly unjustifiable." Finch, 700 N.W.2d at 331.

III. Test For "Arising Out Of."

A. Governing Principles. In order for an injury to be compensable in Iowa, there must be "a connection between the injury and the work." Meyer, 710 N.W.2d at 221. That connection is established by showing the injury arose out of and in the course of the worker's employment. Iowa Code § 85.31(1) (2001); Meyer, 710 N.W.2d at 220. In this case, the employer does not dispute that Blue's stumble on the stairs occurred in the course of her employment, but it does contest the Commissioner's determination that Blue's injury arose out of her employment. Not only do the parties disagree whether Blue has carried her burden to prove her injury arose out of her employment, the parties disagree on the proper test under which this element is to be determined. Consequently, we begin our analysis with a...