Larchmont Farms, Inc. v. Parra

• Decision Date: 21 February 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-0202,96-0202
• Citation: 941 S.W.2d 93
• Parties: 40 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 351 LARCHMONT FARMS, INC., Petitioner, v. Jose PARRA, Respondent.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

Page 93

941 S.W.2d 93

40 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 351

LARCHMONT FARMS, INC., Petitioner, v. Jose PARRA, Respondent.

No. 96-0202.

Supreme Court of Texas.

Feb. 21, 1997.

Michael G. McLean, Joseph L. Hood, Jr., El Paso, for petitioner.

George A. McAlmon, David Hilton, El Paso, for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

In this case we consider whether the court of appeals erred in refusing, on public policy grounds, to enforce a New Jersey law that is substantially similar to our own exclusive remedy provision. 932 S.W.2d 68. We conclude that the court of appeals had no valid public policy basis to refuse to enforce the New Jersey provision under this state's choice of law principles. We further disagree with the court of appeals' conclusion that the employer did not trigger the provisions of the New Jersey law by its delay in filing an occupational injury report with the New Jersey Workers' Compensation Division. We therefore reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and render judgment that the plaintiff take nothing.

Larchmont Farms, Inc., a New Jersey corporation, recruited and hired Jose Parra, an El Paso resident, to work on Larchmont's peach farm in New Jersey. In August 1990, Parra was injured on the job. Larchmont filed a notice of injury of Parra's accident with the New Jersey Workers' Compensation Division in April 1991, several months late. Parra then filed a claim with the New Jersey Workers' Compensation Division. While the claim was pending, Larchmont's compensation insurance carrier paid all of Parra's medical expenses that accrued in New Jersey. However, it did not pay any disability claims. In February 1992, Parra's Texas-based attorney notified the New Jersey Workers' Compensation Division that Parra was electing to proceed under the Texas Workers' Compensation Act rather than New Jersey's. When Parra's accident occurred, however, the Texas statute did not cover farm laborers. See TEX.REV.CIV. STAT. ANN. art. 8306 § 2, repealed by Acts 1989, 71st leg., 2nd C.S., ch.1 § 16.01(7)-(9), eff. Jan. 1, 1991.

In March 1992, Larchmont filed a motion to dismiss Parra's New Jersey claim because Parra had failed to appear for an independent medical examination scheduled for him in New Jersey. A New Jersey Judge of Compensation granted Larchmont's motion two months later. Meanwhile, in April 1992, Parra had filed a common law negligence suit in El Paso County. The trial court granted Larchmont's motion for summary judgment on the basis that the New Jersey Workers' Compensation Act's exclusive remedy provision barred Parra's cause of action. Parra appealed, arguing that as an out-of-state Texas employee under the Texas Workers' Compensation Act, he had a remedy against Larchmont in Texas. Although the court of appeals expressly rejected Larchmont's arguments that either the doctrine of election of remedies, the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution, or the doctrine of comity barred Parra's Texas action, 932 S.W.2d at 72, the court nevertheless held that New Jersey law applied under the "most significant relationship" conflict of laws test. Gutierrez v. Collins, 583 S.W.2d 312, 318 (Tex.1979). Instead of applying New Jersey's exclusive remedy clause ¹ to affirm the trial court's judgment, the court of appeals, on its own motion, abated its judgment for sixty days to allow Parra to reinstate his claim in New Jersey. 932 S.W.2d 68. The court reasoned, "[w]hile we are constrained to apply Texas procedural laws and rules, even when considering the substantive law of a sister State, we can fashion what we believe is an appropriate remedy." 932 S.W.2d 68.

When neither Parra nor Larchmont sought to have the claim reinstated after sixty days, the court issued a final opinion, holding that Parra was indeed entitled to a trial on his negligence cause of action under Texas law. While recognizing that New Jersey law applied, the court concluded, "In the face of undisputed facts that Larchmont failed to abide by its statutory obligations under the New Jersey Worker's Compensation Act to 'accept the provisions' of that statute, we decline, in the interests of justice and public policy, to find an irrebuttable presumption that there was 'an election surrender' of Parra's common law action."

In its sole point of error, Larchmont complains that the court of appeals erred in holding that Larchmont's delay in filing the employer's notice of injury prohibited enforcing the exclusive remedy provision of the New Jersey Workers' Compensation Act. Once the court of appeals correctly determined that New Jersey law applied, it contends, there was no valid public policy reason not to apply that state's exclusive remedy provision.

We agree, and Parra does not contend otherwise, that New Jersey law applies for the reasons so carefully articulated by the court of appeals. However, we disagree with the court of appeals' judgment for two reasons.

First, under New Jersey law, an employer's status as a subscriber to the workers' compensation system is determined when it hires an employee. See N.J. STAT. ANN. § 34:15-9 (West 1990). While Larchmont's failure to file an injury report in a timely manner may subject it to an administrative fine, no provision of the statute deprives it of the protections of the workers' compensation law. See N.J. STAT. ANN. § 34:15-101 (West 1990).

Second, the court of appeals misapplied this state's public policy doctrine. The basic rule is that a court need not enforce a foreign law if enforcement would be contrary to Texas public policy. See Gutierrez, 583 S.W.2d at 321; Castilleja v. Camero, 414 S.W.2d 424, 427 (Tex.1967); California v. Copus, 158 Tex. 196, 309 S.W.2d 227, 232 (1958), cert. denied, 356 U.S. 967, 78 S.Ct. 1006, 2 L.Ed.2d 1074 (1958). As this Court said in ...