Letourneau v. A.N. Deringer/Wausau Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 14 August 2008
• Docket Number: No. 07-278.,07-278.
• Citation: 966 A.2d 133,2008 VT 106
• Parties: Neal LETOURNEAU v. A.N. DERINGER/WAUSAU INSURANCE COMPANY.
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court

966 A.2d 133

2008 VT 106

Neal LETOURNEAU v. A.N. DERINGER/WAUSAU INSURANCE COMPANY.

No. 07-278.

Supreme Court of Vermont.

August 14, 2008.

Christopher McVeigh of McVeigh-Skiff, L.L.P., Burlington, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Keith J. Kasper and Anthony T. Garofano, Law Clerk, of McCormick, Fitzpatrick, Kasper & Burchard, P.C., Burlington, for Defendant-Appellant.

Present: REIBER, C.J., DOOLEY, JOHNSON, SKOGLUND and BURGESS, JJ.

¶ 1. SKOGLUND, J.

This appeal asks us to determine whether Neal Letourneau has a right to transfer his workers' compensation case from the New York workers' compensation system to Vermont's Department of Labor under 21 V.S.A. § 620. We hold that Letourneau is not entitled to transfer his case to Vermont under § 620 for the purpose of claiming Vermont workers' compensation benefits. However, Letourneau is entitled to transfer his case to Vermont under § 620 for the purpose of enforcing his entitlement to New York benefits here if his rights under New York law can be reasonably determined and dealt with by the Commissioner and the courts in this state. In their rulings on Letourneau's transfer request, neither the Commissioner nor the superior court addressed the issue of whether Letourneau's rights under New York law could reasonably be determined and dealt with here. We remand so that the Commissioner can decide that question in the first instance.

¶ 2. A brief explanation of the Commissioner's subject matter jurisdiction over workers' compensation cases will put the facts of this case in context. Persons employed or hired in Vermont who are injured in the course of their employment are entitled to the benefits of Vermont's workers' compensation statutes regardless of where their injury took place. See 21 V.S.A. §§ 616(a) ("[T]his chapter shall apply to all employment in this state."), 619 ("[A] worker who has been hired in this state ... shall be entitled to compensation according to the law of this state even though [the] injury was received outside of this state."). The Commissioner has jurisdiction to determine the rights of these persons under Vermont workers' compensation law as a necessary incident to her obligation to administer that law. See 21 V.S.A. § 606 (granting Commissioner authority to determine questions arising under Vermont's workers' compensation laws); DeGray v. Miller Bros. Constr. Co., 106 Vt. 259, 268, 173 A. 556, 559 (1934) ("[T]he commissioner of industries shall have original jurisdiction to hear and determine all controverted questions of fact and law arising in the administration of the [workers' compensation laws], except as otherwise provided."). The Commissioner also has subject matter jurisdiction to determine the rights of injured employees under the workers' compensation statutes of other states in limited circumstances pursuant to § 620, which reads:

If a worker who has been hired outside of this state is injured while engaged in his employer's business and is entitled to compensation for such injury under the law of the state where he was hired, he shall be entitled to enforce against his employer his rights in this state, if his rights are such that they can be reasonably determined and dealt with by the commissioner and the court in this state.

21 V.S.A. § 620.

¶ 3. The uncontested facts are as follows. Letourneau was hired in New York by A.N. Deringer. A.N. Deringer's corporate office is located in St. Albans, Vermont. While employed by A.N. Deringer, Letourneau lived in Vermont and, for twenty years, commuted to a job site in Champlain, New York. Letourneau was injured on the job on June 4, 2004. Thereafter, A.N. Deringer filed a workers' compensation claim on his behalf in New York and Letourneau received benefits under the New York system. Letourneau received most of his medical treatment in Vermont. On April 26, 2005, Letourneau filed a request with the Department to transfer his case to Vermont.

¶ 4. The Commissioner found that Letourneau had been hired in New York State and that he was thus not entitled to pursue a claim for Vermont workers' compensation benefits under § 619. The Commissioner also concluded that "Vermont has only a casual interest in this case," and that, therefore, Letourneau's rights "cannot be reasonably determined under § 620." The Commissioner did not expressly interpret § 620, but rather appears to have assumed that it extended a right to Vermont's workers' compensation benefits to all employees hired outside Vermont to the extent permissible under the federal constitution. Having skipped over the statutory question, the Commissioner resolved the constitutional question against Letourneau by applying the so-called "legitimate-interest" test, an analysis we adopted in Martin v. Furman Lumber Co., 134 Vt. 1, 346 A.2d 640 (1975), for the purpose of deciding when Vermont has a sufficient interest in a workers' compensation case so as to justify an application of Vermont's compensation statutes without violating our constitutional duty to give full faith and credit to the compensation statutes of another state. Accordingly, the Commissioner declined to take jurisdiction over Letourneau's case, effectively denying his request to transfer. Letourneau appealed the Commissioner's decision to the Franklin Superior Court for a de novo hearing pursuant to §§ 670-671. See Pitts v. Howe Scale Co., 110 Vt. 27, 35, 1 A.2d 695, 698 (1938) (holding that review contemplated by § 671 is retrial de novo).

¶ 5. Before the superior court, the parties stipulated that Letourneau's employment contract was formed in New York,^* that the employment relationship was centered in New York, that the place of injury was New York, that the claimant resided in Vermont, that A.N. Deringer's principal place of business was Vermont, and that almost all of Letourneau's medical providers were located in Vermont. The court determined that the case presented only a question of law, and did not submit the case to the jury. Rather, the court reversed the Commissioner, holding that, on the basis of the facts as stipulated by the parties, Letourneau could enforce his rights against A.N. Deringer in Vermont because, "as a matter of law," his rights "are such as can be reasonably determined and dealt with by the commissioner and the court ... of this state" pursuant to § 620. As had the Commissioner, the court arrived at this conclusion by way of its unstated assumption that § 620 entitled out-of-state hires to pursue workers' compensation claims under Vermont law, and by application of Martin. The court granted summary judgment in favor of Letourneau and remanded the case to the Commissioner for a determination as to what benefits Letourneau was entitled to, if any, under Vermont law. A.N. Deringer appeals.

¶ 6. Both parties have proceeded on appeal as if the issues before us are: (1) whether § 620 entitles Letourneau to pursue a workers' compensation claim in Vermont, under Vermont law, and (2) whether an award rendered in Vermont under Vermont law would be consistent with the Due Process and Full Faith and Credit Clauses of the United States Constitution as well as principles of comity, public policy, waiver, and estoppel. The parties are clearly under the impression, as were the Commissioner and the superior court, that § 620 entitles people neither employed nor hired in Vermont to benefits under Vermont's workers' compensation statutes. As a result, neither party presented argument as to whether Letourneau's rights under New York law could be "reasonably determined and dealt with by the commissioner and court of this state," under § 620.

¶ 7. In reviewing a grant of summary judgment, this Court applies the same standard as the trial court. Openaire, Inc. v. L.K. Rossi Corp., 2007 VT 120, ¶ 7, 182 Vt. 636, 940 A.2d 724 (mem.). We affirm summary-judgment grants when "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... [a] party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." V.R.C.P. 56(c)(3).

¶ 8. This case presents a question of law, which we review de novo. Smith v. Desautels, 2008 VT 17, ¶ 8, 183 Vt. 255, 953 A.2d 620. However, as the Commissioner has been entrusted by the Legislature with the administration of the workers' compensation program, we owe substantial deference to her initial interpretation and application of § 620. See Town of Killington v. Dep't of Taxes, 2003 VT 88, ¶ 5, 176 Vt. 70, 838 A.2d 91 ("[A]bsent a clear and convincing showing to the contrary, decisions made within the expertise of ... agencies are presumed correct, valid and reasonable." (quotation omitted)); see also Morin v. Essex Optical/The Hartford, 2005 VT 15, ¶ 4, 178 Vt. 29, 868 A.2d 729 (reviewing Commissioner's construction of the Workers' Compensation Act with deference). This is true notwithstanding the fact that the workers' compensation statutes authorize a trial de novo in superior court. Cf. Killington, 2003 VT 88, ¶ 5, 176 Vt. 70, 838 A.2d 91 (applying deferential standard to case on appeal from a de novo trial reviewing an administrative decision).

¶ 9. The Commissioner's interpretation and application of § 620 were clearly wrong, as were the superior court's. As noted, § 620 does not entitle persons neither employed nor hired in Vermont to benefits under Vermont's workers' compensation statutes, but rather requires the Commissioner to apply the workers' compensation schemes of other states in certain circumstances.

¶ 10. This much is plain from the text of the workers' compensation statutes themselves. Section 616(a) entitles Vermont employees to Vermont's workers' compensation benefits by stating that "this chapter shall apply to all employment in this state." 21 V.S.A. § 616(a) (emphasis added). Similarly, § 619 specifically invokes Vermont law, stating that "[a] worker ... hired in this state ... shall be entitled to compensation according to the law of this state." Id. § 619 (emphasis added). However, § 620 makes no mention of Vermont...