Masden v. CCI Supply, Inc., 2008 Ohio 4396 (Ohio App. 8/29/2008)
| Decision Date | 29 August 2008 |
| Docket Number | Appellate No. 22304. |
| Citation | 2008 Ohio 4396 |
| Parties | Christopher L. Masden, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Cci Supply, Inc., et al., Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
Gary D. Plunkett, Atty. Reg. #0046804, Brett Bissonnette, Atty. Reg. #0076527, and Amy Metcalfe, Atty. Reg. #0080173, Hochman & Plunkett Co., L.P.A., 3077 Kettering Blvd., Point West, Suite 210, Dayton, OH 45439, Attorneys for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Gary P. Martin, Atty. Reg. #0066105, Corporate Counsel, CCI Supply, Inc., 5390 Courseview Drive, Mason, Ohio 45040, and Konrad Kuczak, Atty. Reg. #0011186, 130 West Second Street, Suite 1010, Dayton, Ohio 45402, Attorneys for Defendant-Appellant.
{¶ 1} Appellant, C.C.I. Supply, Inc. ("CCI") appeals from the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court judgment, permitting Appellee, Christopher L. Masden ("Masden") to participate in the Worker's Compensation fund for the condition of right shoulder rotator cuff tear.
{¶ 2} The record indicates that Masden was injured during an altercation in October 2005 when he was sent to work at a new Sam's Club construction site in Utica, Michigan at the direction of his employer, CCI. Masden was hired as a carpenter by CCI in early 2005. During his employment with CCI, Masden worked at various work sites, both within and outside of Ohio at the direction of his employer. In October 2005, CCI assigned Masden and his crew to work at a site in Utica, Michigan. The crew was composed of four members: Christopher Masden, his brother, Charles Masden, Jerry Keating, and Chad Demory. Masden was required to lodge at the Best Value Inn, located approximately one mile from the Sam's Club work site. According to Masden, the motel was a less than desirable location where there was a presence of a prostitute living on the premise and excessive drinking among the lodgers. The motel was selected and paid for by CCI, and it was necessary for Masden to lodge there because the Best Inn was the only motel for which CCI would pay.
{¶ 3} On the night of the injury after a full workday, Christopher and Charles Masden heard a commotion outside their door, and Charles Masden got out of bed and opened his door. A man who lived next door was drinking and arguing with another woman outside their door. Charles Masden told them to take it somewhere else so they could get a good night's rest. In response, the man took a swing at Charles Masden with a beer bottle but missed. A fight ensued between the two men and ended up in the man's room. Shortly thereafter, Masden joined in to help pull the man off his brother. During the scuffle, the man became unconscious, and appellee and his brother left the unconscious man under the bed and closed his door. Concerned about the safety of the crew members, Masden told the other crew members, Jerry Keating and Chad Demory about the altercation and that they needed to pack up and leave the motel. While the crew members were packing, the roommate of the unconscious man called appellee at his room and asked about his roommate. Masden told him that he should go check up on his roommate as he was not in good condition. Moments later, Masden encountered the confrontational, knife-wielding roommate at the end of the walkway. When Charles Masden stepped out and saw the knife in the very angry roommate's hand, Charles charged toward the knife-wielding roommate and attempted to take the knife away from him. Appellee, Keating, and Demory joined to help disarm the roommate. During this second altercation, the unconscious man woke up and joined in the scuffle. At some point while Masden was attempting to pull his brother out of the man's room, Charles Masden was hit in the head with a beer bottle, and as Masden tried to throw the bottle back, he noticed he could not move his arm. He then went to his room to get his gun. Once the other two men saw Masden with the gun, both men ran off.
{¶ 4} Police arrived at the motel, but made no charges against the four crew members, and they were all released. However, records indicate that the two unidentified men, one of whom was on parole, were put in jail. No crew member was disciplined or terminated as a result of this incident.
{¶ 5} Appellee filed a claim with the Bureau of Worker's Compensation for the shoulder rotator cuff tear he sustained in the October 2005 incident. After a hearing on March 15, 2006, a district hearing officer found that Appellee did not sustain an injury "in the course of" and "arising out of" employment. Appellee then appealed that determination, and a staff hearing officer confirmed the order. Appellee next appealed the decision to the Industrial Commission which refused the appeal. Appellee filed an appeal, challenging the denial of his worker's compensation claim, to the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas. After Masden filed his complaint requesting participation in the fund, CCI answered and raised the defense that the court lacked jurisdiction pursuant to R.C. 4123.512. Before trial, the trial court overruled CCI's claim that it lacked jurisdiction to hear Masden's complaint. It found that Masden had entered into its contract of employment with CCI in Montgomery County. The matter proceeded to trial, and a jury verdict was returned in favor of Appellee, finding that Appellee was entitled to participate in the Worker's Compensation Fund. Appellant appeals from the trial court's judgment and asserted four assignments of error:
I. "THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN FAILING TO DIRECT A VERDICT FOR APPELLANT WHEN THE EVIDENCE WAS UNDISPUTED THAT APPELLEE'S INJURY LACKED THE REQUISITE NEXUS TO HIS EMPLOYMENT TO BE COMPENSABLE UNDER THE WORKER'S COMPENSATION ACT."
II. "THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY REFUSING TO PROPERLY INSTRUCT THE JURY ON OHIO LAW REGARDING WHEN AND WHETHER ASSAULTS BY THIRD PARTIES ARE COMPENSABLE UNDER THE WORKER'S COMPENSATION ACT."
III. "THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY DENYING APPELLANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS OR CHANGE VENUE."
IV. "THE JURY VERDICT IN FAVOR OF APPELLEE IS AGAINST THE MANIFEST WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE."
{¶ 6} CCI asserts in its first assignment of error that the trial court committed reversible error in failing to direct a verdict for Appellant when the evidence was undisputed that Appellee's injury lacked the requisite nexus to his employment to be compensable. According to Civ.R. 50(A)(4), a motion for directed verdict is granted if, after construing the evidence most strongly in favor of the nonmoving party, "reasonable minds could come to but one conclusion upon the evidence submitted and that conclusion is adverse to such party." The "reasonable minds" test mandated by Civ.R. 50(A)(4) requires the court to discern only whether there exists any evidence of substantive probative value that favors the position of the nonmoving party. Civ.R. 50(A)(4); Ruta v. Breckenridge-Remy Co. (1982), 69 Ohio St.2d 66, 69, 23 O.O.3d 115, 430 N.E.2d 935.
{¶ 7} To be compensable for an injury under Ohio Worker's Compensation Act, both prongs of the test in R.C. 4123.01(c) must be satisfied: the injury must have occurred both "in the course of" and "arising out of" the employment. R.C. 4123.01(c); Fisher v. Mayfield (1990), 49 Ohio St. 3d. 275, 277, 551 N.E.2d 1271. "An injury occurs in the course of and arises out of employment within the contemplation of the Ohio Worker's Compensation Act, if the injury followed as a natural incident of the work and as a result of exposure occasioned by the nature, conditions or surrounding of the employment." Sebek v. Cleveland Graphite Bronze Co. (1947), 148 Ohio St. 693, 76 N.E. 892, at paragraph 2 of the syllabus, (overruled, in part, on other grounds, by Johnson v. Industrial Commission of Ohio (1955), 164 Ohio St. 297). Pursuant to R.C. 4123.95, the worker's compensation statutes must be liberally construed in favor of the employee. R.C. 4123.95.
{¶ 8} As the Supreme Court of Ohio stated in Fisher, in analyzing the first requirement that an injury be sustained "in the course of" employment, the court must consider factors such as time, place, and circumstances of the injury to determine the existence of a nexus between the employment and injurious activity. 49 Ohio St.3d at 277. These factors, however, are not the ultimate object of a course-of-employment inquiry. Ruckman v. Cubby Drilling, Inc. (1998), 81 Ohio St.3d 117, 120, 689 N.E.2d 91. The "in the course of" requirement limits the compensable injuries to those "occasioned in the course of the employment." Id. at 121. However, the employee need not necessarily be injured in the actual performance of work. Sebek, 148 Ohio St. at paragraph three of the syllabus. It is sufficient that the injury is sustained while the employee engages in an "activity that is consistent with the contract for hire and is logically related or is incidental to the employer's business." Sebek, 148 Ohio St. at paragraph three of the syllabus. "If the injuries are sustained [off premises], the employe[e] * * * must, at the time of his injury, have been engaged in the promotion of his employer's business and in the furtherance of his affairs." Ruckman, 81 Ohio St.3d at 121, quoting Indus. Comm. v. Bateman (1933), 126 Ohio St. 279, 185 N.E. 50.
{¶ 9} Applying this standard liberally construed in favor of the employee, the Eighth Appellate District in Duncan v. Ohio Blow Pipe Co. (1998), 130 Ohio App.3d 228, 719, N.E.2d 1029, held that the claimant's travel during his stay in a work site out of state was "in the course of employment." In Duncan, the employee was assigned to work at an out-of-state work site, and the employer paid for his meal, transportation and lodging during his stay. Id. at 237. The employee was injured on his way back to his hotel from a restaurant, which the court determined to be an injury "in the course of employment."...
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