Maxwell v. Care Solutions, Inc.

• Decision Date: 30 September 2015
• Docket Number: No. 50,088–WCA.,50,088–WCA.
• Citation: 179 So.3d 650
• Parties: Sheila MAXWELL, Plaintiff–Appellee v. CARE SOLUTIONS, INC., Defendant–Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

179 So.3d 650

Sheila MAXWELL, Plaintiff–Appellee

v.CARE SOLUTIONS, INC., Defendant–Appellant.

No. 50,088–WCA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

Sept. 30, 2015.

Snellings, Breard, Sartor, Inabnett & Trascher, LLP by Donald J. Anzelmo, Monroe, LA, for Appellant.

Street & Street by C. Daniel Street, Monroe, LA, for Appellee.

Before BROWN, DREW, and CALLOWAY (pro tempore), JJ.

BROWN, Chief Judge.

Claimant, Sheila Maxwell, was working as a caregiver for defendant, Care Solutions, Inc. At approximately 10 p.m., she left a client at the Glenwood Regional Medical Center ("Glenwood") in West Monroe, Louisiana, and walked to her car in the hospital parking lot where she was assaulted and severely beaten by an unknown assailant. She filed a disputed claim for workers' compensation. The workers' compensation judge ("WCJ") found that: a compensable accident had occurred and that claimant was entitled to medical benefits; the employer had no reasonable basis to controvert or deny the claim; an award of penalties and attorney fees was appropriate; yet, due to a lack of an expert opinion showing that claimant was unable to work, she was not entitled to an award of temporary total disability ("TTD") benefits. Claimant filed a motion to modify the judgment/grant a new trial, which was denied. Defendant, Care Solutions, Inc., has appealed from the WCJ's judgment, and claimant, Sheila Maxwell, has answered the appeal as to the denial of TTD benefits. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the WCJ's order in claimant's favor. We reverse the denial of TTD benefits, and remand for further proceedings.

Facts and Procedural Background

On January 22, 2014, claimant, Sheila Maxwell, was working as a caregiver for defendant, Care Solutions, Inc. Her job entailed assisting aged or disabled persons in household living activities such as taking baths, cooking, going to the bathroom, dressing

and undressing, and light housekeeping. On that date, claimant worked her usual hours, which were 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Shortly after 5:00 p.m., as claimant was readying to leave her client's home, he complained of chest pains and breathing problems. According to the protocol issued by defendant, Ms. Maxwell was required to call a Care Solutions nurse for instructions. Claimant was directed to call 911, which she did, and to accompany the client to the hospital and remain with him until he was either admitted or released.

As her client was transported to the Glenwood Emergency Room, Ms. Maxwell followed in her personal vehicle. They arrived around 5:30 p.m., but the decision to admit the client wasn't made until approximately 10:00 p.m. As claimant was preparing to leave, the client asked her to take his medicine and clothing to his house and to tell his wife about his admission to the hospital. Ms. Maxwell took the items with her, intending to drop by the client's house on her way home.

Claimant walked to her car in the hospital's parking lot, and as she opened the door to get inside, an unknown black male accosted her, sliding into the vehicle next to her on the driver's seat. He told Ms. Maxwell that he had just been released from jail and wanted her to take him somewhere. Claimant refused and tried to push her assailant from her car. The man then struck Ms. Maxwell several times in the face with a hard object. Her screams apparently scared him away, and Ms. Maxwell watched him leave the scene before she walked back to the hospital's emergency room to seek treatment for her injuries. Claimant's injuries included crushed and fractured facial bones

under her eye, a broken nose, a laceration from her nose to her mouth, and a dislocated cheekbone. Ms. Maxwell reported the incident to Care Solutions the next morning. A company nurse came to claimant's home, took her picture to document her injuries, and retrieved the client's medications.

Ms. Maxwell has not worked since the incident on January 22, 2014. She filed a disputed claim for compensation on February 6, 2014, asserting that her employer, Care Solutions, refused to provide or authorize workers' compensation medical and indemnity benefits. She also indicated her choice of physician and sought, in addition to medical and indemnity benefits, an award of penalties and attorney fees. Defendant filed an answer on March 12, 2014, admitting that claimant had sustained an injury, and that she was employed with Care Solutions at the time of her injury. However, defendant denied, inter alia, that Ms. Maxwell was performing services arising out of and in the course of her employment at the time of the incident.

Because she was not financially able to obtain medical treatment, on March 19, 2014, almost two months after her injuries were sustained, Ms. Maxwell filed a motion for treatment by her choice of physicians. Thereafter, defendant was ordered to provide/authorize evaluation (not continuing treatment) by two of the requested doctors, a general practitioner, and an ear, nose and throat specialist.

At the hearing on September 3, 2014, Ms. Maxwell testified that no indemnity benefits had been paid to her, and that, other than the initial evaluations ordered by the WCJ, defendant had provided or authorized no medical benefits. As noted above, the WCJ found that claimant was injured in the course and arising out of her employment, but because there was no expert medical testimony or records to indicate her inability to work, no indemnity benefits were allowed. Defendant was ordered to provide and pay for all reasonable and necessary medical treatment required for Ms. Maxwell's work-related injuries and to reimburse her for medical expenses associated with her initial care at the Glenwood Regional Medical Center and court-ordered evaluations. The WCJ also assessed penalties in the amount of $2,000 and awarded claimant attorney fees in the amount of $8,000 for defendant's failure to provide medical benefits. After this judgment, claimant went back to her doctor and obtained an opinion that she was disabled; she attached this opinion to her motion for new trial and modification. The motion for new trial/and or modification filed by claimant was denied. Defendant took a suspensive appeal and claimant answered, seeking review of the denial of her request for TTD benefits.

Discussion

Entitlement to Workers' Compensation Benefits

Defendant, Care Solutions, claims that Ms. Maxwell was a "volunteer" when she went with her client to the hospital because her shift had ended before the client started having the medical problems that precipitated his hospitalization and, even if claimant's duties did require her to attend to her client after her shift ended, Ms. Maxwell was "off the clock" once her client was admitted to the hospital. Therefore, her injuries, which occurred in the hospital's parking lot as she was leaving the premises, were not sustained in the course of her employment nor did they arise out of her employment.

To establish entitlement to workers' compensation benefits, the claimant must show that she sustained a personal injury by an accident arising out of and in the course of her employment. La. R.S. 23:1031(A) ; Buxton v. Iowa Police Dept., 09–0520 (La.10/20/09), 23 So.3d 275 ; Wilson v. General Motors Corp., 45,232 (La.App.2d Cir.05/26/10), 37 So.3d 602. The two requirements of arising out of employment and in the course of employment are separate but mutually interdependent concepts used to determine whether the inquiry is sufficiently related to the employment to warrant coverage under the system of workers' compensation. Mundy v. Dept. of Health and Human Resources, 593 So.2d 346 (La.1992). However, these requirements should not be considered in isolation, and a strong showing of one can overcome or strengthen a weaker showing of the other. Mitchell v. Brookshire Grocery Co., 26,755 (La.App.2d Cir.04/05/95), 653 So.2d 202, writ denied, 95–1115 (La.06/16/95), 655 So.2d 339 ; Duncan v. South Central Bell Telephone Co., 608 So.2d 649 (La.App. 2d Cir.1992), writ denied, 610 So.2d 800 (La.1993).

In the Course of Employment

An accident occurs in the course of employment when the employee sustains an injury while actively engaged in the performance of her duties during working hours, either on the employer's premises or at other places where employment activities take the employee. Mundy, supra. The principal criteria for determining course of employment are time, place and activity. Id.; Mitchell, supra. "In the course of" brings into focus where the employee was and what she was doing at the moment of her injury. Wilson,supra; Wells v. Higginbotham, 43,472 (La.App.2d Cir.08/13/08), 989 So.2d 848, writ denied, 08–2425 (La.12/12/08), 996 So.2d 1121. Even if an employee has finished her day's work and is in the act of leaving, she is entitled to a reasonable period while still on the employer's premises, or at other places where employment activities have taken the employee, which is regarded within the course of employment. Mitchell, supra; Duncan, supra.

In Jackson v. Lawler, 273 So.2d 856, 858–59 (La.App. 2d Cir.1973), the plaintiff was injured while helping his employer move horses; the work the men had been engaged in required that the horses be moved from the lot in which they were normally kept to another one for the duration of the work. The lower court found that the plaintiff, who was employed as a common laborer by defendant, was not in the course and scope of his employment at the time of his injury because he was not injured during his typical work duties, but while "accommodating" a request by his employer that he assist with moving the horses back to their lot as they were leaving the property. This Court wrote:

We are of the opinion that the trial court erred in finding that plaintiff was not within the course and scope of his employment at the time of his injury. Through his own testimony and that of the defendant, it is made very clear that plaintiff undertook to aid in moving the

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