Minor v. RGT Mgmt. Inc., 2018-WC-00398-COA

• Decision Date: 20 November 2018
• Docket Number: NO. 2018-WC-00398-COA,2018-WC-00398-COA
• Citation: 271 So.3d 644
• Court: Mississippi Court of Appeals
• Parties: Arthur MINOR, Appellant v. RGT MANAGEMENT INC. and Wausau Underwriters Insurance Company, Appellees

271 So.3d 644

Arthur MINOR, Appellant

v.RGT MANAGEMENT INC. and Wausau Underwriters Insurance Company, Appellees

NO. 2018-WC-00398-COA

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

November 20, 2018

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT: ROGEN K. CHHABRA, Jackson, CAROLINE SCOTT HOMMELL

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEES: GINGER MOORE ROBEY, Jackson

BEFORE IRVING, P.J., CARLTON AND FAIR, JJ.

CARLTON, J., FOR THE COURT:

¶ 1. Arthur Minor, a claimant in a workers' compensation action, appeals rom an order of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission imposing $500 in sanctions upon his attorneys for delaying pursuit of his claim without reasonable grounds under Mississippi Code Annotated section 71-3-59(2) (Rev. 2011).¹ We reverse and render the Commission's $500 sanction against Minor's attorneys.

STATEMENT OF FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. Arthur Minor suffered compensable injuries during the course of his employment with RGT Management Inc. as a shift manager/cook for Taco Bell. A workers' compensation claim on Minor's behalf was filed against RGT (Employer) and Wausau Underwriters Insurance Company (Carrier) by his first lawyer in March 2013. That lawyer's motion to withdraw from representation of Minor was granted by the Administrative Judge (AJ) on September 3, 2015. The order provided, in relevant part, as follows:

Claimant is allowed thirty (30) days from the date of this Order in which to obtain representation by another attorney or continue prosecution of this claim without legal representation. Failure to do so may result in the dismissal of this claim.

¶ 3. The same AJ dismissed Minor's workers' compensation claim by order dated November 2, 2015, based upon the AJ's determination that Minor had failed to prosecute his claim. The AJ found that her September 3, 2015 order had "granted Mr. Minor thirty (30) days to obtain counsel or announce his intent to pursue this claim without legal representation" and that Minor had failed to comply with that provision. The order further provided that "[t]o request reinstatement of this claim, Claimant must timely file a motion to reinstate with the Commission."

¶ 4. The AJ's November 2, 2015 order was not appealed, and thus it became a final order in twenty days, pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated section 71-3-47 (Rev. 2011).² Minor engaged new counsel (his current counsel), and a motion to reinstate Minor's claim was filed on his behalf on December 4, 2015.

¶ 5. Over a year later, on February 15, 2017, the Commission issued a notice of hearing on Minor's motion, setting a hearing for March 20, 2017. The Employer/Carrier filed a response to Minor's motion to reinstate his claim on March 10, 2017, seeking dismissal of Minor's claim. The Employer/Carrier argued that the Commission no longer had jurisdiction over Minor's claim because no action had been taken on Minor's motion to reinstate since it was filed in December 2015.

¶ 6. The AJ denied Minor's motion to reinstate by an order dated April 27, 2017, finding that under Mississippi Code Annotated section 71-3-53 (Rev. 2011)³ and the applicable case law, the Commission no longer had jurisdiction to consider the motion because Minor had done nothing after his motion to reinstate was filed on December 4, 2015.

¶ 7. Minor appealed the AJ's order, requesting review before the full Commission. He argued that the filing of his motion to reinstate was sufficient to satisfy the one-year time frame set forth in section 71-3-53 because the Commission's procedural rules did not require that the motion be set for oral argument. Minor asserted that because his motion could be decided without a hearing, he was not required to do anything further once his motion to reinstate was filed.

¶ 8. Minor also filed a motion to introduce additional evidence. In that motion he sought to introduce two exhibits: (A) an affidavit of Caroline Hommell, his counsel, detailing efforts made to check on the status of the case and set a hearing; and (B) an email from a Commission employee responding to the status inquiry. In proposed exhibit A (the Hommell affidavit), Ms. Hommell attested that the motion to reinstate was filed on November 30, 2015;⁴ that on April 25, 2016, an employee in her law office contacted an employee at the Commission, Ms. Shirley Williams, to check on the status of the case and to see if anything needed to be done; that Ms. Williams responded the next day with an email stating: "This file is closed! You must set your motion to reinstate filed in December" (this email is proposed exhibit B); and that in August 2016 an employee in Ms. Hommell's law office left a message for the AJ's assistant to obtain hearing dates, but her message was not returned.

¶ 9. By an order dated October 24, 2017, the Commission reversed the AJ's decision and reinstated Minor's claim, finding that the filing of Minor's motion to reinstate satisfied the time requirements of section 71-3-53.⁵ The Commission, however, also imposed a $500 sanction against Minor's counsel based upon his counsel's inaction following the filing of the motion to reinstate. The Commission recognized that Minor's counsel had addressed the delay issue by filing a motion to introduce additional evidence, and the Commission granted that motion. Nevertheless, the Commission found:

[B]ased upon the Commission's review of the entire record in this claim, we find that Claimant's current counsel filed the Motion to Reinstate, but their subsequent inaction delayed this claim without reasonable ground. Such delay warrants the imposition of a $500 sanction against current counsel for Claimant. Miss. Code Ann. § 71-3-59.

¶ 10. Minor filed a Motion for Reconsideration or, Alternatively, to Sever Sanctions into Separate Cause of Action on November 7, 2017, requesting that the Commission "reconsider the sanctions altogether and set them aside, or ... sever the sanctions issue into a separate cause of action that can be appealed independently without prejudicing and even further delaying Claimant's right to move forward on the claim."

¶ 11. The Commission denied this motion on February 15, 2018, holding that "[h]aving studied the record and the applicable law, the Commission finds no evidence warranting a change in the Commission Order previously entered on October 24, 2017. Accordingly, the Claimant's Motion to Reconsider or Alternatively to Sever Sanctions into Separate Cause of Action is denied."

¶ 12. The parties subsequently reached a compromise settlement agreement on Minor's workers' compensation claim. The Commission approved the settlement by order dated March 7, 2018. That order contained a paragraph preserving Minor and his counsel's ability to pursue an appeal with respect to the sanctions issue, as follows:

The parties recognize that there is an outstanding order for sanctions against claimant's counsel, and that such issue is currently pending before the Commission. The employer and carrier have no interest in the outcome of that issue and have no position or objection to claimant continuing to appeal, if so desired. Claimant and his counsel through this settlement, do not waive any rights to continue pursuing the reconsideration and/or appeal of the sanctions.

¶ 13. On March 8, 2018, Minor filed his notice of appeal "from the Full Commission Order" and also filed a detailed "Statement of Issue[s] on Appeal" on March 15, 2018, itemizing the reasons why the $500 sanction should not be imposed upon Minor's counsel.⁶

¶ 14. The sole issue Minor raises on appeal is "whether the $500 sanction awarded by the Commission against [his] counsel pursuant to [ section] 71-3-59(2) [was] appropriate even though his counsel filed a timely motion to reinstate and had no obligation under the rules to set the case for oral argument." The Employer confirmed in its appellee's brief that it takes no position as to whether the sanction is appropriate.⁷

DISCUSSION

I. Standard of Review

¶ 15. "In workers' compensation cases, this Court's review is limited to determining whether the Commission's decision was supported by substantial evidence, was arbitrary and capricious, was beyond the scope or power of the agency to make, or violated a party's constitutional or statutory rights." Wright v. Turan-Foley Motors Inc ., No. 2016-WC-01264-COA, 269 So.3d 160, 167 (¶ 26), 2018 WL 506696, at *5 (¶ 26) (Miss. Ct. App. Jan. 23, 2018). "Substantial evidence, though not easily defined, means something more than a mere scintilla of evidence, and that it does not rise to the level of a preponderance of the evidence. It may be said that it means such relevant evidence as reasonable minds might accept as adequate to support a conclusion." Blackwell v. Howard Indus. Inc ., 243 So.3d 774, 778 (¶ 6) (Miss. Ct. App. 2018).

II. Imposition of Sanctions

¶ 16. The Commission in this case reversed the AJ's dismissal of Minor's claim, finding that the filing of Minor's motion to reinstate on December 4, 2015, which was within one year of the AJ's order of dismissal, satisfied section 71-3-53's one-year time requirement, and tolled the running of that statute. Nevertheless, the Commission also imposed a $500 sanction against Minor's counsel, finding that, based upon its review of the entire record, their subsequent inaction after filing the motion to reinstate Minor's claim "delayed [Minor's] claim without reasonable ground," thus warranting a $500 sanction against them pursuant to section 71-3-59(2). As noted, that statute provides, in relevant part, as follows:

If the full commission determines that proceedings in respect to a claim have been instituted, continued or delayed, ... without reasonable ground, the full commission ... may levy a civil penalty not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) against such party, or attorney advising or assisting such party, or both, payable to the commission.

¶ 17. On appeal, Minor asserts that once his counsel timely filed a motion to reinstate his claim in December 2015, there is no proof in the record that his lawyers'...