MOTOR CONTROL SPECIALITIES INC. v. LABOR

Decision Date09 November 2010
Docket NumberNo. WD 71586.,WD 71586.
PartiesMOTOR CONTROL SPECIALITIES, INC., and the Ohio Casualty Insurance Company, Appellants, v. LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION, State of Missouri; Stephen M. Petelik, Respondents.
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals

323 S.W.3d 843

MOTOR CONTROL SPECIALITIES, INC., and the Ohio Casualty Insurance Company, Appellants,
v.
LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION, State of Missouri; Stephen M. Petelik, Respondents.

No. WD 71586.

Missouri Court of Appeals,Western District.

Nov. 9, 2010.


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Kevin McFarland Leahy, St. Louis, MO, for Appellants.

James R. Layton, Jefferson City, MO, for Respondents, Labor & Industrial Relations & State of Missouri.

Roger G. Brown, Jason R. McClitis, Jefferson City, MO, Ellen E. Morgan, Ballwin, MO, for Respondent, Petelik.

Before: VICTOR C. HOWARD, P.J., THOMAS H. NEWTON, and GARY D. WITT, JJ.

323 S.W.3d 848

THOMAS H. NEWTON, Judge.

Motor Control Specialties, Inc. (Employer) and The Ohio Casualty Company (its Insurer) appeal the trial court's judgment denying their petition for declaratory judgment and awarding Mr. Stephen Petelik (Claimant) attorney fees. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

An administrative law judge (ALJ) determined an injury Claimant sustained to his back was compensable under Workers' Compensation Law and granted a temporary or partial award to Claimant against Employer and its Insurer. Petelik v. Motor Control Specialists, 190 S.W.3d 517, 518 (Mo.App. E.D.2006). Employer and its Insurer filed an application for review of the ALJ's temporary award with the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (Commission). Id. at 518-19. The Commission applied regulation 8 CSR 20-3.040 1 and dismissed the application for review because the ALJ's award was not yet final and Employer was not denying all liability. Id. at 519. Employer and its Insurer appealed the Commission's decision to this court's Eastern District, alleging the Commission erred in dismissing the application for review. Id. The Eastern District dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction because the Commission's order dismissing the application for review was not a final and appealable decision. Id. at 518, 520. The Eastern District did not address the validity of the regulation.

Thereafter, Employer and its Insurer filed a petition for declaratory judgment against the Commission and Claimant under section 536.050, asking the trial court to declare regulation 8 CSR 20-3.040 unconstitutional. Motor Control Specialties, Inc. v. Petelik, 258 S.W.3d 482, 485 (Mo.App. W.D.2008). The petition also requested an injunction to “stay the award of temporary total disability ... pending resolution of this matter” for Claimant's back injury and a writ of mandamus to compel the Commission to review the temporary award. The Claimant filed an answer raising affirmative defenses and counterclaims 2 and later filed a motion to dismiss. The Commission filed a memorandum in support of Claimant's motion to dismiss the petition.

Employer and its Insurer voluntarily dismissed the count for writ of mandamus. The trial court entered judgment granting Claimant's motion to dismiss. Thereafter, Claimant filed a request for attorney fees. The trial court denied the request. Subsequently, the trial court entered a final judgment reflecting its decisions stating “no just reason for delay [existed] pursuant to Rule 74.01(b).” 3 Employer and its Insurer appealed the dismissal of the declaratory judgment action and Claimant cross-appealed the denial of attorney fees. Motor Control, 258 S.W.3d at 484.

On appeal, we reversed the dismissal of the declaratory judgment action and remanded the case to the trial court “to

323 S.W.3d 849

convert its decision to a ruling on the merits of the petition.” Id. at 484, 488. We also concluded that the disposition mooted Claimant's appeal of the denial of attorney fees at trial and his request for attorney fees at the appellate level. Id.

On remand, the trial court allowed Employer and its Insurer to amend the petition, over Claimant's and the Commission's objections, to include an argument that regulation 8 CSR 20-3.040 “contravenes portions of Chapter 287.” Additionally, Employer and its Insurer voluntarily dismissed Claimant from the suit. The trial court thereafter allowed the Claimant to request attorney fees and put on evidence of attorney fees. 4

At the conclusion of the hearings on the petition and application for attorney fees, the trial court found that regulation 8 CSR 20-3.040 was constitutional and did not contravene the Workers' Compensation statutes. It granted attorney fees to Claimant for $81,609. Employer and its Insurer (collectively, “Appellants”) appeal the judgment, raising fourteen points.

Standard of Review

We review a declaratory judgment under the principles set forth in Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30, 32 (Mo. banc 1976). Psychiatric Healthcare Corp. of Mo. v. Dep't of Soc. Servs., 100 S.W.3d 891, 899 (Mo.App. W.D.2003). We will affirm the trial court's judgment unless it erroneously declares or applies the law. Id. Questions of law such as statutory interpretation are reviewed de novo. Id. Therefore, we provide the court no deference in its legal conclusions. Id.

We review the granting of attorney fees for an abuse of discretion. Auto-Owners Ins. Co. v. Ennulat, 231 S.W.3d 297, 307 (Mo.App. E.D.2007).

Legal Analysis

In the first three points, Appellants argue that the trial court erred in denying the declaratory judgment because regulation 8 CSR 20-3.040:(1) conflicts with section 287.610.6; (2) was promulgated without authority; and (3) violates due process rights under the United States Constitution and the Missouri Constitution. In the remaining eleven points, Appellants argue that the trial court erred either in awarding attorney fees or in awarding the amount of attorney fees.

Declaratory Judgment 5

In the first point, Appellants argue that regulation 8 CSR 20-3.040 conflicts

323 S.W.3d 850

with section 287.610.6 because the statute provides that “any award” by an ALJ shall be subject to review under section 287.480 and the regulation “precludes review of temporary or partial awards until they are designated to be ‘final’ by an ALJ.” Specifically, Appellants argue that “any,” in its ordinary and plain meaning, is synonymous with “all,” which would include temporary or partial awards. Appellants rely on Gash v. Lafayette County, 245 S.W.3d 229 (Mo. banc 2008), for support.

When interpreting statutes, this court ascertains the legislature's intent from the language used. Sheedy v. Mo. Highways & Transp. Comm'n, 180 S.W.3d 66, 72 (Mo.App. S.D.2005). Section 287.610.6 states, in relevant part, “Any award by an administrative law judge upon an original hearing shall have the same force and effect, shall be enforceable in the same manner as provided elsewhere in this chapter for awards by the labor and industrial relations commission, and shall be subject to review as provided by section 287.480.” Section 287.480 states, in relevant part, “If an application for review is made to the commission within twenty days from the date of the award, the full commission, if the first hearing was not held before the full commission, shall review the evidence, or, if considered advisable, as soon as practicable hear the parties at issue.”

Section 287.480 has been interpreted to constitute the deadline in which to file an application for review of an award in order to have a timely request before the Commission. Phelan v. Treasurer, 249 S.W.3d 260, 263 (Mo.App. W.D.2008). We have also concluded that this deadline is jurisdictional such that the Commission is without jurisdiction to review an ALJ's decision beyond the twenty days. Merritt v. Shoney's Inc., 925 S.W.2d 494, 495 (Mo.App. E.D.1996). Thus, the legislature intended for “any” ALJ's award, as stated in section 287.610.5, to be subjected to this deadline.

Regulation 8 CSR 20-3.040(1) states:

Whenever an administrative law judge issues a temporary or partial award under section 287.510, RSMo, the same shall not be considered to be a final award from which an application for review (see 8 CSR 20-3.030) may be made. The time for making an application for review shall not commence until a final award is issued by the administrative law judge in cases where a temporary or partial award has been issued.

Thus, 8 CSR 20-3.040(1) delays the application of the statutory filing deadline of twenty days when an award is designated partial or temporary. In delaying review, in essence, the Commission interpreted “award,” as used in section 287.480, to exclude a “temporary or partial award.” Because the statutory deadline of twenty days is jurisdictional, we must determine whether excluding a “temporary or partial award” from the term “award” was consistent with the legislature's intent.

In discerning the legislature's intent, “we consider the statute in the context of the entire statutory scheme on the same subject” to avoid unjust, unreasonable, or absurd results. Sheedy, 180 S.W.3d at 72 (internal citation and quotation marks omitted). In section 287.510, the legislature provides that in “any case,” a temporary or partial award “may be made, and the same may be modified from time to time to meet the needs of the case.” And in section 287.495, the legislature provides a deadline for appeals from the Commission's awards that are final awards. Thus, the Missouri Supreme

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Court has determined that temporary or partial awards made under 287.510 are not final awards subject to judicial review under section 287.495. Abrams v. Ohio Pac. Express, 819 S.W.2d 338, 343 (Mo. banc 1991) (“Substantial caselaw holds that no statutory authority exists for judicial review of temporary or partial awards made pursuant to § 287.510 and its statutory predecessors.”); see also Bolen v. Orchard Farm R-V Sch. Dist., 291 S.W.3d 747, 750 (Mo.App. E.D.2009).

By using “any case” in section 287.510 and not specifying cases before the Commission, the legislature also authorizes an ALJ to issue temporary or partial awards...

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