Nickels v. Napolilli
| Decision Date | 17 August 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. S-9243, No. S-9283. |
| Citation | 29 P.3d 242 |
| Parties | Ruth NICKELS, Appellant and Cross-Appellee, v. Noel NAPOLILLI and Nancy Napolilli, Appellees and Cross-Appellants. |
| Court | Alaska Supreme Court |
Richard H. Friedman and Les S. Gara, Friedman, Rubin & White, Anchorage, and Susan Orlansky, Jeffrey M. Feldman, and Ruth Botstein, Feldman & Orlansky, Anchorage, for Appellant and Cross-Appellee.
Robert B. Groseclose, Cook, Schuhmann & Groseclose, Inc., Fairbanks, and Joe M. Huddleston and Ronald H. Bussey, Hughes, Thorsness, Powell, Huddleston & Bauman, LLC, Anchorage, for Appellees and Cross-Appellants.
Before FABE, Chief Justice, MATTHEWS, EASTAUGH, BRYNER, and CARPENETI, Justices.
Ruth Nickels performed farm chores for Noel and Nancy Napolilli in exchange for living in a cabin on their property and some monetary compensation. While she lived in this cabin, Nickels injured both her arm and back. Because the Napolillis did not have workers' compensation insurance, Nickels pursued compensation for the injuries through a lawsuit that alleged breach of the employment contract. The trial court dismissed Nickels's claims, finding that the Alaska Workers' Compensation Act does not permit a breach of contract claim based upon the employer's failure to provide workers' compensation insurance. Nickels's appeal challenges that ruling. The Napolillis' cross-appeal challenges the superior court's determination that the workers' compensation law applies to this case. We affirm the superior court's dismissal of the contract claims, as well as the trial court's finding that Nickels was an employee covered by the workers' compensation statutes and its referral of the matter to the Alaska Workers' Compensation Board. We remand to the superior court to clarify its finding that Nickels's back injury occurred during the course and scope of employment.
Noel and Nancy Napolilli own and live on a forty-acre parcel of land in Fairbanks called "Isabella Creek Farm." The land has a house, a log cabin, and an assortment of farm structures. The Napolillis operate the farm as a small business, although they both work in full-time positions unrelated to the farm. Isabella Creek Farm sells animals, eggs, hay, farm equipment, and farm implements. The Napolillis deduct farm-related business expenses on their federal income tax return and list the business in the phone book and a farm products directory.
Noel Napolilli built a two-story log cabin home on the property near their primary residence in the mid-1980s. To obtain assistance with farm labor, the Napolillis established a cabin-for-chores exchange. Various people have lived rent-free in the cabin in exchange for performing farm chores.
In August 1989 Ruth Nickels responded to a newspaper advertisement placed by the Napolillis regarding the sale of calves. She went to Isabella Creek Farm, where she purchased a calf and spoke with Noel Napolilli about the farm operation. Noel Napolilli showed Nickels around the farm and told her about the cabin-for-chores arrangement. Nickels and her friend Mindy Johnson filled out an application and in November 1989 Noel Napolilli called Nickels to ask if she and Johnson had an interest in the cabin-for-chores arrangement. They did, and Nickels and Johnson entered into a written agreement with the Napolillis to occupy the cabin and work for eighteen months beginning in December 1989.
The agreement called for an average of eighty hours of labor per month, with excess hours compensated at five dollars per hour. The agreement also included a list of sixteen tasks and the seasons in which Nickels and Johnson were required to perform these jobs. It listed daily activities such as feeding and watering animals, seasonal activities such as harvesting and putting up hay, and periodic activities such as servicing equipment prior to use. Johnson left before the end of the agreement term, but Noel Napolilli and Nickels verbally agreed that Nickels would continue according to the prior written agreement.
Nickels and the Napolillis kept an extensive daily log of farm activities and projects. Nickels reported chores completed and the status of animals, and wrote periodic notes to the Napolillis. The Napolillis' entries included instructions to Nickels. Nickels also used a time clock to record hours worked on farm activities.
While living at Isabella Creek Farm, Nickels worked for other employers three to five days per week as a retail clerk or security guard. She also cared for her own animals on the farm, including dogs, calves, a horse, goats, and a lamb.
In June 1990 Nickels was instructed by Noel Napolilli to nail a board to the side of a shed. Since a fence paralleled the shed's wall, Nickels stood on an inverted bucket to reach over the fence and place the nails. Standing tip-toe on the bucket, Nickels slipped while starting to hammer a nail. She fell and a piece of wire from the fence impaled the back of her arm. This resulted in a puncture wound at the bottom of the triceps muscle of her right arm.
Noel Napolilli assisted Nickels in cleaning and bandaging the wound immediately after the injury and over the course of the next few days. Nickels did not seek medical treatment until approximately six days after the injury, by which time her arm had become infected. At that time, Nancy Napolilli's father, a visitor on the farm, encouraged Nickels to go to the emergency room. The injury did not heal and Nickels's right arm was eventually amputated at the shoulder.
In October 1992, two years after the fall which injured Nickels's arm, Nickels injured her back. According to Nickels, the injury occurred when she lifted a bale of hay over a fence. However, she told the Napolillis and her doctor that she suddenly developed back pain when standing in her kitchen.
The Napolillis did not carry workers' compensation insurance for Nickels. In September 1992, after the arm injury but before the back injury, Nickels signed an agreement to release the Napolillis from any liability for her arm injury. On October 3, 1992, the date of her back injury, she signed an agreement to release the Napolillis from any liability for that injury, too.
In October 1992 Nickels and the Napolillis ended the cabin-for-chores arrangement. Nickels continued to live in the cabin, paying $400 per month to the Napolillis for rent. In May 1994 the Napolillis ended the rental relationship and filed an eviction action against Nickels.
Nickels filed suit against the Napolillis on September 27, 1994. The complaint included tort claims for hindering appropriate medical treatment and misrepresenting Nickels's rights to workers' compensation, and breach of contract claims for failing to provide workers' compensation benefits and medical care. Nickels sought compensatory and punitive damages.
The Napolillis sought summary judgment on the 1990 arm injury, claiming that the two-year tort statute of limitations and the release signed by Nickels barred the claim. Nickels responded that a six-year statute of limitations should apply because the action arose out of a breach of the employment contract's implied clause requiring workers' compensation coverage. Nickels also asserted that the factual circumstances surrounding her signing of the release made it legally deficient. Superior Court Judge Niesje J. Steinkruger denied summary judgment on these issues, finding genuine issues of material fact as to whether Nickels's claim was barred by either the statute of limitations or the release.
The superior court held a bench trial to determine whether Nickels was an employee for the purposes of the Alaska Workers' Compensation Act. The superior court recognized that evidence pointed in both directions, but ultimately found that Nickels was an employee under the Act. The superior court also determined in pre-trial proceedings that both of Nickels's injuries arose out of, and in the course of, her employment.
A week before the scheduled jury trial, counsel for Nickels submitted revised jury instructions that shifted the focus of the case from negligence to breach of contract. In light of this change in position, the trial judge held a status conference. At that on-record conference, Nickels's counsel expressly stated that Nickels was abandoning her claims for negligence and misrepresentation. In response, the Napolillis moved to dismiss the case or, alternatively, to refer the case to the Alaska Workers' Compensation Board. They argued that no valid claims remained since Nickels had abandoned her negligence and misrepresentation claims. Judge Steinkruger granted the Napolillis' motion, dismissing Nickels's claims before the superior court and granting ninety days for Nickels to file her claim before the Alaska Workers' Compensation Board. Nickels appeals this ruling. The Napolillis cross-appeal the trial court's ruling that Nickels was an employee and that her injuries were work related, and that the statute of limitations does not bar Nickels's claim.
Many of the issues before us are matters of statutory interpretation. The interpretation of a statute is a question of law; therefore, we use our independent judgment.1 "Our duty is to adopt the rule of law that is most persuasive in light of precedent, reason, and policy."2
Whether Nickels is appropriately considered an "employee" for the purposes of the workers' compensation statute is a mixed question of law and fact. We review the trial court's factual findings using the clearly erroneous standard,3 and we apply de novo review to the legal determination of whether these facts amount to employment under the statute.4
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