PERC v. Marquez

• Decision Date: 21 December 2000
• Docket Number: No. 1999-CC-01843-SCT.,1999-CC-01843-SCT.
• Citation: 774 So.2d 421
• Parties: PUBLIC EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM v. Rachel MARQUEZ.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

774 So.2d 421

PUBLIC EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM v. Rachel MARQUEZ.

No. 1999-CC-01843-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

December 21, 2000.

Mary Margaret Bowers, Jackson, Attorney for Appellant.

William Owen Mayfield, Attorney for Appellee.

Before PITTMAN, P.J., MILLS and WALLER, JJ.

PITTMAN, Presiding Justice, for the Court:

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

¶ 1. The Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi ("PERS") appeals a ruling of the Circuit Court of Hinds County which overturned an administrative decision denying permanent disability benefits to Rachel B. Marquez. Marquez applied to the PERS Medical Board for permanent disability as a result of fibromyalgia, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and various other medical problems. The Medical Board denied her application on the grounds that there was insufficient objective evidence to support her claim of inability to perform the duties of a teacher. Marquez then appealed to the PERS Disability Appeals Committee ("Committee"). Following a hearing, the Committee affirmed the findings of the Medical Board that there was insufficient evidence to support a claim of disability. The Committee sent its recommendation to the PERS Board of Trustees who adopted the Committee's findings in a written Final Order. Marquez then appealed to the Circuit Court of Hinds County. Circuit Judge Tomie T. Green reversed the decision of the Board of Trustees and granted disability benefits to Marquez, holding that the Board arbitrarily and capriciously ignored substantial evidence in support of disability.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

¶ 2. Marquez was a fifth grade special education teacher for students with learning disabilities and/or behavioral problems. Marquez began employment in covered service in 1963 as an employee with Mississippi State University. She has since worked as a teacher for the Picayune Municipal Separate School District, the Jackson Municipal Separate School District, the Rankin County Board of Education, and the Clinton Public School District. Marquez had earned a total of 15.25 years of service credit as of the 1997 fiscal year, when she terminated her employment with the Clinton Public School District.

¶ 3. The Public Employees' Retirement System was established in 1952 to provide retirement and other benefits to covered employees of the state and its political subdivisions and instrumentalities. 1952 Miss. Laws 299. PERS provides, in addition to retirement benefits, disability benefits for members who meet the statutory requirements for such benefits. Marquez seeks permanent disability benefits under Miss.Code Ann. § 25-11-113(1)(a) (1999), which provides in pertinent part:

[A]ny active member in state service who has at least four (4) years of membership service credit may be retired by the board of trustees ... provided that the medical board, after a medical examination, shall certify that the member is mentally or physically incapacitated for the further performance of duty, that such incapacity is likely to be permanent, and that the member should be retired....

¶ 4. According to her employer's statement of job requirements for a teacher, Marquez was frequently required to sit and to perform supervisory responsibilities, occasionally required to stand and to use technical knowledge to write and complete reports, and rarely required to walk, climb, use machines, tools or equipment, or to lift more than ten pounds. Marquez contested the employer's job description in testimony before the Committee. However, she testified that she often used machinery and equipment including overhead and film projectors and computers. She also stated that she used technical knowledge and wrote reports on a daily basis, including individual lesson plans mandated for special education students.

¶ 5. Marquez has undergone multiple surgeries, and she has been treated for various medical ailments. Over a period of eleven years, from 1986 through 1997, she has been treated for atypical face pain, endometriosis, cervical disc disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, degenerative joint disease, peptic ulcer disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and migraine headaches. Surgeries have included a hysterectomy, tear duct surgery, mastectomy and breast implants following a breast cancer diagnosis, and cholecystectomy. She has also been diagnosed with depression, hypertension, and fibromyalgia.

¶ 6. Marquez was last employed with the Clinton Public School District in the 1996/1997 school year. In January of 1997, Marquez left her job. She testified in the hearing before the Committee that she stopped working because of her failing health. Marquez also testified regarding a threat she received from the parent of one of her students in January of 1997. She testified that the incident happened on a Wednesday during the last week in January. She returned to school the following Thursday and Friday, and then remained absent for the rest of the school year.

¶ 7. In February 1997, Marquez notified her employer that her doctors had recommended she not return to work. The Clinton Public School District honored the rest of Marquez's contract by placing her on sick leave with a three-fourths decrease in pay for the rest of the school year. Marquez was not offered an alternative position with the Clinton Public School District.

¶ 8. Marquez filed her initial claim with PERS on May 1, 1997. Applications for disability benefits are reviewed by the PERS Medical Board, which is composed of physicians appointed by the PERS Board of Trustees. Miss.Code Ann. § 25-11-119(7) (1999). The Medical Board schedules and decides upon all medical examinations conducted for disability purposes and then reports its conclusions and recommendations to the Disability Appeals Committee. The Medical Board denied benefits on the ground that there was "insufficient objective evidence" in the records to support the claim of inability to perform the job of a teacher with Clinton Public Schools. Marquez then appealed the Medical Board ruling to the Disability Appeals Committee.

¶ 9. The Committee conducted a formal hearing on August 10, 1998, and affirmed the finding of the Medical Review Board. In its review, the Committee considered findings of the Medical Review Board, the employer's statement of job requirements for a teacher, letters from Marquez's physicians, medical records, and direct testimony by Marquez. The Committee also concluded that there was "insufficient evidence" to support Ms. Marquez's claim. The Committee sent its recommendation for denial to the PERS Board of Trustees. On August 25, 1998, the Board adopted the Committee's decision to deny benefits as a final judgment.

¶ 10. Having exhausted all available administrative remedies, Marquez then perfected her appeal to the Circuit Court of Hinds County, First Judicial District. On appeal to the circuit court, Marquez bore the burden of showing that the decision of the PERS Board of Trustees was not supported by substantial evidence. The circuit court found that Marquez had satisfied that burden and concluded that:

1) The record reflects substantial evidence of a litany of medical problems which precludes Ms. Marquez from performing her duties as a special education teacher, and there is substantial evidence of permanent disability as defined by § 25-11-113.

2) Because substantial evidence of permanent disability existed in the record, the decision by PERS to deny benefits was arbitrary and capricious.

PERS appeals the judgment of the Circuit Court and raises the following issues for review:

I. WHETHER THE CIRCUIT COURT ERRED IN HOLDING THAT THE ORDER OF THE PERS BOARD OF TRUSTEES WAS NOT SUPPORTED BY SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.

II. WHETHER THE CIRCUIT COURT ERRED IN HOLDING THAT THE PERS BOARD OF TRUSTEES ACTED ARBITRARILY AND CAPRICIOUSLY.

In addition, Marquez raises the following issue:

III. WHETHER THE PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM VIOLATED A STATUTORY RIGHT OF MS. MARQUEZ BY DENYING HER BENEFITS WHEN SHE HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN APPROVED FOR SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 11. This Court's standard of review of an administrative agency's findings and decisions is well established. As set forth in Rule 5.03 of the Uniform Rules of Circuit and County Court Practice, an agency's conclusions must remain undisturbed unless the agency's order: 1) is not supported by substantial evidence, 2) is arbitrary or capricious, 3) is beyond the scope or power granted to the agency, or 4) violates one's constitutional rights. Fulce v. Public Employees Ret. Sys., 759 So.2d 401, 404 (Miss.2000); Davis v. Public Employees' Ret. Sys., 750 So.2d 1225, 1229 (Miss.1999); Brinston v. Public Employees' Ret. Sys., 706 So.2d 258, 259 (Miss.Ct. App.1998). This Court may neither substitute its own judgment for that of the agency which rendered the decision nor reweigh the facts of the case. Mississippi Pub. Serv. Comm'n v. Merchants Truck Line, Inc., 598 So.2d 778, 782 (Miss.1992). A rebuttable presumption exists in favor of the action of an administrative agency, and the burden of proof is on the party challenging an agency's action. Brinston, 706 So.2d at 260 (citing Mississippi Comm'n on Envtl. Quality v. Chickasaw County Board of Supervisors, 621 So.2d 1211, 1215 (Miss.1993)

).

DISCUSSION OF LAW

I. WHETHER THE CIRCUIT COURT ERRED IN HOLDING THAT THE ORDER OF THE PERS BOARD OF TRUSTEES WAS NOT SUPPORTED BY SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE DISABILITY.

¶ 12. The focus of this Court's analysis is on whether there was substantial evidence in the record to support a finding by PERS that Marquez was not permanently disabled and, therefore, not entitled to disability benefits.

¶ 13. Substantial evidence means something more than a "mere scintilla" or suspicion. Mississippi Real Estate Comm'n v. Anding, 732 So.2d 192, 196 (Miss.1999) (quoting Mississippi Real Estate Comm'n v. Ryan, 248 So.2d 790, 794 (Miss.1971); Delta CMI v. Speck, 586...