Pinyerd v. State Compensation Ins. Fund
| Decision Date | 18 May 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 94-474,94-474 |
| Parties | Jerry PINYERD, Petitioner and Appellant, v. STATE COMPENSATION INSURANCE FUND, Respondent and Insurer for Prestige Toyota, Employer. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
Patrick R. Sheehy, Halverson, Sheehy & Plath, Billings, for appellant.
Daniel J. Whyte, Legal Counsel, State Compensation Ins. Fund, Helena, for respondent.
The claimant, Jerry Pinyerd, filed a petition in the Workers' Compensation Court for the State of Montana in which he sought medical and disability benefits from the State Compensation Mutual Insurance Fund for injuries he alleged were sustained during the course of his employment with Prestige Toyota. After a trial, the Workers' Compensation Court denied Pinyerd's claim for benefits The following issue is presented on appeal.
based on its conclusion that his injury did not arise out of his employment. Pinyerd appeals this conclusion. We reverse the judgment of the Workers' Compensation Court
Did the Workers' Compensation Court err when it concluded that the assault which caused Pinyerd's injuries did not arise out of his employment?
Jerry Pinyerd was born and raised in California and moved to Billings in 1993. In June of that year, he began working for Prestige Toyota in Billings. Prestige Toyota is insured against compensation claims by the State Compensation Mutual Insurance Fund (State Fund). On September 18, 1993, while working for Prestige, Pinyerd was involved in an altercation with fellow employee Robert "Jake" Jacobson during which Pinyerd was struck several times and from which he claims he was injured. Pinyerd and Jacobson were the only witnesses called to testify before the Workers' Compensation Court.
Both Pinyerd and Jacobson testified that the work environment at Prestige was highly competitive.
Prestige divided its salespeople into two teams which competed against each other, and imposed quota requirements on each member. In addition, team members competed against their own "teammates" for commissions and quotas. Bonuses were paid at the end of each month based on sales volume, and daily sales meetings were held at which each salesperson's progress toward his or her quota was discussed in front of the other sales staff. Pinyerd and Jacobson were salesmen on the same team.
At Prestige, a potential customer who enters the business premises is referred to as an "up." There was no organized system for assigning salespeople to "ups." The first salesperson to reach the "up" got the "up." Prestige offered cash incentives ("spiffs") for test drives and for getting an "up" into the financial office.
Prestige also encouraged "turns." If one salesperson was not making progress with a potential customer, he or she was supposed to "turn" the customer to another salesperson. Any commission was split between the staff involved in the turn.
Pinyerd testified that the staff argued over who was entitled to an "up." Because no organized procedure was established, salespeople would "stash" themselves among the cars to approach "ups." This caused daily conflict among the sales staff.
He also testified that sharing a commission based on a "turn" created problems when one staff member spent more time with the customer than the other. Prestige did not have a formal method for resolving commission disputes. There was additional friction over bad "turns" if one staff member turned a "flake," who would likely never buy a car, over to another staff member simply to waste his or her time so he or she could not compete for other "ups." This and other testimony indicated that Prestige was a highly competitive work environment.
When Pinyerd first arrived at Prestige, he made few sales because he was shut out by the other salespeople. However, after the intervention of management, he became more successful. During July and August he was "hot" at a large Autorama sale with other car dealers. He earned the second largest amount for "spiffs" among 16 salespeople, and a substantial amount for commissions.
Pinyerd testified that Jacobson was resentful of his success. He testified that Jacobson expressed jealousy about his money, car, and property, and that he received bad "turns" from Jacobson.
The two witnesses disagreed about the cause of the altercation that occurred at Prestige's parking lot in September 1993. Pinyerd testified that Jacobson had invited him in for a beer after he drove Jacobson home from work several days earlier, and that while in the home he noticed an open bottle of pills which he advised Jacobson to close and put in a more secure location. Pinyerd stated that he was surprised to learn the following day that Jacobson believed he Jacobson testified that ten pills were missing and that he was furious that Pinyerd stole some of his pills. He added that he knew Pinyerd stole the pills because a co-worker told Jacobson that Pinyerd had a pill. Jacobson claims that his outrage from the alleged theft was the sole cause of his attack on Pinyerd at work several days later.
had stolen some of the pills and was very upset with him.
Pinyerd testified that for several days after he was at Jacobson's, he was informed by others at work that Jacobson was after him. He avoided Jacobson by situating himself in the driver's seat of a pickup truck located on the car lot. On the date that Pinyerd claims he was injured, he states that he saw Jacobson run toward the truck, and that when he reached him, Jacobson started punching him through an open window of the truck. Pinyerd testified that he leaned over to avoid being struck in the face and instead was repeatedly punched in the back and leg. He testified that at some point before or during the attack, Jacobson yelled,
The Workers' Compensation Court found that Jacobson was resentful because he did not accomplish as much as Pinyerd at Autorama. The court also found that Jacobson's testimony was not credible, including his testimony that Pinyerd came to his house for drugs to relieve back pain. The court found that the immediate cause of the assault was Jacobson's belief that Pinyerd stole some pills, but that resentment about Pinyerd's recent "success in car sales" contributed to Jacobson's general hostility toward Pinyerd. Based on its findings, the court concluded that the assault did not arise out of and in the course of employment as required by § 39-71-407, MCA. Therefore, the court denied Pinyerd's claim for benefits.
Did the Workers' Compensation Court err when it concluded that the assault which caused Pinyerd's injuries did not arise out of his employment?
This issue involves the application of Montana law to the facts of this case. Our standard of review of a Workers' Compensation Court's conclusions of law is whether the court's interpretation of the law was correct. Stordalen v. Ricci's Food Farm (1993), 261 Mont. 256, 258, 862 P.2d 393, 394 (citing Martelli v. Anaconda-Deer Lodge County (1993), 258 Mont. 166, 168, 852 P.2d 579, 580).
Pinyerd contends that the assault occurred in the course of, and arose out of, his employment with Prestige. He claims he was performing his job on his employer's premises when he was assaulted. He adds that Penny v. Anaconda Co. (1981), 194 Mont. 409, 632 P.2d 1114, which the Workers' Compensation Court relied on, is factually distinguishable, and that the court misapplied our holding in that case.
The State Fund responds that the Workers' Compensation Court correctly applied Penny, and correctly concluded that any injuries caused by Jacobson's blows did not arise out of Pinyerd's employment...
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