Rader v. AM. ASS'N OF CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
| Decision Date | 24 June 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 24893.,24893. |
| Citation | 203 W.Va. 198,506 S.E.2d 794 |
| Parties | James Leland RADER and Karen Sue Rader, his wife, Plaintiffs below, v. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS, a corporation, and Gallagher Bassett Services, Inc., a corporation, Defendants below. |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
William H. Scharf, Esq., Charleston, West Virginia, Attorney for the Plaintiffs.
David K. Schwirian, Esq., Pauley, Curry, Sturgeon & Vanderford, Charleston, West Virginia, Attorney for the Defendants.
This case is before this Court on two questions certified from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The case arises from a September 1994 injury sustained by a partner in a two-man partnership, in the course of and as a result of his work for the partnership. Because the partnership did not subscribe to the West Virginia Workers' Compensation Fund, the injured partner sought medical benefits for his injuries from his wife's employer's health insurance plan. The health insurance carriers refused to provide medical benefits, relying upon an exclusion in the health insurance plan against injuries compensable under any workers' compensation law.
The partner, plaintiff James Leland Rader, filed a lawsuit to recover medical benefits against the health insurance carriers, defendants American Association of Christian Schools ("AACS") and Gallagher Bassett Services, Inc. ("Gallagher"). The health insurance carriers defended the action, claiming that under West Virginia law the plaintiff would have been eligible for workers' compensation benefits if he had applied for such benefits. A federal magistrate judge ruled that the plaintiff was not eligible for workers' compensation benefits and was therefore entitled to medical benefits from the health insurance plan. The insurance carriers appealed to the Court of Appeals.
The dispositive question from the Court of Appeals asks whether a partnership, which does not employ any persons other than the partners, is required to subscribe to the West Virginia Workers' Compensation Fund. If the plaintiff's partnership was required to subscribe, then he may be entitled to workers' compensation benefits under West Virginia law, and conversely, ineligible for medical benefits from the health insurance plan. The Court of Appeals concluded that this question is unsettled under West Virginia law, and determined that this question is dispositive of the issues in this case.
As set forth below, we hold that the plaintiff's partnership was not required to subscribe to the workers' compensation fund, and further that the plaintiff would not have been entitled to workers' compensation benefits under West Virginia's workers' compensation laws.
Plaintiff Karen Sue Rader is employed as a teacher at Elk Valley Christian School in Elkview, West Virginia. Elk Valley Christian School is a member of defendant AACS, which provides a health benefits plan ("the Plan") to the employees of its members. The Plan is administered by defendant Gallagher. Mrs. Rader elected health coverage under the Plan and she listed her husband, plaintiff James Rader, as a dependent.
In 1988, Mr. Rader and a friend, Terry Bradshaw, formed a partnership known as T & J Painting. All of the work of T & J Painting has been performed solely by the two partners, and the partnership does not employ other persons. T & J Painting has never subscribed to or contributed to the West Virginia Workers' Compensation Fund.
The defendants asserted that Mr. Rader was entitled to receive workers' compensation benefits, notwithstanding the failure of T & J Painting partnership to make contributions to the workers' compensation fund, and thus Mr. Rader was excluded from health insurance coverage under the Plan.
The Raders filed an action in state court claiming they were entitled to benefits under the Plan. The defendants removed the action to federal court on the basis of diversity of citizenship. After discovery, the parties agreed to submit the matter to a magistrate judge for decision. The magistrate judge ruled in favor of the Raders on their claim that the defendants improperly denied them benefits under the Plan. The defendants appealed that decision to the Court of Appeals.
The primary question certified to this Court by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is:
Under the law of West Virginia as it existed in 1994, was a partnership that did not employ anyone other than the members of the partnership an employer within the meaning of W.Va.Code § 23-2-1 (1994), such that the partnership was required by West Virginia law to furnish contributions to the workers' compensation fund on behalf of the members of the partnership?
As discussed below, we answer this question in the negative.1
An "employer" that is "required to subscribe to and pay premiums into the workers' compensation fund" is defined by W.Va.Code, 23-2-1(a) [1991] as "all persons, firms, associations and corporations regularly employing another person or persons[.]"2
The defendants contend that under West Virginia law, a partnership is recognized as a separate legal entity distinct from the individual partners.3 The defendants therefore argue that a partnership is by statute an employer, and that the partners are "persons" regularly employed by the partnership. The defendants essentially argue that every partnership is required by W.Va.Code, 23-2-1(a) [1991] to subscribe to the workers' compensation fund. The defendant contends that this principle is recognized in another portion of the workers' compensation act, which states that "[i]f an employer is a partnership... such employer may elect not to include as an `employee' ... any member of such partnership[.]" W.Va.Code, 23-2-1(g)(2) [1991].4
The defendant then argues that, under W.Va.Code, 23-2-5(g) [1993], even though the plaintiff's partnership never subscribed to the workers' compensation fund, the plaintiff may still successfully pursue a workers' compensation claim. W.Va.Code, 23-2-5(g) [1993] stated that:
No employee of an employer required by this chapter to subscribe to the workers' compensation fund shall be denied benefits provided by this chapter because the employer failed to subscribe or because the employer's account is either delinquent or in default.
The plaintiff's argument focuses entirely on the language of W.Va.Code, 23-2-1(a) [1991], and that section's definition of "employer." The plaintiff argues that only employers "regularly employing another person" are required to subscribe to the workers' compensation fund. The plaintiff contends that because his partnership has never employed anyone, it was never required to subscribe to the fund.5 We agree with the plaintiff's construction of the statute.
"Where the language of a statute is plain and unambiguous, there is no basis for application of rules of statutory construction; but courts must apply the statute according to the legislative intent plainly expressed therein." Syllabus Point 1, Dunlap v. State Compensation Director, 149 W.Va. 266, 140 S.E.2d 448 (1965). See also, Syllabus Point 2, State v. Epperly, 135 W.Va. 877, 65 S.E.2d 488 (1951); Syllabus Point 1, State v. Elder, 152 W.Va. 571, 165 S.E.2d 108 (1968).
To accept the defendants' argument that a partner is an "employee" under W.Va.Code, 23-2-1(a) [1991] would be to ignore the plain and unambiguous language of the statute. W.Va.Code 23-2-1(a) [1991] clearly defines an employer "required to subscribe to and pay premiums into the workers' compensation fund" as a person, firm, association, or corporation that regularly employs another person or persons.
The defendants' argument asks us to ignore the legal characteristics of a partner. While a partnership may be an entity "distinct" from the partners, a partnership is not an entity wholly separate from its members, but is an aggregate of the individuals making up the partnership. As to any employees of the partnership, the partners, as principals, occupy the status of co-employers. The partners cannot be both employers and employees. In an ordinary partnership, each partner has by law an equal share in management and ownership, and each partner is therefore in actual possession of the powers of the employer. A partner is an owner of the business, and may, if he chooses, elect to pay premiums to the workers' compensation fund for coverage of himself and the other partners.6 However, unless a partnership regularly employs individuals other than the partners, a partnership is not required under W.Va.Code, 23-2-1(a) [1991] to subscribe to the workers' compensation fund.
We note that a majority of other jurisdictions have held that under the common law, unless otherwise altered by statute, a working member of a partnership cannot be an employee of the partnership within the meaning of a workers' compensation statute. See generally, 4 R. Larson, Larson's Workers' Compensation Laws § 54.30 (1998); W. Appel, Ownership Interest in Employer Business as Affecting Status as Employee for Workers' Compensation Purposes, 78 A.L.R.4th 973, § 4 (1991).7
We conclude that under W.Va.Code, 23-2-1(a) [1991], a partnership...
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