Ryles v. Durham County Hosp. Corp., Inc., No. 9114SC382

• Docket Nº: No. 9114SC382
• Citation: 420 S.E.2d 487, 107 N.C.App. 455
• Case Date: September 15, 1992
• Court: Court of Appeal of North Carolina (US)

Page 487

420 S.E.2d 487 107 N.C.App. 455 Charles Ernest RYLES, Jr., Plaintiff,
v.
DURHAM COUNTY HOSPITAL CORPORATION, INC., Trading as Durham
County General Hospital, Defendant. No. 9114SC382. Court of Appeals of North Carolina. Sept. 15, 1992.

Page 488

[107 N.C.App. 456] Hayes Hofler & Associates, P.A. by R. Hayes Hofler and Laurel E. Solomon, Durham, for plaintiff-appellant.

Young, Moore, Henderson & Alvis, P.A. by Walter E. Brock, Jr., and Carolyn Sprinthall Knaut, Raleigh, for defendant-appellee.

COZORT, Judge.

Plaintiff Charles Ryles brought a tort action against defendant Durham County Hospital Corporation, Inc., seeking to recover damages for an injury he sustained from a slip and fall at Durham County General Hospital ("Hospital"). Defendant averred in its answer that plaintiff was injured while working at the hospital as part of an on-the-job training program through Durham Technical Institute. Defendant claimed the plaintiff's action was barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of N.C.Gen.Stat. § 97-10.1, the Workers' Compensation Act, and filed a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to N.C.Gen.Stat. § 1A-1, Rule 12(b)(1) and Rule 12(h)(3) (1990). During the course of the motion hearing, the trial judge converted the motion to dismiss into a motion for summary judgment. The trial court entered an order granting summary judgment for defendant. We affirm.

The pleadings, depositions, and other materials in the record demonstrate that plaintiff began studying respiratory therapy at Durham Technical Institute ("DTI") in September of 1986. The respiratory therapy training program at DTI was a two-year program divided into halves. The first year involved classroom work where students attended science courses and received laboratory instruction. The second year of the program included an apprenticeship at affiliated area hospitals such as defendant's hospital. The apprenticeship program was created by contractual agreement between DTI and the defendant in order to allow program participants to apply their classroom knowledge in a hospital setting. The DTI program required each apprentice to work eight-hour [107 N.C.App. 457] shifts three days a week at the hospital. These shifts were the same length as regular employee shifts. The students spent the remaining two days of the week attending classroom lectures and learning advanced laboratory procedures at DTI. The apprentices

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achieved the skills of a regular respiratory therapist by observing and by then performing the procedures. A hospital therapist would demonstrate a procedure and then supervise the apprentice who would perform the same procedure on a patient. While at the hospital, participants in the program were expected to master the skills needed to become respiratory therapists, including oxygen delivery, aerosol therapy, patient assessments, incentive spirometry, patient evaluations, and patient intubation. Patients were billed by the hospital for the same amount regardless of whether procedures were performed by an apprentice or by a regularly employed respiratory therapist.

Program participants were not reimbursed for their work by the hospital. They were required to provide their own lab coats and to wear tags identifying themselves as students. The hospital did not provide reserved parking spaces for the participants; they parked in visitors' spaces. While at work, the apprentices were required to follow the rules and regulations required of all hospital employees and could be dismissed from the program for infractions. Program participants were not required, however, to attend safety meetings which were mandatory for permanent hospital employees. DTI's policy with respect to the respiratory therapy clinical program provided:

If injured during clinical rotations at the clinical affiliate, you are advised to seek medical assistance or care at the affiliate's emergency room. The student is fully responsible and liable for ALL charges and fees resultant from the delivery of medical care. It is advised that the student maintain health and accident insurance coverage for protection. Durham Technical Institute and the clinical affiliates maintain no liability for injury of [sic ] illness occurring [sic ] during clinical rotations.

When plaintiff arrived for his morning shift on 30 September 1987, he slipped in a puddle of water just inside the second level entrance of the hospital, fell down, and sustained physical injury. He brought a tort action against defendant to recover damages. Defendant filed a motion to dismiss plaintiff's claim for lack of [107 N.C.App. 458] subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to N.C.Gen.Stat. § 1A-1, Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(h)(3). Defendant contended plaintiff's sole remedy existed pursuant to N.C.Gen.Stat. § 97-10.1 (1991) under the Workers' Compensation Act (the "Act"). The trial court agreed and granted summary judgment for defendant.

Although defendant's original motion was to dismiss, where matters outside the pleadings are before the court, a motion to dismiss may be treated as a motion for summary judgment. Deans v. Layton, 89 N.C.App. 358, 362, 366 S.E.2d 560, 563, disc. review denied, 322 N.C. 834, 371 S.E.2d 276 (1988). Our...