Salazar v. Torres

• Decision Date: 12 September 2005
• Docket Number: No. 23,841.,23,841.
• Parties: Phillip SALAZAR, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Richard TORRES, individually and as owner and operator of Richard L. Torres Concrete Company, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: New Mexico Supreme Court

122 P.3d 1279

2005 NMCA 127

Phillip SALAZAR, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Richard TORRES, individually and as owner and operator of Richard L. Torres Concrete Company, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 23,841.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

September 12, 2005.

Certiorari Granted, No. 29,476, November 7, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Rod Dunn, Rio Rancho, NM, Kerry Morris, Morris Law Firm, Albuquerque, NM, for Appellant.

Richard J. Shane, Myra F. Moldenhauer, Riley, Shane & Hale, P.A., Albuquerque, NM, for Appellee.

OPINION

ROBINSON, Judge.

{1} Phillip Salazar (Worker) appeals from an order of the district court granting the motion for summary judgment of Defendants Richard Torres and Richard L. Torres Concrete Company (together, Employer). The question presented on appeal is whether Worker is precluded from pursuing his common law claims for damages pursuant to Delgado v. Phelps Dodge Chino, Inc., 2001-NMSC-034, 131 N.M. 272, 34 P.3d 1148 because he has already received workers' compensation benefits. We hold that receipt of workers' compensation benefits does not bar Worker's Delgado claims. Therefore, we reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

BACKGROUND

{2} Phillip Salazar was an employee of Richard L. Torres Concrete Company when he was injured. Worker was injured after being instructed by Employer to start a truck by pouring gasoline into the carburetor. While Worker was pouring gasoline into the truck's carburetor, Employer instructed Employer's son (Son) to climb into the cab of the truck and start the ignition. Worker was unaware that the truck's ignition was about to be started. When Son started the ignition, the engine ignited the container of gasoline in Worker's hand. The resulting fire severely burned Worker.

{3} Following Worker's injury, he received workers' compensation benefits from Employer's insurer and settled his claim for indemnity benefits. Worker then filed a complaint in district court against Employer seeking monetary damages pursuant to Delgado. In his complaint, Worker alleged that, by ordering Son to start the truck while Worker was pouring gasoline into its carburetor, Employer "engage[d] in an intentional act ... without just cause or excuse" that was virtually certain to cause serious injury to Worker that he "reasonably [should have] expected [would] result in the injury ... [to] [W]orker," and that Employer "utterly disregarded the consequences" to Worker. Id. ¶ 26. Employer subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that the exclusivity provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act (Act), NMSA 1978, §§ 52-1-1 to -1-70 (1929, as amended through 2004) preclude Worker from bringing any other actions against Employer for his injuries. Following Worker's response to Employer's motion, Employer, for the first time in its reply to the response, contended that Worker's version of the facts, even if true, would not rise to the level of egregiousness sufficient to support a Delgado claim. The district court granted Employer's summary judgment motion, but did not explain the reasoning behind its decision. Worker appeals.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

{4} Summary judgment is appropriate where "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Rule 1-056 NMRA. In this case, neither party argues that genuine issues of material fact exist. Therefore, we "review the disposition of the summary judgment motion[] de novo." State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Barker, 2004-NMCA-105, ¶ 4, 136 N.M. 211, 96 P.3d 336. We also review the district court's decision de novo because it involves a question of statutory construction. See Cerrillos Gravel Prods., Inc. v. Bd. of County Comm'rs, 2004-NMCA-096, ¶ 4, 136 N.M. 247, 96 P.3d 1167.

DISCUSSION

I. WORKERS' COMPENSATION ACT

{5} "The purpose of the Act is to `assure the quick and efficient delivery of indemnity and medical benefits to injured and disabled workers at a reasonable cost to the employers.'" Morales v. Reynolds, 2004-NMCA-098, ¶ 6, 136 N.M. 280, 97 P.3d 612 (quoting NMSA 1978, § 52-5-1 (1990)). To achieve this objective, the Act strikes a bargain between workers and employers "based on `a mutual renunciation of common law rights and defenses by employers and employees alike.'" Delgado, ¶ 12 (quoting § 52-5-1). "The injured worker receives compensation quickly, without having to endure the rigors of litigation or prove fault on behalf of the employer." Id. In exchange, the employer is assured that the injured worker "will be limited to compensation under the Act and may not pursue the unpredictable damages available outside its boundaries." Id.

A. Compensation for Accidental Injuries

{6} The Act provides that, with some inapplicable exceptions, each employer in New Mexico "shall become liable to and shall pay to any such worker injured by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment ... compensation in the manner and amount at the times required in the ... Act." NMSA 1978, § 52-1-2. Based on this provision, our Supreme Court has long held that compensation is only available to workers who are accidentally injured; non-accidental injuries are not compensable under the Act. Delgado, 2001-NMSC-034, ¶ 13; see Aranbula v. Banner Mining Co., 49 N.M. 253, 263-64, 161 P.2d 867, 873-74 (1945). Our court has also long held that an "accidental injury" is "an unlooked-for mishap or some untoward event that is not expected or designed." Cisneros v. Molycorp, Inc., 107 N.M. 788, 791, 765 P.2d 761, 764 (Ct.App.1988); see Aranbula, 49 N.M. at 258, 161 P.2d at 870. Although our courts have not considered the proper frame of reference for determining whether an injury is "accidental" under the Act, we hold that the accidental nature of an injury must be determined from the perspective of the injured worker. Accord Sch. Dist. No. 1 v. Dep't of Indus., Labor & Human Relations, 62 Wis.2d 370, 215 N.W.2d 373, 376 (1974) (noting that to "determin[e] whether there has been an accident [for the purposes of the Act, the court] must look from the perspective of the injured person"); see also Konrady v. U.S. Airways, Inc., 165 N.C.App. 620, 599 S.E.2d 593, 596 (2004) (noting that "[t]o be an accident, the incident must have been for the employee an unlooked for and untoward event." (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)); Pee v. AVM, Inc., 352 S.C. 167, 573 S.E.2d 785, 787 (2002) (holding that "if an injury is unexpected from the worker's point of view, it qualifies as an injury by accident"). In other words, if a worker does not expect or design the untoward event that leads to his injury, he has suffered an accidental injury for the purposes of the Act. See Cisneros, 107 N.M. at 791, 765 P.2d at 764.

{7} In this case, Worker alleges that he was injured because Employer commanded Son to start the ignition of the truck. From Worker's perspective, the injury was unexpected and, therefore, accidental. Because Worker was accidentally injured while performing a task for his Employer, his injury is clearly compensable under the Act. See § 52-1-2.

B. Exclusivity of the Act's Remedies

{8} Because we conclude that the Act required Employer to compensate Worker for his injury, our next inquiry is whether Worker's receipt of compensation bars him from pursuing his tort claims against Employer. The Act provides that its remedies are exclusive. § 52-1-6(E). By complying with the terms of the Act, each employer and its workers are presumed to have "surrender[ed] ... their rights to any other method, form or amount of compensation or determination thereof or to any cause of action at law, suit in equity or statutory or common-law right to remedy or proceeding whatever for." § 52-1-6(D).

{9} Although the Act's exclusivity provisions are broadly written, our courts have established that there are circumstances in which an injured worker may pursue remedies outside of the Act for his work-related injuries. An exception to the Act's exclusivity provisions was first recognized by this Court in Gallegos v. Chastain, 95 N.M. 551, 553, 624 P.2d 60, 62 (Ct.App.1981), overruled by Delgado, 2001-NMSC-034, ¶ 23. In Gallegos and its progeny, our courts held that a worker was not precluded from seeking relief outside of the Act when his injury was the result of his employer's "actual intent to injure" him. Id.; see Coleman v. Eddy Potash, Inc., 120 N.M. 645, 905 P.2d 185 (1995); Johnson Controls World Servs., Inc. v. Barnes, 115 N.M. 116, 118, 847 P.2d 761, 763 (Ct.App.1993).

{10} Subsequently, in Delgado, our Supreme Court overruled the Gallegos "actual intent" test and replaced it with a broader standard. 2001-NMSC-034, ¶ 23. Under Delgado, a worker may pursue remedies outside of the Act if his "employer intentionally inflicts or willfully causes ... [him] to suffer an injury." Id. ¶ 24. The Court based its decision on the fact that the Act requires workers and employers to be "held to the same standard of conduct." Id. Because a worker may not recover for injuries that are the result of his willfulness, the Court held that an "employer may not enjoy the benefits of exclusivity" if the worker was injured due to the employer's willful act. Id. ¶¶ 21, 24. The Court further held that a worker's injury is the result of a willful act if "(1) the worker or employer engages in an intentional act or omission, without just cause or excuse, that is reasonably expected to result in the injury suffered by the worker; (2) the worker or employer expects the intentional act or omission to result in the injury, or has utterly disregarded the consequences; and (3) the intentional act or omission proximately causes the injury." Id. ¶ 26.

{11} In this case, Worker alleges that he was injured because Employer willfully ordered Son to start the ignition of the truck. The Act is intended to provide accidentally-injured workers, such as Worker, with benefits quickly and...