Snyder v. Speciality Glass Products, Inc.

• Decision Date: 27 April 1995
• Citation: 658 A.2d 366,441 Pa.Super. 613
• Parties: Bryan SNYDER, Appellant, v. SPECIALTY GLASS PRODUCTS, INC., B. Patel, Carol Hubbard and Frank Arrison, Appellees.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 366

658 A.2d 366

441 Pa.Super. 613

Bryan SNYDER, Appellant, v. SPECIALTY GLASS PRODUCTS, INC., B. Patel, Carol Hubbard and Frank Arrison, Appellees.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued March 16, 1995.

Filed April 27, 1995.

Steven Cotlar, Doylestown, for appellant.

George A. Priestley, Warminster, for appellees.

Before HUDOCK, SAYLOR and HESTER, JJ.

HUDOCK, Judge:

Appellant, Bryan Snyder, appeals from the trial court order of November 30, 1993 which granted Appellee's, Specialty Glass Products, Inc., preliminary objections and the August 25, 1994 order which granted summary judgment in favor of Appellees, B. Patel, Carol Hubbard and Frank Arrison. We affirm.

This case commenced on February 26, 1993 when Bryan Snyder (Snyder) filed a complaint against his employer, Specialty Glass Products, Inc. (Specialty), for intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED). Snyder alleged in his complaint that while on his way to work on February 17, 1993 he stopped to administer emergency medical treatment to a woman involved in a serious automobile accident. Snyder, who was certified as an Emergency Medical Technician (E.M.T.) pursuant to 35 P.S. section 6931, arrived late for work as a result of administering emergency medical treatment. Snyder claimed that when he arrived at work and explained why he was late, his supervisors B. Patel and Carol Hubbard severely reprimanded him for his tardiness and warned him that he would be discharged. Snyder claimed that he was subsequently demoted by the company president Frank Arrison and told to choose between his job as an E.M.T. or his employment with Specialty.

Snyder claimed that as a result of this reprimand and demotion he suffered emotional and physical trauma causing vomiting, nausea, severe headaches, chest pains and elevated blood pressure. Snyder also claimed that his employers' acts caused him anxiety, depression, loss of appetite and insomnia. Alleging that he incurred costly medical bills to treat his ailments, Snyder sought compensatory and punitive damages in excess of $50,000.

Specialty filed preliminary objections on March 18, 1993 in which it contended that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to entertain Snyder's suit. Specialty claimed that the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act (WCA), 77 P.S. section 1 et seq., was Snyder's sole source of recovery.

Snyder filed an amended complaint on April 8, 1993 adding Frank Arrison, B. Patel and Carol Hubbard as defendants. The additional defendants filed preliminary objections on April 19, 1993 reasserting that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to entertain Snyder's civil action pursuant to the exclusivity provisions of the WCA. The additional defendants also raised a preliminary objection asserting that Snyder's complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.

On November 30, 1993, the trial court granted the preliminary objection filed by Specialty challenging the court's subject matter jurisdiction. The trial judge dismissed count one of the complaint against Specialty, concluding that the WCA was Snyder's exclusive remedy against his employer. As for the individual defendants, the trial court ruled that they had improperly raised the preliminary objections by amendment without obtaining the court's or Snyder's consent. Therefore, the trial judge refused to rule on the merits of their preliminary objections.

The individual defendants thereafter filed a motion for summary judgment. The trial court granted the motion on August 25, 1994 and dismissed Snyder's amended complaint. This direct appeal followed.

Snyder alleges that the trial court erred when it granted Specialty's preliminary objection in the nature of a demurrer and dismissed count one of his complaint. When reviewing the grant or denial of a preliminary objection in the nature of a demurrer, we must regard the allegations in the appellant's complaint as true and accord him all the inferences reasonably deductible therefrom. National Building Leasing, Inc. v. Byler, 252 Pa.Super. 370, 372, 381 A.2d 963, 964 (1977). "If the [appellant] does set forth a cause of action on which he is entitled to relief upon proof, the demurrer cannot be sustained. Conversely, a preliminary objection in the nature of a demurrer is properly sustained where the complaint has failed to set forth a cause of action." Higgins v. Clearing Machine Corporation, 344 Pa.Super. 325, 327, 496 A.2d 818, 819 (1985), (citing Acme Markets, Inc. v. Valley View Shopping Center, Inc., 342 Pa.Super. 567, 569-70, 493 A.2d 736, 737 (1985)). When a doubt exists as to whether a demurrer should be sustained, this doubt should be resolved in favor of overruling it. Martin v. Lancaster Battery Company, Inc., 530 Pa. 11, 15, 606 A.2d 444, 446 (1992).

The trial court granted Specialty's preliminary objection in the nature of a demurrer on the grounds that Snyder's claim was barred by section 303(a) of the WCA, codified at 77 P.S. section 481(a). That section provides:

(a) The liability of an employer under this act shall be exclusive and in place of any and all liability to such employes, his legal representative, husband or wife, parents, dependents, next of kin or anyone otherwise entitled to damages in any action at law or otherwise on account of any injury or death as defined in section 301(c)(1) and (2) or occupational disease as defined in section 108.

77 P.S. § 481(a) (emphasis added) (footnotes omitted).

This Court has previously explained the legislative purpose of limiting an employee's right to sue in tort for injuries sustained in the course of employment.

The Legislature ... enacted the Workmen's Compensation Act to provide employees with compensation for injuries sustained within the scope of their employment. In exchange for the right to compensation without the burden of establishing fault, employees gave up their right to sue the employer in tort for injuries received in the course of employment.

Kosowan v. MDC Industries, Inc., 319 Pa.Super. 91, 98-99, 465 A.2d 1069, 1072 (1983).

Section 301(c)(1) defines the types of injuries which are compensable under the WCA. It provides:

(1) The terms "injury" and "personal injury," as used in this act, shall be construed to mean an injury to an employe, regardless of his previous physical condition, arising in the course of his employment and related thereto, and such disease or infection as naturally results from the injury or is aggravated, reactivated or accelerated by the injury[.] ...

77 P.S. § 411(1).

The trial court reasoned that Snyder's alleged injury was compensable under the WCA since it arose from his employment status and occurred during the scope of his employment. Therefore, the court concluded that Snyder was bound by the exclusive remedy provision of the WCA. The trial court also concluded that Snyder did not qualify under any statutory or common law exception to the exclusivity provision of the WCA. The court relied on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania's rationale in Poyser v. Newman & Company, Inc., 514 Pa. 32, 522 A.2d 548 (1987), for this conclusion. In Poyser, the appellant, Stephen Poyser, filed a tort action against his employer after he lost a portion of his finger while operating a notching machine. Poyser alleged that his employer's conduct caused his injury and constituted a "deliberate and wanton disregard for the safety of its workers[.]" Id., 514 Pa. 35, 522 A.2d at 550. Poyser argued that his employer forbade its workers from using a safety device on the notching machine and knowingly failed to comply with federal and state safety regulations. The trial court granted the employer's judgment on the pleadings and dismissed Poyser's complaint based on the exclusivity provision of the WCA.

On appeal Poyser argued that the immunity provision of the WCA should not apply because his employer's conduct amounted to an intentional tort. The Supreme Court rejected Poyser's argument and noted that the Pennsylvania WCA does not contain an exception for injuries caused by the employer's intentional torts. The Court explained:

There is no Pennsylvania judicial authority supportive of the result the appellant seeks. The argument he presents is one based entirely on his view of the relationship between the Act and other laws and regulations which bear upon safety in the workplace....

It is true that the appellate courts of some other states have held that wanton and willful misconduct by an employer is tantamount to an intentional tort, and as such, prevents the operation of a statutory exclusive-remedy provision. It must be noted, however, that those cases rested on provisions in the state workmen's compensation statutes which expressly preserved the right of an employee to sue in tort where his injury was caused by the employer's intentional wrongdoing. There is no such provision in The Pennsylvania Workmen's Compensation Act.

The appellant's argument is an interesting one; but it is one that must be resolved by the General Assembly, not this Court. What he is asking us to do is to engraft upon section 303(a) of the Act an exception the legislature did not see fit to put there. A reading of the Act will disclose that the legislature was not unmindful of the issue of intentionally caused harm.... Since it is clear that the legislature had the issue of intentional harm in mind, and yet did not mention it in connection with section 303(a), we are constrained to conclude that the legislature did not intend the result for which the appellant argues.

Id., 514 Pa. 37, 522 A.2d at 551 (citation omitted).

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania reaffirmed that the WCA does not provide an exclusion for intentional torts of an employer in Barber v. Pittsburgh Corning Corporation, 521 Pa. 29, 555 A.2d 766 (1989). In Barber, the Supreme Court was presented with the issue whether there is an exception to the exclusivity provision of the Occupational Disease Act ...