Stone v. Finnerty

• Decision Date: 10 July 2002
• Citation: 50 P.3d 1179,182 Or. App. 452
• Parties: Byron A. STONE and Wanda Lou Stone, Personally and as Guardian Ad Litem for Jacqueline K. Stone, Appellants, v. Dean FINNERTY, City of Cottage Grove, Lane County, City of Eugene, and Central Lane Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team (INET), Respondents, and Jeff Carley, Eric Langford, Robert McManus, Peter Kerns, Rick Siel, Jim Hill, Benton County, and John Does 1-6, Defendants.
• Court: Oregon Court of Appeals

50 P.3d 1179

182 Or. App. 452

Byron A. STONE and Wanda Lou Stone, Personally and as Guardian Ad Litem for Jacqueline K. Stone, Appellants, v. Dean FINNERTY, City of Cottage Grove, Lane County, City of Eugene, and Central Lane Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team (INET), Respondents, and Jeff Carley, Eric Langford, Robert McManus, Peter Kerns, Rick Siel, Jim Hill, Benton County, and John Does 1-6, Defendants.

16-96-09442; A104429.

Court of Appeals of Oregon.

Argued and Submitted April 4, 2002.

Decided July 10, 2002.

David C. Force, Eugene, argued the cause and filed the briefs for appellants.

John F. Kilcullen argued the cause for respondents Dean Finnerty and City of Cottage Grove. On the brief were Larry A. Brown, and Brown, Roseta, Long, McConville, Kilcullen & Carlson, Eugene.

Jens Schmidt, Eugene, argued the cause for respondents Lane County, City of Eugene and Central Lane Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team (INET). With him on the brief was Harrang, Long, Gary, Rudnick, P.C.

Before EDMONDS, Presiding Judge, and DEITS, Chief Judge, and ARMSTRONG, Judge.¹

EDMONDS, P.J.

The plaintiffs in this civil action are Byron and Wanda Stone and their daughter Jacqueline Stone.² They appeal from a judgment of the trial court in favor of defendants Dean Finnerty, the City of Cottage Grove, Lane County, the City of Eugene, and the Central Lane Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team (INET). The other defendants below are not parties to this appeal. The trial court granted summary judgment under ORCP 47 to the City of Eugene, Lane County, and INET on all claims against them. It denied summary judgment motions brought by the City of Cottage Grove and Finnerty, and the case proceeded to trial as to them. After plaintiffs presented their case-in-chief, Finnerty and the City of Cottage Grove moved for directed verdicts under ORCP 60, which the trial court granted. Plaintiffs appeal, and we reverse in part and otherwise affirm.

Plaintiffs' claims against the various defendants arise from the execution of a search warrant by the combined police forces of the above public bodies. The officers obtained the warrant on the basis of an affidavit prepared by Finnerty, who averred that controlled substances would be found on the property where plaintiffs were both employed. Finnerty, a City of Cottage Grove detective, was not present when the warrant was executed. However, other officers from the City of Cottage Grove participated in the raid. Plaintiffs worked in a large residence on the property and lived in a smaller residence, also on the property. The warrant authorized the search of both the larger residence and plaintiffs' residence, as well as various other outbuildings. It also authorized the search of all occupants on the property.

When the warrant was executed, approximately 50 armed officers from the various agencies entered the property, secured the various buildings, and went into the large residence where Byron Stone was working. A then-unidentified officer handcuffed him and detained him for several hours while a search of the premises occurred. Wanda Stone arrived at the larger residence during the search and was also detained and searched. During the execution of the warrant, Byron allegedly received physical injuries to his back from rough treatment by the police. As a result of the raid, he also allegedly suffered an aggravation of an existing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which had, as its underlying cause, events from his previous military service in Vietnam. Wanda and Byron were both eventually released by the police and were allowed to gather a few personal belongings from their residence before being directed to leave the premises by the police.

Byron subsequently filed claims for his back injury and for his PTSD with his employer's workers' compensation insurer, alleging that those injuries suffered during the raid were compensable and work-related.³ The insurer initially denied that either condition was compensable but then later rescinded its denial of the back injury claim and entered into a claims disposition agreement with Byron on that claim, for which it paid a total of $5,000. The PTSD claim was later resolved by a "disputed claim settlement" between Byron and the insurer, in which the parties acknowledged their dispute about the compensability of the PTSD claim. In the agreement, Byron agreed to give up any "further entitlement to compensation or any other legal right related to the denied treatment or conditions" in exchange for $1,000.

Later, plaintiffs filed this action. In their complaint, they allege that the City of Eugene, Lane County, and the City of Cottage Grove are liable for damages arising out of alleged false imprisonments, an alleged battery of Byron, and alleged violations of 42 USC section 1983 that occurred during the raid. As to the City of Eugene and Lane County, plaintiffs assert that their officers unlawfully confined them for a period of 9 to 12 hours while they were executing the search warrant.⁴ Additionally, plaintiffs alleged that INET and Finnerty are liable to them for damages for violations of 42 USC section 1983. Plaintiffs assign error to the trial court's summary judgment and directed verdict rulings.⁵

In their first assignment of error, plaintiffs contend that the court erred in granting summary judgment to the City of Eugene and to Lane County on their claims of battery and false imprisonment. The trial court held that Byron's claim for battery and plaintiffs' claims for false imprisonment were "covered" by the workers' compensation law, and that those defendants were therefore immune from liability under ORS 30.265(3)(a).

ORS 30.265(3)(a) provides:

"Every public body and its officers, employees and agents acting within the scope of their employment or duties * * * are immune from liability for:

"(a) Any claim for injury to or death of any person covered by any workers' compensation law."

Plaintiffs argue in substance that, because the alleged emotional injuries and injuries to reputation that they suffered during the raid are not compensated by workers' compensation law, it follows that, within the meaning of ORS 30.265(3)(a), their claims for injury in the action are not "covered" for purposes of immunity from liability.

We begin our analysis by pointing out that workers' compensation "coverage" of a "claim," for purposes of ORS 30.265(3)(a), is a different question from the "compensability" of a particular "injury" under ORS 656.005(7)(a).⁶ In Moustachetti v. State of Oregon, 319 Or. 319, 877 P.2d 66 (1994), the court held that, in determining whether a particular claim is covered under workers' compensation law for purposes of ORS 30.265(3)(a), the proper inquiry is to discern the "legal injury" (in that case, wrongful termination from employment) at issue. A "legal injury" at common law is any harm or wrong to absolute rights for which a cause of action existed. Smothers v. Gresham Transfer, Inc., 332 Or. 83, 23 P.3d 333 (2001). The words "legal injury" refer to the gravamen of a claim and not to the kinds of injuries or damages for which a plaintiff seeks recompense. Contrary to plaintiffs' arguments, "coverage" as contemplated by ORS 30.265(3)(a) does not depend on the "type or severity of the damages suffered as a result of" the legal injury. Moustachetti, 319 Or. at 325,877 P.2d 66. Rather, immunity under the statute is dependent on the nature of the "legal injury." Id. Accordingly, our inquiry is whether plaintiffs' false imprisonment and battery claims allege a "legal injury," or a harm or wrong to an absolute right, that is covered by the workers' compensation law.

"The gravamen of the claim [of false imprisonment] is `the unlawful imposition of restraint on another's freedom of movement.'" Buckel v. Nunn, 133 Or.App. 399, 405, 891 P.2d 16 (1995), quoting Walker v. City of Portland, 71 Or.App. 693, 697, 693 P.2d 1349 (1985)

. To establish such a claim,

"(1) [the] defendant must confine [the] plaintiff; (2) [the] defendant must intend the act that causes the confinement; (3) [the] plaintiff must be aware of the confinement; and (4) the confinement must be unlawful." Hiber v. Creditors Collection Service, 154 Or.App. 408, 413, 961 P.2d 898, rev. den. 327 Or. 621, 971 P.2d 413 (1998).

It is not necessary that the party causing the imprisonment use violence or force or even touch the body of the imprisoned person. Christ v. McDonald, 152 Or. 494, 501, 52 P.2d 655 (1935). Rather,

"[f]alse imprisonment consists in the unlawful restraint against his will of an individual's personal liberty or freedom of locomotion. The gist of false imprisonment is unlawful detention." Id.

The workers' compensation statutory scheme operates as a substitute for civil claims that an employee could assert against his or her employer in an action at common law and provides liability "coverage" against the risks that arise from those kinds of claims. Hale v. Port of Portland, 308 Or. 508, 521, 783 P.2d 506 (1989) ("[T]he Oregon Legislature * * * eliminated the haphazard system of liability of employers to some employees for some injuries occurring under a limited number of circumstances, and replaced it with a system that made employers liable for the medical expenses of their injured workers without regard to fault."); Errand v. Cascade Steel Rolling Mills, Inc., 320 Or. 509, 514, 888 P.2d 544 (1995) (explaining that the workers' compensation system replaced the civil remedy system with a quid pro quo that gives workers a remedy without proving fault, in exchange for the exclusivity of that remedy). The workers' compensation law defines "compensability" in terms of the work-related injuries, diseases, disabilities, conditions, and/or death for which an employee or his or her representatives can recover. For example, ORS 656.005(7)(a) provides, in part, that a "compensable injury" under workers' compensation law is:

"An accidental injury, or

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