Tompkins v. Raines

• Court: Nebraska Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: WHITE; WRIGHT
• Citation: Tompkins v. Raines, 247 Neb. 764, 530 N.W.2d 244 (Neb. 1995)
• Decision Date: 07 April 1995
• Docket Number: No. S-93-681,S-93-681
• Parties: John TOMPKINS, Jr., Appellant, v. Larry RAINES, Also Known as Larry Henggler, Appellee.

Page 244

530 N.W.2d 244

247 Neb. 764

John TOMPKINS, Jr., Appellant, v. Larry RAINES, Also Known as Larry Henggler, Appellee.

No. S-93-681.

Supreme Court of Nebraska.

April 7, 1995.

Syllabus by the Court

1. Summary Judgment: Appeal and Error. In appellate review of a summary judgment, the court views the evidence in a light most favorable to the party against whom the judgment is granted and gives such party the benefit of all reasonable inferences deducible from the evidence.

2. Summary Judgment. Summary judgment is to be granted only when the pleadings, depositions, admissions, stipulations, and affidavits in the record disclose that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact or as to the ultimate inferences that may be drawn from those facts and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

3. Workers' Compensation. The Workers' Compensation Act is an employee's exclusive remedy against an employer for an injury arising out of and in the course of employment.

4. Workers' Compensation. Whether an accident arose out of and in the course of employment must be determined from the facts of each case.

John B. Ashford and Steven M. Renteria, of Bradford, Coenen & Welsh, Omaha, for appellant.

Allen J. Potts and, on brief, Lawrence E. Barrett, of Sodoro, Daly & Sodoro, Omaha, for appellee.

WHITE, C.J., CAPORALE, FAHRNBRUCH, LANPHIER, WRIGHT, and CONNOLLY, JJ.

WRIGHT, Justice.

John Tompkins, Jr., first brought an action in the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Court seeking compensation for personal injuries. A three-judge rehearing panel of the compensation court eventually dismissed his case. While that action was pending in the compensation court, Tompkins filed a petition in Douglas County District Court seeking damages for the same injuries. The district court granted summary judgment against Tompkins, and he appeals.

SCOPE OF REVIEW

In appellate review of a summary judgment, the court views the evidence in a light most favorable to the party against whom the judgment is granted and gives such party the benefit of all reasonable inferences deducible from the evidence. Jim's, Inc. v. Willman, 247 Neb. 430, 527 N.W.2d 626 (1995).

Summary judgment is to be granted only when the pleadings, depositions, admissions, stipulations, and affidavits in the record disclose that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact or as to the ultimate inferences that may be drawn from those facts and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id.

FACTS

On January 25, 1990, Tompkins was providing labor for Larry Raines at Raines' body shop in Omaha, Nebraska, in order to repay a loan. That afternoon, Raines was involved in an altercation with a third party, and the third party stabbed Tompkins with a knife.

Tompkins first filed a claim seeking workers' compensation benefits. In February 1991, a single judge of the Workers' Compensation Court entered an order stating that Tompkins had suffered penetrating knife wounds while engaged in the duties of his employment and that, as a result of the accident and injuries, Tompkins had incurred medical and hospital expenses. The single judge found that Tompkins was temporarily totally disabled from January 26 through March 8, 1990, a period of 6 weeks, and that he suffered no permanent disability. Tompkins was awarded workers' compensation benefits of $133.33 per week for 6 weeks for temporary total disability compensation and was awarded $7,199.81 for hospital bills.

On rehearing before a three-judge panel, the parties stipulated to various facts in lieu of an evidentiary hearing. The three-judge panel found that Tompkins had failed to prove the extent of his injury; time lost from work, if any; bills incurred for the stabbing; or other monetary loss. The three-judge panel entered an order dismissing the petition and reversing the award entered by the single judge of the compensation court. Tompkins did not appeal that order.

While the workers' compensation action was pending, Tompkins filed a petition in the Douglas County District Court on October 10, 1991, alleging that Raines was negligent in failing to provide Tompkins with a safe workplace, in allowing the third party to remain on the premises, and in failing to warn Tompkins of the dangerous condition caused by the third party. Tompkins claimed that as a result of the events of January 25, 1990, he suffered personal injuries which resulted in permanent bodily impairment, scarring, loss of earnings, loss of earning capacity, and medical expenses.

Raines' amended answer asserted, inter alia, that Tompkins had previously elected to pursue his remedy under the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Act, that Tompkins' claim was barred because of his previous election of remedies, and that Tompkins was collaterally estopped from pursuing this tort action due to his earlier position that his injuries occurred within the course and scope of his employment. Raines further asserted that Tompkins was precluded from relitigating the issue of whether Tompkins was an employee because that issue had been decided by the compensation court and the judgment was not appealed.

Raines filed a motion for summary judgment which included a copy of the workers' compensation award and a copy of the order of dismissal by the three-judge panel. On July 14, 1993, the district court entered summary judgment in favor of Raines and ordered that the case be dismissed.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR

Tompkins claims that the district court erred in determining that dismissal of the action brought in the Workers' Compensation Court precluded him from bringing this tort action.

ANALYSIS

Tompkins argues that the order of the compensation court on rehearing has no preemptive effect because the issue of whether he was an employee at the time of his injury was never...