Arteaga v. Ibarra

858 P.2d 387, 109 Nev. 772, 1993 Nev. LEXIS 128
CourtNevada Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 25, 1993
DocketNo. 22523
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 858 P.2d 387 (Arteaga v. Ibarra) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nevada Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arteaga v. Ibarra, 858 P.2d 387, 109 Nev. 772, 1993 Nev. LEXIS 128 (Neb. 1993).

Opinion

[773]*773OPINION

Per Curiam:

Appellant Victor Arteaga was injured in a vehicular accident while en route to his home in Colorado after completing a job in Steamboat, Nevada, for respondent Basic Industries, Inc. The truck in which Arteaga was a passenger was owned by Basic and operated by its foreman, respondent Luis Ibarra. Basic filed a workers’ compensation claim with the Nevada State Industrial Insurance System (SIIS) on behalf of Arteaga. Arteaga received SIIS benefits and was ultimately awarded approximately $19,000 in full settlement of his claim.

During the pendency of the SIIS proceedings, Arteaga filed the instant negligence action against Basic and Ibarra. Summary judgment was granted in favor of Basic and Ibarra on the grounds that Arteaga’s remedy under the Nevada Industrial Insurance Act (NIIA) was exclusive and that his acceptance of workers’ compensation benefits extinguished any common law claim he may have had against respondents.

We elect not to address the issue concerning the exclusivity of the NIIA remedy since the district court was correct in determining that Arteaga waived any common law remedy he may have had by accepting a final SIIS award. The entry of summary judgment against Arteaga was therefore proper.

FACTS

The antecedent facts to this controversy reflect that Arteaga was a Colorado resident who had been hired by Basic, a Colorado-based company, to insulate pipe on an as-needed basis. The job required Arteaga to travel to locations outside Colorado. When the employees were on location, their paychecks were mailed to a nearby post office. At the conclusion of a particular assignment, the workers were laid off until they were called to a new job assignment. The final paychecks for work on completed jobs were held at Basic’s offices in Grand Junction, Colorado, for pick up by the employees, most of whom resided in or near Grand Junction.

Several weeks before the accident at issue, Basic hired Arteaga to insulate pipe at a power plant in Steamboat, Nevada. Arteaga and another employee left for Steamboat in a company truck driven by Arteaga’s brother-in-law, Ibarra. Four other employees traveled to the job site in their personal vehicles. The Steamboat assignment was completed in the late morning hours of October 14, 1986. Although the men received their entire daily meal allowance for that date, they were to be paid only for the hours [774]*774actually worked. Six of the men, including Ibarra and Arteaga, left Steamboat at approximately 2:00 p.m. to return to Colorado; the seventh worker returned to his residence in Texas.

While en route to Colorado, the personal vehicle of one of the workers broke down and was loaded onto the Basic truck and trailer driven by Ibarra. The driver and passengers of the disabled vehicle joined another member of their group. Ibarra, Arteaga and a worker named Contreras continued toward Colorado in the Basic truck. Ibarra found that the truck handled differently after the disabled vehicle was loaded onto the trailer. Eventually Ibarra lost control of the truck and it overturned, causing Arteaga to suffer various injuries.

Basic filed a workers’ compensation claim on Arteaga’s behalf which was accepted by SIIS. In the meantime, Arteaga had retained Colorado counsel to represent him in connection with a potential claim against Basic and Ibarra.

Arteaga’s counsel was aware that Basic had filed the workers’ compensation claim on his client’s behalf and actually represented Arteaga throughout the SIIS proceedings. However, Arteaga’s attorney questioned whether his client was within the course of employment when the accident occurred and thought that Arteaga had a common law claim against Ibarra and Basic. Consequently, in October 1988, while the workers’ compensation claim was pending, Arteaga filed the instant tort action. Basic and Ibarra denied liability and asserted the statutory exclusive remedy as an affirmative defense. See NRS 616.270.1

In October of 1989, SIIS granted Arteaga a permanent partial disability award of thirteen percent and closed his claim. Arteaga, through his counsel, accepted a lump sum payment of approximately $19,000 in full settlement of his claim.

Basic and Ibarra initially moved for partial summary judgment on the issue of whether Arteaga was acting within the course and scope of his employment when the accident occurred. Before the district court ruled on the partial summary judgment motion, [775]*775Arteaga accepted the final SIIS award, thus prompting Basic and Ibarra to file a motion for summary judgment on grounds that Arteaga had waived any common law claim he may have had against Basic and Ibarra.

Arteaga opposed the motions, arguing that a material factual issue concerning Arteaga’s employment status remained. Arteaga also argued that there had been no binding election of remedies which would preclude him from proceeding with his common law action.

Both motions were granted. Relying upon California case law, the district court ruled that Arteaga was acting within the course and scope of his employment as a matter of law. In support of this ruling, the district court emphasized the fact that Arteaga was required to return to Colorado to pick up his final check and that it was Basic’s purported policy to furnish transportation to its employees. More importantly, however, the district court ruled that Arteaga’s acceptance of the SIIS award extinguished any common law claim Arteaga may have had against respondents.

On appeal, Arteaga contends that summary judgment was improper because a material factual dispute exists concerning whether Arteaga was an employee of Basic and acting within the course of his employment when the accident occurred. Arteaga also contends that he is not barred from pursuing a common law remedy since he did not voluntarily elect coverage under the Nil A.

As noted above, it is unnecessary to address Arteaga’s employment status at the time of the accident since any common law claim he may have had against Basic and Ibarra at that time was waived when Arteaga accepted the final settlement of his workers’ compensation claim.

DISCUSSION

Standard of Review

On appeal from summary judgment, this court is called upon to determine whether the district court erred in finding an absence of genuine issues of material fact and that the moving party was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Bird v. Casa Royale West, 97 Nev. 67, 624 P.2d 17 (1981). Because we review the entire record anew and without deference to the findings of the district court, in that sense our review is de novo. Caughlin Ranch Homeowners Ass’n v. Caughlin Club, 109 Nev. 264, 266, 849 P.2d 310, 311 (1993). On summary judgment, “the evidence is to be viewed in a light most favorable to the party against whom summary judgment was rendered.” McGinnis v. Consolidated Casinos Corp., 98 Nev. 396, 397-98, 650 P.2d 806, 807 (1982).

[776]*776 Waiver of Common Law Remedies

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Bluebook (online)
858 P.2d 387, 109 Nev. 772, 1993 Nev. LEXIS 128, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arteaga-v-ibarra-nev-1993.