Carrillo, Miguel Garcia v. Carlos Sanchez Hurtado, a/k/a Carlos Ramirez Rios, Gilberto Cavazos, Kosinski Homes, Kosinski Properties LLC, Hartford Casualty Insurance Company, and Hartford Underwriters Insurance Company

2023 TN WC 39
CourtTennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims
DecidedMay 25, 2023
Docket2021-06-1167
StatusPublished

This text of 2023 TN WC 39 (Carrillo, Miguel Garcia v. Carlos Sanchez Hurtado, a/k/a Carlos Ramirez Rios, Gilberto Cavazos, Kosinski Homes, Kosinski Properties LLC, Hartford Casualty Insurance Company, and Hartford Underwriters Insurance Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carrillo, Miguel Garcia v. Carlos Sanchez Hurtado, a/k/a Carlos Ramirez Rios, Gilberto Cavazos, Kosinski Homes, Kosinski Properties LLC, Hartford Casualty Insurance Company, and Hartford Underwriters Insurance Company, 2023 TN WC 39 (Tenn. Super. Ct. 2023).

Opinion

FILED May 25, 2023 12:04 PM(CT) TENNESSEE COURT OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION CLAIMS

TENNESSEE BUREAU OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION IN THE COURT OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CLAIMS AT NASHVILLE

Miguel Garcia Carrillo, ) Docket No. 2021-06-1167 Claimant, ) v. ) Carlos Sanchez Hurtado, a/k/a Carlos ) State File No. 800727-2022 Ramirez Rios, Gilberto Cavazos, ) 800658-2021 Kosinski Homes, Kosinski Properties ) 800657-2021 LLC, Hartford Casualty Insurance Company, and Hartford Underwriters ) Insurance Company, ) Judge Kenneth M. Switzer Respondents.

EXPEDITED HEARING ORDER FOR MEDICAL BENEFITS

Miguel Garcia Carrillo broke his arm and leg while working at a construction site. The parties agree on that fact, but they disagree regarding which of them, if any, is responsible for workers’ compensation benefits. The respondents raise a variety of defenses.

The Court held an evidentiary hearing on May 18, 2023, and finds that Carlos Hurtado Sanchez a/k/a Carlos Ramirez Rios, who is uninsured, directly employed Mr. Carrillo, and the statutory employer is Gilberto Cavazos. Therefore, Mr. Cavazos and/or his carrier, Hartford Underwriters Insurance Company, must provide a panel of orthopedists.

However, on this record, Mr. Carrillo has not met his burden to show he is entitled to payment of past medical bills or past temporary disability benefits, so those requests are denied at this time.

Claim History

Mr. Carrillo testified that Mr. Rios hired him. On August 28, 2021, Mr. Carrillo was injured when he fell from a roof while framing a garage. Mr. Rios was present when

1 the accident occurred and had been directing the work. Mr. Carrillo considered Mr. Rios his “boss/supervisor,” and he was in charge of the project.

Mr. Carrillo went to the emergency room after the accident and remained hospitalized. He did not work for some time after his discharge. However, he did not offer records documenting the treatment he received or whether a physician restricted him from working. Mr. Carrillo incurred medical bills for the treatment, which apparently remain unpaid.

Mr. Carrillo testified that Mr. Rios paid him a daily rate of $150 and supervised his work. Mr. Rios testified that he paid Mr. Carrillo $13 per hour, and they worked nine- to ten-hour days. Mr. Rios determined the length of the workdays and when they took breaks. Mr. Rios provided some of the tools, but Mr. Carrillo brought some of his own tools as well.

Mr. Rios testified that he was hired by Gilberto Cavazos, who paid him by the job and did not supervise his work. Mr. Rios confirmed that he hired Mr. Carrillo without consulting Mr. Cavazos. Mr. Rios said that on the day of the accident, he told Mr. Carrillo to stay on the ground, but he ignored that instruction. After the accident, he gave Mr. Carrillo an unspecified amount of money to help pay rent.

Mr. Rios does not have insurance; a Bureau investigator confirmed that fact. Along these lines, Mr. Rios testified that he warns all persons that he hires to be careful because he is uninsured.

Mr. Cavazos is insured by Hartford Underwriters Insurance Company. Although Mr. Cavazos attended the hearing, he did not testify.

Mr. Carrillo sought payment of past medical bills and temporary disability benefits for the time he was unable to work.1

The respondents, except for Mr. Rios, argued that they did not employ Mr. Carrillo. They questioned whether Mr. Carrillo disregarded instructions that would have prevented the accident. They further challenged the employment relationships between Mr. Carrillo and Mr. Rios, and Mr. Rios and Mr. Cavazos. They additionally argued that Mr. Carrillo

1 The Court excluded from evidence the medical bills because they did not meet the requirements of Tennessee Compilation Rules and Regulations 0800-02-21-.16(2)(b) (February, 2022) (medical bills are self-authenticating and admissible when signed by a physician or accompanied by a form signed by a medical provider or records custodian certifying that the bills are true and accurate); and see Eaves v. Ametek, Inc., 2018 TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 53, at *8-9 (Sept. 14, 2018) (medical bills must be accompanied by proof that they are reasonable, necessary, and causally related to the work accident to be admitted into evidence).

2 did not comply with procedural rules or satisfy his burden of proof by introducing admissible medical records or bills.2

From a procedural standpoint, Mr. Carrillo first named Mr. Rios and Kosinski Properties as his employer in his petition for benefit determination. He filed two amended petitions later identifying Mr. Rios as the “direct employer,” “Kosinski Homes” and “Kosinski Properties” as a “builder,” along with their carrier. He also named “Gilberto Cavazos” as a “subcontractor.”

Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

The Workers’ Compensation Law states that “the employer” must furnish medical treatment, free of charge to “the employee,” made reasonably necessary by a work accident. Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-204(a)(1)(A) (2022). The central issue in this case is, who is the “employer” that must furnish treatment?

An “employee” is a person in the service of an employer under a contract of hire either written or implied. Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-102(10)(A). In Black v. Dance, 643 S.W.2d 654, 657 (Tenn. 1982), the Tennessee Supreme Court explained that “the word ‘hire’ imports remuneration or compensation.” Thus, “[i]n order for one to be an employee of another for purposes of our Worker’s Compensation Law, it is, therefore, required that there be an express or implied agreement for the alleged employer to remunerate the alleged employee for his services[.]” Id.

Here, Mr. Carrillo testified that he and Mr. Rios agreed that Mr. Carrillo would work on the home construction project. They disagreed on his rate of pay ̶ $150 per day versus $13 per hour for a nine to ten-hour workday—but the small difference in the amount is irrelevant to the larger point that these two parties agreed that Mr. Rios paid Mr. Carrillo to work on the project. The Court finds Mr. Carrillo was Mr. Rios’s employee. Mr. Rios was the immediate employer and is uninsured.

Mr. Carrillo made his claim against Mr. Rios “in the first instance” as “the immediate employer.” Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-113(c). However, a “principal contractor, intermediate contractor or subcontractor shall be liable for compensation to any employee injured while in the employ of any of the subcontractors of the principal contractor, intermediate contractor or subcontractor[.]” Id. at -113(a).

Case law explains that section 50-6-113 “prevents employers [from] avoiding workers’ compensation liability simply by contracting out work.” Osbourne v. Starrun,

2 Mr. Cavazos’s attorney moved for involuntary dismissal after Mr. Carrillo testified, asserting that he did not satisfy his burden. The Court denied the motion because this case is at the interlocutory stage, and this is a nonfinal order, so involuntary dismissal is inappropriate. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6- 239(d)(3). 3 Inc., No. E2018-00282-SC-R3-WC, 2018 Tenn. LEXIS 656, at *9 (Tenn. Workers’ Comp. Panel Oct. 19, 2018).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Stratton v. United Inter-Mountain Telephone Co.
695 S.W.2d 947 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1985)
Lang v. Nissan North America, Inc.
170 S.W.3d 564 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2005)
Black v. Dance
643 S.W.2d 654 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2023 TN WC 39, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carrillo-miguel-garcia-v-carlos-sanchez-hurtado-aka-carlos-ramirez-tennworkcompcl-2023.