Gallegos v. Chastain

624 P.2d 60, 95 N.M. 551
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 27, 1981
Docket4671
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 624 P.2d 60 (Gallegos v. Chastain) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gallegos v. Chastain, 624 P.2d 60, 95 N.M. 551 (N.M. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

OPINION

WOOD, Judge.

Plaintiff and Chastain were employees of United Nuclear Corporation. Plaintiff claimed that Chastain committed a battery upon him. The alleged battery occurred near the elevator used to take employees from underground to the surface of the mine and before the requisite checking out for completion of the work shift. Plaintiff sought to recover compensatory and punitive damages; the trial court granted summary judgment for the defendants, plaintiff appealed. Plaintiff’s deposition testimony raised a factual issue as to whether a battery was committed; the issue is whether, in light of provisions in our Workmen’s Compensation Act, plaintiff’s exclusive remedy for the alleged battery was under the Workmen’s Compensation Act (hereinafter “the Act”).

(a) Remedy Provisions Generally

(1) Employer

Sections 52-1-8 and 52-1-9, N.M.S.A. 1978 contain broad language to the effect that when the facts are within the provisions of the Act, the employer’s liability under the Act is exclusive. The exclusivity provisions have consistently been applied. “Our statutes could scarcely be more explicit in abolishing every statutory or common-law right or remedy against the employer not provided by the Workmen’s Compensation Act, accruing to any person whomsoever, which arises by reason of such injury.” Roseberry v. Phillips Petroleum Company, 70 N.M. 19, 369 P.2d 403 (1962); see Royal Indem. Co. v. Southern Cal. Petroleum Corp., 67 N.M. 137, 353 P.2d 358 (1960); Beal v. Southern Union Gas Company, 62 N.M. 38, 304 P.2d 566 (1956). Compare City of Artesia v. Carter, 94 N.M. 311, 610 P.2d 198 (Ct.App.1980). These cases involved third parties seeking to impose liability upon the employer; our case involves an employee seeking to impose liability upon the employer. The pertinence of these cases is that they gave effect to, rather than weakening, statutory provisions limiting the employer’s liability.

(2) Employee

At a time when the exclusivity provisions of the Act were worded in terms of the employer, or the insurer, guarantor or surety of the employer, Hockett v. Chapman, 69 N.M. 324, 366 P.2d 850 (1961) held that an employee, allegedly causing an injury to a co-employee, did not have the benefit of statutory provisions limiting the employer’s liability. “In the absence of express language . .. denying an employee the right to maintain a negligence action against a coemployee ... we ... conclude that a coemployee is ‘a person other than the employer’ against whom such an action for damages may be maintained . .. . ” See also Roseberry v. Phillips Petroleum Company, supra. These cases involved negligence claims; our case involves an alleged battery. The pertinence of these cases is that they provide a basis for ascertaining the legislative intent in enacting amendments to the statutory exclusivity provisions. These amendments will be discussed subsequently.

(b) Remedy Provisions for an Intentional Tort

The Act provides that compensation is to be paid for accidental injuries, §§ 52-1-9 and 52-1-19, N.M.S.A.1978, and provides for no compensation where the injury was intentionally inflicted by the worker, § 52-1-11, N.M.S.A.1978. Plaintiff contends these statutory provisions show that injury from an intentional tort, such as the alleged battery, does not come within the provisions of the Act and thus the exclusivity provisions are inapplicable. This claim is too broad.

Sanford v. Presto Mfg. Co., 92 N.M. 746, 594 P.2d 1202 (Ct.App.1979) pointed out that an employer had been held liable to an employee, outside workmen’s compensation statutes, on a limited basis. Sanford, supra, cited Boek v. Wong Hing, 180 Minn. 470, 231 N.W. 233 (1930) as an example of a case where the employer was subject to liability for a common-law tort. In Boek the employer “intentionally and maliciously struck at plaintiff with a heavy broom handle ... . ” Boek held: “As between employer and employee willfully and intentionally inflicted bodily injuries should neither be regarded as accidental nor as giving occasion for the application of the Compensation Act ... .” Sanford also cited 2A Larson, Workmen’s Compensation Law, § 68.13 for the view that the employer’s liability, outside the Act, was for “ ‘deliberate infliction of harm comparable to an intentional left jab to the chin.’ ” Thus, the basis for the employer’s liability outside the Act is an actual intent to injure on the part of the employer. In Sanford, a claim of intentionally using equipment, knowing that the equipment emitted toxic fumes dangerous to human health, was not the type of intentional tort for which the employer would be held liable outside the Act.

In this case, plaintiff presents two theories for holding the employer liable outside the Act.

The first amended complaint asserts that the alleged battery resulted from “the failure of United Nuclear Corporation to take adequate and reasonable precaution for the benefit of plaintiff, its employee, from physical harm and abuse from supervisory personnel.” This is not a claim for an intentional tort.

The proposed second amended complaint asserts that the alleged battery occurred while “Chastain was engaging upon his employer’s business with the view of furthering his employer’s interest, and did not arise entirely from some external, independent and personal motive.” Plaintiff describes this allegation as a claim that the employer is liable, outside the Act “for the acts of its servant committed in the scope or cause of his employment”, citing McCauley v. Ray, 80 N.M. 171, 453 P.2d 192 (1968) and Grandi v. LeSage, 74 N.M. 799, 399 P.2d 285 (1965).

' Neither McCauley nor Grandi is applicable; neither case involved statutory provisions limiting the liability of the employer. Plaintiff’s sole basis for avoiding the exclusivity provisions of the Act is the claim that there was an intentional tort. Such is insufficient unless there was an actual intent to injure on the part of the employer; there is no factual basis for such a claim in this case.

Larson, supra, § 68.21 explains:

’ When the person who intentionally injures the employee is not the employer in person nor a person who is realistically the alter ego of the corporation, but merely a foreman, supervisor or manager, both the legal and the moral reasons for permitting a common-law suit against the employer collapse, and a substantial majority of modern cases bar a damage suit against the employer.
The legal reason for permitting the common-law suit for direct assault by the employer, as we have seen, is that the same person cannot commit an intentional assault and then allege it was accidental.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
624 P.2d 60, 95 N.M. 551, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gallegos-v-chastain-nmctapp-1981.