Hurdle v. Holloway

848 So. 2d 183, 2003 WL 21403747
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJune 19, 2003
Docket2001-IA-01681-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by56 cases

This text of 848 So. 2d 183 (Hurdle v. Holloway) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hurdle v. Holloway, 848 So. 2d 183, 2003 WL 21403747 (Mich. 2003).

Opinion

848 So.2d 183 (2003)

J.K. HURDLE, Jr. and Sam Hurdle, Hurdle and Son, General Partnership, All Jointly and Severally,
v.
Michael HOLLOWAY.

No. 2001-IA-01681-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

June 19, 2003.

*184 Lawrence Lee Little, Dion Jeffery Shanley, attorneys for appellants.

Barrett Jerome Clisby, Oxford, James Kizer Jones, attorneys for appellee.

EN BANC.

WALLER, Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. After they had both consumed several beers, Sam Hurdle, of Hurdle and Son General Partnership, offered Michael Holloway, a Hurdle and Son employee, a ride home after work. On the way, one of the tires on the truck[1] in which they were riding suffered a blowout, causing Sam to lose control of the vehicle. The truck flipped several times, and Holloway was seriously injured.

¶ 2. After filing a tort action in circuit court against J.K. Hurdle, Jr., Sam Hurdle, and Hurdle and Son, Holloway filed a claim with the Workers' Compensation Commission, which granted the claim. The Hurdles and their WC carrier appealed to the circuit court, claiming that Holloway was not within the course and scope of his employment when he was injured. After the circuit court affirmed the WCC's *185 ruling, the Hurdles appealed to this Court, and we transferred the appeal to the Court of Appeals,[2] which affirmed the grant of benefits. The Court of Appeals specifically ruled that Holloway was in the course and scope of his employment when he was injured and that his injuries were compensable under the Act.

¶ 3. Holloway's tort action against the Hurdles was brought out of abeyance, and the Hurdles filed a motion for summary judgment, contending that Holloway's complaint was barred by the exclusivity provision of the Act. After the circuit judge denied the motion for summary judgment, we granted the Hurdles permission to bring this interlocutory appeal. See M.R.A.P. 5. We reverse and render the circuit court's denial of the motion for summary judgment because the Act's exclusivity provisions bar Holloway's complaint.

DISCUSSION

¶ 4. We employ a de novo standard of review of a trial court's grant or denial of a summary judgment and examine all the evidentiary matters before it— admissions in pleadings, answers to interrogatories, depositions, affidavits, etc. The evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party against whom the motion has been made. If, in this view, there is no genuine issue of material fact, and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, summary judgment should forthwith be entered for the movant. Otherwise, the motion should be denied. Heigle v. Heigle, 771 So.2d 341, 345 (Miss.2000).

WHETHER THE EXCLUSIVITY PROVISION OF THE ACT BARS HOLLOWAY'S COMPLAINT IN TORT AGAINST THE HURDLES.

¶ 5. It is well established that the Act is the exclusive remedy for an employee injured while acting in the scope and course of his employment. Miss.Code Ann. § 71-3-9 (Rev.2000); Medders v. United States Fid. & Guar. Co., 623 So.2d 979, 984 (Miss.1993). The exclusivity provision of the Act is not applicable to an employee's claim if: (1) the injury is caused by the willful act of the employer or another employee acting in the course and scope of employment and in the furtherance of the employer's business; and (2) the injury must be one that is not compensable under the Act. Newell v. Southern Jitney Jungle Co., 830 So.2d 621, 624 (Miss.2002).

¶ 6. Because the Court of Appeals has decided as a matter of law[3] that Holloway was acting in the course and scope of his employment when he was injured, that his injuries were not the result of an intentional tort,[4] and that his injuries were compensable under the Act, the exclusivity provision of the Act bars his tort claims against the Hurdles, and the circuit court erred when it denied the Hurdles' motion for summary judgment.

CONCLUSION

¶ 7. We reverse the circuit court's order denying the Hurdles' motion for summary *186 judgment, and we render summary judgment here for the Hurdles finally dismissing Michael Holloway's complaint and this action with prejudice.

¶ 8.REVERSED AND RENDERED.

PITTMAN, C.J., SMITH, P.J., COBB, EASLEY, CARLSON AND GRAVES, JJ., CONCUR. McRAE, P.J., DISSENTS WITH SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION. DIAZ, J., NOT PARTICIPATING.

McRAE, Presiding Justice, dissenting:

¶ 9. The majority erroneously finds that the Workers' Compensation Act is the exclusive remedy for Michael Holloway for injuries he sustained in an auto accident because he "was acting in the course and scope of his employment when he was injured, his injuries were not the result of an intentional tort, and his injuries were compensable under the Act...." (Maj. Op. ¶ 6 & n.4 (citing Miller v. McRae's, Inc., 444 So.2d 368, 371 (Miss.1984))). Since I believe summary judgment is inappropriate and Holloway is entitled to proceed with his personal injury action, I dissent.

¶ 10. In making its findings, the majority incorrectly relies on the holding in Hurdle & Son v. Holloway, 749 So.2d 342 (Miss.Ct.App.1999), a Court of Appeals decision which only addressed whether Holloway was entitled to workers' compensation benefits. In that opinion, the Court of Appeals never addressed the validity of a personal injury suit. Additionally, a thorough reading of the opinion provides evidence which would support the trial court's denial of the motion for summary judgment. Furthermore, in order to be entitled to workers' compensation benefits a party must only satisfy a "substantial evidence" standard, which in no way precludes the assertion that such injuries are not exclusively in the realm of the statute, but may also support a personal injury action.

¶ 11. The majority finds that Holloway was acting in the course and scope of his employment when he was injured. This is wrong for two reasons. First, Holloway's injuries did not occur within the course and scope of his employment. "[A]n injury occurs `in the course of employment when it takes place within the period of employment, at a place where the employee reasonably may be in the performance of his duties, and while he is fulfilling those duties or engaged in doing something incidental thereto, or, as sometimes stated, where he is engaged in the furtherance of the employer's business.'" Bivens v. Marshall R. Young Drilling Co., 251 Miss. 261, 273, 169 So.2d 446, 450 (1964) (quoting 58 Am.Jur. Workmen's Compensation § 212 (1948)). There is disputed testimony and evidence as to whether "Michael Holloway agreed to assist in working on the truck as a personal favor to Sam Hurdle or whether his work was a required duty as a part of his employment." Holloway, 749 So.2d at 345. In fact, "[t]he testimony of J.K. Hurdle makes clear that he did not consider repair of the truck to be something vital to the furtherance of the farming operation." Id. at 347. The accident which precipitated Holloway's injuries occurred a few hundred yards from the Hurdle property. Id. at 345. Both Sam Hurdle and Holloway were drinking at the time of the accident. Id. "[T]he work on the truck and the ensuing accident both took place outside of Michael Holloway's normal work hours." Id. at 347. Under all of these facts, a jury could find that Holloway was not in the course and scope of his employment at the time of the accident. The fact that the Court of Appeals in

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848 So. 2d 183, 2003 WL 21403747, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hurdle-v-holloway-miss-2003.