Maribel Santiago v. Didion Milling, Inc.

CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedOctober 10, 2024
Docket2023AP001045
StatusUnpublished

This text of Maribel Santiago v. Didion Milling, Inc. (Maribel Santiago v. Didion Milling, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maribel Santiago v. Didion Milling, Inc., (Wis. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS DECISION NOTICE DATED AND FILED This opinion is subject to further editing. If published, the official version will appear in the bound volume of the Official Reports. October 10, 2024 A party may file with the Supreme Court a Samuel A. Christensen petition to review an adverse decision by the Clerk of Court of Appeals Court of Appeals. See WIS. STAT. § 808.10 and RULE 809.62.

Appeal No. 2023AP1045 Cir. Ct. No. 2021CV91

STATE OF WISCONSIN IN COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT IV

MARIBEL SANTIAGO,

PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT,

V.

DIDION MILLING, INC. AND NATIONWIDE AGRIBUSINESS INSURANCE COMPANY,

DEFENDANTS-RESPONDENTS,

BROADSPIRE SERVICES, INC.,

INTERVENOR.

APPEAL from an order of the circuit court for Columbia County: W. ANDREW VOIGT, Judge. Affirmed.

Before Graham, Nashold, and Taylor, JJ. No. 2023AP1045

Per curiam opinions may not be cited in any court of this state as precedent

or authority, except for the limited purposes specified in WIS. STAT. RULE 809.23(3).

¶1 PER CURIAM. Maribel Santiago brought this tort action after her husband was severely injured on the job as a temporary employee at a plant owned by Didion Milling, Inc. (“Didion”), resulting in his death. Santiago appeals a circuit court order granting summary judgment in favor of Didion and denying Santiago’s motion for reconsideration of the court’s oral summary judgment ruling. The court granted Didion’s motion for summary judgment on the basis that WIS. STAT. § 102.29(6)(b)1. (2021-22) applies to bar Santiago’s tort action.1 Section 102.29(6)(b)1. provides that “[n]o employee of a temporary help agency who has the right to make a claim for compensation may make a claim or maintain an action in tort against … [a]ny employer that compensates the temporary help agency for the employee’s services.” Santiago moved the court to reconsider its ruling, arguing that the retroactive application of § 102.29(6)(b)1. is unconstitutional. The court denied Santiago’s motion because Santiago raised her constitutional argument for the first time in her motion for reconsideration.

¶2 On appeal, Santiago argues that the circuit court erred on summary judgment by not considering, sua sponte, whether WIS. STAT. § 102.29(6)(b)1.’s retroactive application is constitutional. Santiago also argues that the court erroneously exercised its discretion when it denied her motion for reconsideration and that Santiago was entitled to reconsideration because the court committed a

1 All references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 2021-22 version unless otherwise noted.

2 No. 2023AP1045

manifest error of law by failing to consider whether the retroactive application of § 102.29(6)(b)1. is constitutional. For the reasons explained below, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

¶3 Santiago’s husband, Angel Luis Reyes-Sanchez, was employed by a temporary help agency and assigned as a temporary employee of Didion. Reyes- Sanchez was injured in an explosion at Didion’s corn milling plant in May 2017, and he died from his injuries a week later. In November 2020, Santiago brought this tort action, alleging that Reyes-Sanchez’s injuries and death were caused by Didion’s negligence, claiming that Didion violated Wisconsin’s safe-place statute, WIS. STAT. § 101.11, and seeking punitive damages.2

¶4 At the time of Reyes-Sanchez’s injury and death, WIS. STAT. § 102.29(6)(b)1. stated that “[n]o employee of a temporary help agency who makes a claim for compensation may make a claim or maintain an action in tort against … [a]ny employer that compensates the temporary help agency for the employee’s services.” Sec. 102.29(6)(b)1. (2015-16); see also WIS. STAT. § 102.01(2)(am) (defining “compensation,” as used in § 102.29(6)(b)1., as “worker’s compensation”). In Ehr v. West Bend Mutual Insurance Co., 2018 WI App 14, 380 Wis. 2d 138, 908 N.W.2d 486, we concluded that “[t]he necessary implication of” the statutory phrase “who makes a claim for compensation,” as used in § 102.29(6)(b) (2015-16), “is that a temporary employee who does not make a claim for worker’s compensation under the [Worker’s Compensation] Act

2 Broadspire Services, Inc., (“Broadspire”) intervened in the circuit court as the third- party administrator for the worker’s compensation insurance carrier of Reyes-Sanchez’s employer. We do not discuss Broadspire’s involvement further because Broadspire has not participated in this appeal and its involvement is not relevant on appeal.

3 No. 2023AP1045

is not prohibited from bringing a tort claim against his or her temporary employer.” Id., ¶14.

¶5 However, by the time that Santiago filed her tort action against Didion in November 2020, the legislature had abrogated Ehr by amending WIS. STAT. § 102.29(6)(b)1. to change the language so that a temporary employee is prohibited from bringing a tort action against the employer if the employee “has the right to make a claim for [worker’s] compensation.”3 Compare WIS. STAT. § 102.29(6)(b)1. (2015-16) with § 102.29(6)(b)1. (emphasis added); see also 2017 Wis. Act 139; Demars v. Fincantieri Marine Group, LLC, No. 2023AP826, unpublished slip op. ¶32 n.12, (WI App Aug. 27, 2024) (discussing Ehr’s abrogation). The legislature revised § 102.29(6)(b)1. pursuant to 2017 Wisconsin Act 139, which “first applies to claims for worker’s compensation made or civil tort claims filed on the effective date of this subsection,” namely, March 2, 2018. 2017 Wis. Act 139, § 16. It is undisputed that if the current version of the statute applies, Santiago’s tort action is barred because her claim was filed after March 2, 2018, and because Santiago has the right to make a claim for worker’s compensation.

¶6 The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment on whether Santiago’s tort action is barred by either version of WIS. STAT. § 102.29(6)(b)1.4 In their cross-motions, the parties disputed which version of the statute should

3 For ease of reference, we refer to WIS. STAT. § 102.29(6)(b)1. (2015-16) as the “prior version” of the statute. Where not specifically stated, reference to the statute is to the current version. 4 Santiago’s motion, if granted, would not have resolved the entire case; instead, it would have only allowed Santiago to proceed with her tort action. As a result, it was actually a motion for partial summary judgment, notwithstanding its caption as a motion for summary judgment.

4 No. 2023AP1045

apply and they also disputed whether Santiago had actually made a claim for worker’s compensation. The latter issue is not before us on appeal. Pertinent to this appeal, Didion argued that the current version of § 102.29(6)(b)1. applies retroactively to bar Santiago’s tort action because Santiago filed the action after 2017 Wisconsin Act 139’s effective date and because she had the right to make a worker’s compensation claim. In response, Santiago argued that because her tort claims accrued at the time of her husband’s 2017 injury and death, the prior version of the statute applies and that under the prior version, her tort claims could proceed because she had not made a claim for worker’s compensation. Although Santiago argued that the current version of § 102.29(6)(b)1. did not apply to bar her tort action, she did not argue that its retroactive application would be unconstitutional.

¶7 The circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of Didion because it concluded that the current version of WIS. STAT. § 102.29(6)(b)1., as amended by 2017 Wisconsin Act 139, applies to bar Santiago’s tort action and to limit her remedies to those available pursuant to a worker’s compensation claim.5 After the court’s oral ruling granting summary judgment in favor of Didion, Santiago moved the court to reconsider its summary judgment decision.

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Maribel Santiago v. Didion Milling, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maribel-santiago-v-didion-milling-inc-wisctapp-2024.