Meadwestvaco Corp. v. Mitchell

195 So. 3d 290, 2015 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 230, 2015 WL 5918745
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedOctober 9, 2015
Docket2140305
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 195 So. 3d 290 (Meadwestvaco Corp. v. Mitchell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Meadwestvaco Corp. v. Mitchell, 195 So. 3d 290, 2015 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 230, 2015 WL 5918745 (Ala. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

MOORE, Judge.

Section 25-5-77(a), Ala.Code 1975, a part of the Alabama Workers’ Compensation Act (“the Act”), § 25-5-1 et seq., Ala. Code 1975, provides, in pertinent part:

“If the employee is dissatisfied with -the initial treating physician selected by the employer and if further treatment is required, the employee may so advise the employer, and the employee shall be entitled to select a second' physician from a panel or list of four physicians selected by the employer.”

On July 8, 2014, Samuel Mitchell (“the employee”) filed a multicount complaint against MeadWestvaco Corporation (“the employer”), his alleged self-insured employer, Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc. (“Sedgwick”), the alleged third-party workers’ compensation claims administrator for the employer, and various fictitiously named defendants, based on various • injuries allegedly arising out of and in the course of his employment. In one count of that complaint, the employee asserted that Sedgwick had ‘committed the tort of outrage by “knowingly and intentionally” refusing to provide him a “panel of four” physicians as required by § 25-5-77(a). ■

Along with his complaint, the employee also filed a “Motion to Compel Panel of Four and Payment of Medical Benefits,” in which he asserted that he had injured his left knee in a work-related accident on April 16, 2013; that the employer had accepted his claim for workers’ compensa[292]*292tion benefits arising out of that injury; that the employer had authorized a'physician to treat the injury surgically; that he had become dissatisfied with his authorized treating physician after the surgery; that he had requested a panel of four physicians on several occasions; and that his request had been repeatedly denied. The employee further asserted that, after his requests were denied, he engaged his own private physician at his own expense. The employee argued that the employer and Sedgwick had willfully and contemptuously. violated the law. The employee requested that the trial court enter an order determining .that the employer and Sedg-wick had wrongfully and unlawfully, denied him medical benefits; directing the employer and Sedgwick to authorize his chosen physician and to pay the expenses associated with the treatment provided by that physician; declaring that he had not exhausted his right to request a panel of four physicians; and requiring the employer and Sedgwick to pay a reasonable attorney’s fee.

On August 14, 2014, Sedgwick filed an answer'to the complaint, asserting, among other defenses, that “the denial of the panel request by [the employee] was, in compliance with [the Act].” That same date, the employer filed an answer to the complaint, raising the identical defense. Four days later, on August 18, 2014, the trial court entered an order granting the employee’s, “motion to compel” without elaboration.

On September 2, 2014, the employee filed a motion to establish the amount of attorney’s fees to be awarded in connection with the motion as $2,695. The employer responded on September 5, 2014, by filing a motion requesting that the trial court reconsider its August 18, 2014, order. ' The employer attached exhibits showing that the employee’s authorized treating physician had released the employee from medical care on December 9, 2013; that Sedgwick had received the employee’s subsequent requests for a panel of four physicians; that Sedgwick had directed the employee to return to the authorized treating physician to determine if any further medical treatment was reasonably necessary; that Sedgwick had informed the employee that it would provide a panel of four physicians if the authorized treating physician indicated a need for additional medical care; and that the employee did not return to see the authorized treating physician before filing the motion to compel. The employer argued that it had complied with its duty under § 25-5-77(a) because a panel of four physicians must be provided only when “further treatment is required” and, it asserted, the employee had not presented any evidence indicating that he needed additional treatment for his left-knee injury. The employer further maintained that the trial court did not have any basis for awarding attorney’s fees and that the fees claimed by the employee were excessive. As previously noted, the employer requested that the trial court reconsider and set aside its August 18, 2014, order.

The trial court held a hearing on the employer’s motion to reconsider and on the employee’s motion to assess attorney’s fees on September 24, 2014. The trial court did not enter a ruling on. either motion. On January 14, 2015, the employer and Sedgwick filed a notice of appeal in the trial court, indicating that they were appealing from the August 18, 2014, order.

In their joint appellate brief to this court, the employer and Sedgwick contend that, in its August 18, 2014, order, the trial court entered a final judgment sanctioning them for refusing to provide the employee with a panel of four physicians; that the motion to reconsider filed on September 5, [293]*2932014, was a postjudgment motion under Rule 59, Ala. R. Civ. P.;1 that, under Rule 59.1, Ala. R. Civ. P., the trial court had allowed the postjudgment motion to be denied by operation of law on December 4, 2014; and that they had timely filed a notice of appeal from that judgment.

The August 18, 2014, order is not a final judgment that will support an appeal. Although the language of §§ 25-5-81(a)(l) and § 25 — 5—81(e), Ala.Code 1975, suggests that a party may appeal from any order deciding a controversy over workers’ compensation benefits, see Ex parte Cowabunga, 67 So.3d 136, 141-45 (Ala.Civ.App.2011) (Moore, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part), a majority of this court has decided that an appeal from a workers’ compensation determination lies only from a “final judgment” within the meaning of § 12-22-2, Ala.Code 1975, i.e., “ ‘a “terminal decision which demonstrates that there has been a complete adjudication of all matters in controversy between the litigants.” ’ ” Williams Power, Inc. v. Johnson, 880 So.2d 459, 461 (Ala.Civ.App.2003) (quoting Dees v. State, 563 So.2d 1059, 1061 (Ala.Civ.App.1990), quoting in turn Tidwell v. Tidwell, 496 So.2d 91, 92 (Ala.Civ.App.1986)). The August 18, 2014, order does not meet that standard because, among other reasons, the order does not resolve any of the claims contained in the complaint filed by the employee, which remain pending before the trial court. See Bryant v. Flagstar Enters., Inc., 717 So.2d 400 (Ala.Civ.App.1998) (dismissing appeal from order granting summary-judgment motion on workers’ compensation claim because tort-of-outrage claim in same action had not been adjudicated).

The employer and Sedgwick argue that the August 18, 2014, order is “an order of civil sanctions ... subject to a direct appeal under [Rule 70A(g)(2), Ala. R. Civ. P.].” Rule 70A(g)(2), Ala. R. Civ. P., provides: “If the person found in contempt is not being held in custody pursuant to the adjudication of contempt, the adjudication is reviewable by appeal.” However, the trial court did not find the employer or Sedgwick to be in contempt.

Rule 70A(a)(2) defines the different kinds of contempt as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
195 So. 3d 290, 2015 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 230, 2015 WL 5918745, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/meadwestvaco-corp-v-mitchell-alacivapp-2015.