Minneapolis Flour Co. v. City of Cleveland

934 N.E.2d 966, 188 Ohio App. 3d 146
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 10, 2010
DocketNo. 93767
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 934 N.E.2d 966 (Minneapolis Flour Co. v. City of Cleveland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Minneapolis Flour Co. v. City of Cleveland, 934 N.E.2d 966, 188 Ohio App. 3d 146 (Ohio Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

Kenneth A. Rocco, Presiding Judge.

{¶ 1} Plaintiff-appellant, Minneapolis Flour Company, appeals from a common pleas court order granting partial summary judgment in favor of defendantappellee, the city of Cleveland, on Minneapolis Flour’s claims for the increased workers’ compensation premiums and health-insurance premiums it was required to pay after its employee was injured in a collision caused by a city employee’s negligence. Minneapolis Flour also challenges the common pleas court’s decision to exclude certain evidence from trial and the court’s determination that, without this evidence, Minneapolis Flour’s claim against the city for property damage to its truck had been “extinguished.”

[148]*148{¶ 2} We conclude that the city was entitled to judgment as a matter of law on Minneapolis Flour’s claim for increased workers’ compensation and health-insurance premiums. However, the court erred by granting judgment for the city on the claim for property damage to the truck. Therefore, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.

Procedural History

{¶ 3} This appeal arises from two consolidated actions in the common pleas court seeking damages incurred as a result of an automobile collision in which a city garbage truck, operated by city employee Aretha Johnson, struck a vehicle operated by Ezra Richardson, which in turn struck a truck owned by Minneapolis Flour, operated by its employee, Michael Hren. One suit was filed by Minneapolis Flour against the city, Johnson, and Richardson; the other was filed by Hren against the city, Johnson, and the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. Hren’s claims were ultimately settled and dismissed. Minneapolis Flour voluntarily dismissed its claims against Johnson and Richardson, leaving only the claims against the city for resolution here.1

{¶ 4} The complaint in this case alleged that on November 28, 2005, a city-owned garbage truck failed to yield the right of way while making a right-hand turn onto northbound East 152nd Street and struck a 1993 Plymouth Voyager that was also traveling northbound on East 152nd Street. The Voyager in turn struck a southbound 2000 Sterling truck owned by Minneapolis Flour, operated by Hren. Hren was injured and unable to return to his employment with Minneapolis Flour; the truck was severely damaged. Minneapolis Flour asserted that it suffered damages of $210,000 in increased workers’ compensation premiums, $11,180 in medical-insurance premiums that it paid for Hren for one year, and $25,380 in damage to its truck.

{¶ 5} The city moved for partial summary judgment on February 1, 2008. It asserted that it had no duty to Minneapolis Flour that could render it liable for the increase in Minneapolis Flour’s workers’ compensation premiums and medical-insurance expenses. The court granted this motion. The case then proceeded toward trial on the only claim left, the claim for property damage to the truck.

{¶ 6} The city moved to exclude evidence of the amount Minneapolis Flour paid for a new truck some months after the collision. The court granted this motion. It then determined that the ruling on the motion in limine extinguished Minneapolis Flour’s claim for damages to the truck. This appeal followed.

[149]*149 Law and Analysis

{¶ 7} In its first and second assignments of error, Minneapolis Flour contends that the court erred by granting summary judgment for the city on the company’s claims for the health-care insurance premiums it paid on behalf of its injured employee and the increased workers’ compensation premiums it was required to pay as a result of this injury. Minneapolis Flour claims it is subrogated to its employee’s rights against the city pursuant to R.C. 4128.931.

{¶ 8} We review the common pleas court’s decisions on summary judgment de novo, applying the same standard of review the trial court applied. The parties agree that the question whether Minneapolis Flour can recover these expenses from the city is a question of law and that no material facts are at issue.

{¶ 9} In Cincinnati Bell Tel. Co. v. Straley (1988), 40 Ohio St.3d 372, 533 N.E.2d 764, the Ohio Supreme Court determined that the employer of an injured employee generally has no right to recover against the tortfeasor who caused the injury under the common law, by statute, or by operation of law. The tortfeasor breached a duty to the employee, not the employer; the only way that the tortfeasor might owe a duty to the employer is through a contract or warranty. There is no contractual relationship between Minneapolis Flour and the city, so Cincinnati Bell precludes Minneapolis Flour from recovering here.

{¶ 10} Although the causes of action in Cincinnati Bell all concerned employers’ efforts to recover workers’ compensation payments, the more general principle to be gleaned from that case — that any damages suffered by an employer as a result of a tort committed upon its employee are too remote to allow recovery— applies to other forms of damages as well. Both the claim for increased workers’ compensation premiums and health-insurance premiums are such remote consequences of the city’s alleged negligence that they are not recoverable. Cincinnati v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., 95 Ohio St.3d 416, 2002-Ohio-2480, 768 N.E.2d 1136, ¶ 35 et seq.

{¶ 11} Minneapolis Flour asserts that it is entitled to recover under R.C. 4123.931(A). R.C. 4123.931(A) creates a right of subrogation on behalf of certain persons who pay workers’ compensation benefits. It provides:

The payment of compensation or benefits pursuant to this chapter or Chapter 4121., 4127., or 4131., of the Revised Code creates a right of recovery in favor of a statutory subrogee against a third party, and the statutory subrogee is subrogated to the rights of a claimant against that third party. The net amount recovered is subject to a statutory subrogee’s right of recovery.

{¶ 12} Any right to recovery under this statute is premised on the plaintiffs status as a statutory subrogee. A statutory subrogee is defined in R.C. 4123.93(B) as “the administrator of workers’ compensation, a self-insuring em[150]*150ployer, or an employer that contracts for the direct payment of medical services pursuant to division (L) of section 4121.44 of the Revised Code.”

{¶ 13} Minneapolis Flour obviously is not the administrator of workers’ compensation. It also is not a self-insuring employer. The affidavit it filed with its response to the city’s motion for summary judgment states that it was, at all relevant times, “an insured company, participating in the Ohio Workers’ Compensation system.” While it claims that it was self-insuring to the extent it made payments for the employee’s health insurance, the term “self-insuring employer” as used in this statute is a defined term and does not extend so far:

“Self-insuring employer” means an employer who is granted the privilege of paying compensation and benefits directly [to its injured employees] under section 4123.35 of the Revised Code * * *.

{¶ 14} R.C. 4123.01(G). Minneapolis Flour’s assertion that it participates in the Ohio Workers’ Compensation system demonstrates that it is not a self-insured employer within the meaning of R.C. 4123.01(G).

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

Related

State v. Morales
2014 Ohio 362 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
934 N.E.2d 966, 188 Ohio App. 3d 146, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/minneapolis-flour-co-v-city-of-cleveland-ohioctapp-2010.