Montez v. Roloff Farms, Inc.

28 P.3d 1255, 175 Or. App. 532, 2001 Ore. App. LEXIS 1159
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedAugust 1, 2001
Docket99-06577 and 99-02429; A110500
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 28 P.3d 1255 (Montez v. Roloff Farms, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Montez v. Roloff Farms, Inc., 28 P.3d 1255, 175 Or. App. 532, 2001 Ore. App. LEXIS 1159 (Or. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

SCHUMAN, J.

While picking cherries at Roloff Farms, Inc. (employer), claimant fell from a ladder and fractured a finger. She applied for workers’ compensation. Employer’s insurer, SAIF, found that she was not employed by employer at the time of the injury and denied her claim. At the hearing on that denial, the sole issue was whether employer had “engaged [claimant] to furnish services for remuneration” under ORS 656.005(30). The administrative law judge (ALJ) and subsequently the Workers’ Compensation Board affirmed SAIF’s denial. We reverse and remand.

The parties presented conflicting testimony before the ALJ concerning claimant’s participation in employer’s hiring process for farm workers. SAIF argued that claimant and her son applied for work together on June 11, 1999, but because her son did not have proper identification with him at the time, claimant was told to return with her son’s identification and then watch a safety video before beginning work. Claimant testified that she was never told to watch a video; rather, she was told to go to work immediately after completing the application forms. The parties agree that claimant filled out the application forms, did not watch the video, and did not return with her son’s identification. Instead, she went to the orchard and began picking cherries. She continued to pick cherries at employer’s farm for six to seven days before she was injured.

Claimant also presented uncontradicted evidence that employer’s foreman and other supervisory employees showed her where to pick, instructed her not to bruise or drop the cherries, supplied her with the necessary ladders and boxes, told her when to stop working each day, and paid her for her work under her husband’s picking number.

Thus, claimant presented two arguments to the ALJ: first, that she was an employee because she successfully completed the hiring process and was, in fact, hired on June 11, 1999; and second, that she was an employee by virtue of an implied contract arising out of her work for employer, with its knowledge, for six or seven days after the disputed hiring process took place. See Oremus v. Ore. Pub. Co., 11 Or App [535]*535444, 446, 503 P2d 722 (1972) (implied contract sufficient basis for conclusion that a person is a covered worker). The ALJ apparently rejected both of those theories, finding that

“the employer was not even aware that claimant and her son were picking cherries and, further, claimant and her son had never completed the hiring process. The evidence is overwhelming that the claimant and her son were never hired by this employer. The evidence is also clear that the employer had no knowledge that the claimant and her son were picking its cherries.”

On review of the AL J’s order, the Board concluded:

“Here, the parties agree that claimant completed her W-4 and 1-9 forms, with Mr. Roloffs help, on June 11,1999. Claimant testified that Mr. Roloff then told her to go to work. Mr. Roloff testified that he did not hire her at that time because ‘she hadn’t seen the video.’
“Mr. and Mrs. Roloff and Irene Nunez, the employer’s translator, testified that claimant was informed that she must watch a safety video before going to work. Mrs. Roloff and Ms. Nunez also stated that they specifically instructed claimant to go home and get her son’s identification, then return and watch the video before going to work.
“Thus the evidence relevant and material to the employment relationship issue is conflicting—specifically, regarding whether claimant satisfied the employer’s requirements and conditions for employment. We cannot say that one [party’s] version of the events on June 11,1999 is more persuasive or compelling than the other. Consequently, we find the evidence to be in equipoise. Under these circumstances we are unable to find that claimant has carried her burden of proving that she engaged to furnish services for the employer!.]” (Citations omitted.)

The Board did not explicitly address claimant’s argument based on implied contract.

On judicial review, claimant argues that the Board erred in relying exclusively on the circumstances surrounding the hiring process on June 11, 1999, to determine whether the parties entered into a contractual employment relationship. Claimant argues that such a contract may be either express or implied and points to testimony regarding [536]*536the parties’ subsequent course of conduct that supports a finding of an implied contract. In this respect, claimant refers to uncontradicted testimony that claimant picked employer’s cherries for six to seven days with the full knowledge of employer’s foreman and other supervisory employees.

Claimant’s argument is well taken. A contract for hire that satisfies the “engagement” requirement of ORS 656.005(30) may be based on either an express or implied contract. Oremus, 11 Or App at 446. In Staley v. Taylor, we explained the various permutations of the term “implied contract”:

“The term ‘implied contract’ can refer either to a contract implied-in-fact or to one implied-in-law. The two concepts differ substantially, and the failure to distinguish them has sometimes led to confusion. An implied-in-fact contract is no different in legal effect from an express contract. The only difference between them is the means by which the parties manifest their agreement. In an express contract, the parties manifest their agreement by their words, whether written or spoken. In an implied-in-fact contract, the parties’ agreement is inferred, in whole or in part, from their conduct. Other than questions of proof, the two types of contracts have the same legal effect. In both an express contract and an implied-in-fact contract, the plaintiff is ordinarily entitled to recover benefit of the bargain damages.
“The term implied contract has also been used to refer to contracts that are implied-in-law or quasi-contracts. ‘A quasi contractual obligation is one that is created by the law for reasons of justice, without any expression of assent * * *.’ 1 Corbin on Contracts § 19 at 46. The category includes a variety of types of contractual obligations that are implied to prevent injustice, and the remedy for an implied-in-law contract may be less than the benefit of the bargain damages ordinarily available for breach of an express or implied-in-fact contract.” 165 Or App 256, 262, 994 P2d 1220 (2000) (emphasis added; internal citations omitted).

It is apparent from her arguments to the Board and on review that claimant asserted the existence of an implied-in-fact contract based on the parties’ course of conduct. The conduct that is relevant to the inference of assent is not limited [537]*537to the parties’ actions at the commencement of the alleged relationship; such a limitation would belie the very nature of the implied-in-fact doctrine as recognizing that parties may manifest their assent to an agreement through their actions over an extended period of time. See Hix v. SAIF, 34 Or App 819, 579 P2d 896 (1978) (examining the parties’ conduct over the course of an entire summer to determine whether there was sufficient evidence of either an express or implied contract).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
28 P.3d 1255, 175 Or. App. 532, 2001 Ore. App. LEXIS 1159, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/montez-v-roloff-farms-inc-orctapp-2001.