Owsley v. Idaho Industrial Commission

106 P.3d 129, 106 P.3d 455, 141 Idaho 129, 2005 Ida. LEXIS 18
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 31, 2005
DocketNo. 30193
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 106 P.3d 129 (Owsley v. Idaho Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Owsley v. Idaho Industrial Commission, 106 P.3d 129, 106 P.3d 455, 141 Idaho 129, 2005 Ida. LEXIS 18 (Idaho 2005).

Opinions

BURDICK, Justice.

This case involves a suit brought in district court by three injured workers against the Idaho Industrial Commission (Commission) and the Industrial Special Indemnity Fund (ISIF), alleging bias, prejudgment, and due process violations in the adjudication of their claims. The case comes to this Court on appeal from the district court’s dismissal. We reverse in part and affirm in part.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiff/Appellants Larry Owsley, Dan Daniels, and Richard Nelson Jr. (Claimants) suffered injuries and filed claims against the ISIF to be resolved by the Commission. The same attorney represented all three Claimants.

After investigating the claims and sending officials to interview the Claimants, the ISIF entered into lump sum settlement agreements (LSSA) with each of them. Pursuant to statute, the settlement agreements were submitted to the Commission for its approval. I.C. § 72-404. Ml three settlement agreements were denied. The Claimants and the ISIF contend that in the 25-year period for which there are computerized records, the Commission had never before rejected a settlement agreement.

The ISIF first learned of the Commission’s decision by telephone, when a representative of the Commission contacted them. The Commission’s representative informed the ISIF that the settlement agreements had been denied because the Commission had concluded the ISIF had no liability to the Claimants. The Claimants were similarly contacted by telephone, although for them, the calls frota the Commission went to the office of their shared counsel. According to the Claimants’ complaint, their counsel (or counsel’s staff) was told by a Commission representative the Commission had rejected the settlement agreements because the ISIF had no liability to the Claimants, and should not pay the Claimants anything.

The Claimants filed suit against the Commission and the ISIF in district court, asserting that in announcing the ISIF was without liability the Commission had prejudged their claims “on the merits” without permitting an opportunity to be heard or present evidence, and thereby violated their right to due process. The complaint requested the district court (1) find Judicial Rule of Practice and Procedure Under Idaho Worker’s Compensation Law XVIII unconstitutional, (2) enjoin the Commission from taking any further action with respect to the Claimant’s claims, (3) award damages and fees, (4) devise an alternative process for adjudicating their claims that would exclude the Commission, or (5) approve the settlement agreements between the ISIF and the Claimants.

The district court granted a motion for a protective order requested by the Commission, and halted all discovery. The district court next granted the Commission’s motion to dismiss the Claimants’ action under [133]*133I.R.C.P. 12(b). Although the Commission’s motion referenced I.R.C.P. 12(b)(1), 12(b)(2), 12(b)(3) and 12(b)(6), in granting the motion the district court noted only jurisdictional issues, which come under 12(b)(1). Specifically, the district court “dismissed [the action] without prejudice under I.R.C.P. 12(b) for lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter; and failure to exhaust administrative remedies.” In keeping with a ruling on a 12(b) motion, the district court did not consider material outside of the Claimant’s amended complaint and construed the facts as alleged in favor of the Claimants. ‘

The Claimants filed a timely appeal of the district court’s dismissal. After the appeal was filed, the Commission approved the LSSA between the ISIF and PlaintiffiAppellant Daniels. The settlement agreements pertaining to Owsley and Nelson have not been approved, and their appeal from the district court’s dismissal is presently before the Court.

II.STANDARD OF REVIEW

Whether a dismissal for lack of jurisdiction pursuant to I.R.C.P. 12(b) was properly granted is a question of law over which this Court exercises free review. See Meisner v. Potlatch Corp., 131 Idaho 258, 260, 954 P.2d 676, 678 (1998). Constitutional issues are also purely questions of law over which this Court exercises free review. Id.

On a motion to dismiss, the court looks only at the pleadings, and all inferences are viewed in favor of the non-moving party. Young v. City of Ketchum, 137 Idaho 102, 104, 44 P.3d 1157, 1159 (2002) (regarding 12(b)(6) motions); Osborn v. United States, 918 F.2d 724, 729 n. 6 (8th Cir.1990) (regarding 12(b)(1) motions raising facial challenges to jurisdiction1). “[T]he question then is whether the non-movant has alleged sufficient facts in support of his claim which, if true, would entitle him to relief.” Rincover v. State, 128 Idaho 653, 656, 917 P.2d 1293, 1296 (1996) (regarding 12(b)(6) motions); Serv. Emp. Intern, v. Idaho Dept. of H. & W., 106 Idaho 756, 758, 683 P.2d 404, 406 (1984) (regarding 12(b) challenges generally); Osborn, 918 F.2d at 729 n. 6 (regarding 12(b)(1) facial challenges). “[E]very reasonable intendment will be made to sustain a complaint against a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim.” Idaho Comm’n on Human Rights v. Campbell, 95 Idaho 215, 217, 506 P.2d 112, 114 (1973). “The issue is not whether the plaintiff will ultimately prevail, but whether the party is entitled to offer evidence to support the claims.” Young, 137 Idaho at 104, 44 P.3d at 1159.

III.ANALYSIS

The order of the district court dismissing the Claimants’ action named two grounds under I.R.C.P. 12(b) for doing so: (1) “lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter” and (2) “failure to exhaust administrative remedies.” The first issue, subject matter jurisdiction, is covered by 12(b)(1). When the district court found itself to lack “subject matter jurisdiction” it was reasoning that “the approval or nonapproval of a lump sum agreement, is committed by statute to the jurisdiction of the Industrial Commission and not this [district] court.” The second issue, failure to exhaust administrative remedies, was based on the Claimants having gone to district court without completing the remaining steps of the Industrial Commission’s administrative process. Failure to exhaust administrative remedies is a subset of errors of “subject matter jurisdiction,” and can also be brought under a 12(b)(1) motion. 5B Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1350 (2004) (stating that a “Rule 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss for a lack of subject matter jurisdiction also may be appropriate when the plaintiff has failed to exhaust administra[134]*134tive procedures that have been established ... as a prerequisite to his bringing suit”). Nonetheless, for ease of analysis the two issues will be treated separately here.

A. The Commission’s Jurisdiction

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Related

Owsley v. Idaho Industrial Com'n
106 P.3d 455 (Idaho Supreme Court, 2005)

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Bluebook (online)
106 P.3d 129, 106 P.3d 455, 141 Idaho 129, 2005 Ida. LEXIS 18, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/owsley-v-idaho-industrial-commission-idaho-2005.