Privett v. Excel Specialty Products

69 S.W.3d 445, 76 Ark. App. 527, 2002 Ark. App. LEXIS 183
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 13, 2002
DocketCA 01-963
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 69 S.W.3d 445 (Privett v. Excel Specialty Products) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Privett v. Excel Specialty Products, 69 S.W.3d 445, 76 Ark. App. 527, 2002 Ark. App. LEXIS 183 (Ark. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

Sam BIRD, Judge.

This is an appeal from the decision of the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission affirming the administrative law judge’s decision that appellant, Lisa Privett, had suffered a compensable injury. Privett sustained an injury on May 27, 2000, while working for appellee Excel Specialty Products. Excel accepted the injury as compensable; however, in an unusual twist, Privett contends that she was not performing employment services at the time of her accident. Therefore, she argues that the Commission should have determined that she was not entitled to receive workers’ compensation benefits. Privett readily admits that her motive is to circumvent the exclusive-remedy provisions of Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-105 so that she can file a civil action against Excel. We do not agree with Privett’s argument; thus, we affirm.

Excel operates a meat-processing facility, and Privett was employed by Excel to cut meat in the “after-trim” department. Privett’s job involved pulling trays of meat that had been cut into steaks from a conveyor fine, trimming the steaks with knives, weighing the steaks, then placing them back onto a tray and returning them to the conveyor line. For both sanitary and safety reasons, Privett was required to wear a hard hat, hair net, steel-mesh apron, smock, steel-mesh gloves, and a steel-mesh sleeve while working in the after-trim department. Because sharp knives are used in the job, she was also required to have a knife scabbard with her. Excel provided all of the required clothing and equipment. Privett was required to be on the production fine at 5:30 a.m., but she could not begin performing her job unless she had the proper equipment and clothing.

On May 27, 2000, the day of the accident, Privett arrived at the plant at about 5:00 a.m. She clocked in and went to the locker room to get her equipment, and then she went to the laundry room to get dressed. A few minutes before she was to report to the production line, Privett left the dressing area and entered the production area of the plant. However, when she realized that she had left her knife scabbard in the laundry room, she proceeded back to the laundry room to retrieve the scabbard. As Privett exited the production room, she slipped and fell, and was injured.

Privett signed an Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Form “N,” Notice of Injury, dated May 30, 2000. Excel accepted the claim as compensable, and Privett accepted all workers’ compensation benefits provided by Excel, including medical expenses and temporary total disability benefits. After Privett had been released by her physician and returned to work for Excel, she initiated this action, requesting the Commission to determine that she was not performing employment services when she was injured and that, therefore, her injury was not compensable under the Workers’ Compensation Act. At a hearing conducted on November 20, 2000, the administrative law judge held that Privett was performing employment services at the time of her injury and that, therefore, her injury is covered by the provisions of the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Act. The Commission affirmed and adopted the administrative law judge’s decision as the opinion of the Commission.

Prior to our supreme court’s decision in VanWagoner v. Beverly Enterprises, 334 Ark. 12, 970 S.W.2d 810 (1998), circuit courts had concurrent jurisdiction with the Workers’ Compensation Commission to make the threshold determination of whether an employment relationship existed between the parties. Nucor Holding Corp. v. Rinkines, 326 Ark. 217, 931 S.W.2d 426 (1996); Craig v. Traylor, 323 Ark. 363, 915 S.W.2d 257 (1996); Rankin v. Farmers Tractor & Equip. Co., 319 Ark. 26, 888 S.W.2d 657 (1994); Nucor-Yamato Steel Co. v. Circuit Court of Miss. County, 317 Ark. 493, 878 S.W.2d 745 (1994); Fore v. Circuit Court of Izard County, 292 Ark. 13, 727 S.W.2d 840 (1987), overruled on other grounds, 315 Ark. 333, 869 S.W.2d 6 (1994); Campbell v. Waggoner, 235 Ark. 374, 360 S.W.2d 124 (1962); Co-Ark. Constr. Co. v. Amsler, 234 Ark. 200, 352 S.W.2d 74 (1961). However, in VanWagoner, supra, our supreme court abandoned the rule of concurrent jurisdiction, and held that the exclusive remedy for injury or death arising out of and in the course of employment is a claim under the Workers’ Compensation Act, and that the Workers’ Compensation Commission has exclusive, original jurisdiction to determine the facts that establish jurisdiction, unless the facts are so one-sided that the issue is no longer one of fact, but one of law, such as an intentional tort. In accordance with Van Wagoner, Privett sought a determination by the Commission that her injury is not compensable, that her injury does not provide the basis for a claim under the Workers’ Compensation Act, and that the Workers’ Compensation Commission lacks jurisdiction to decide the merits of any claim arising from her injury.

In determining the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the findings of the Commission, we review the evidence in the fight most favorable to the Commission’s findings and affirm if they are supported by substantial evidence. Weldon v. Pierce Bros. Constr., 54 Ark. App. 344, 925 S.W.2d 179 (1996). Substantial evidence is such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion. Frances v. Gaylord Container Corp., 341 Ark. 527, 20 S.W.3d 280 (2000). The question is not whether the evidence would have supported findings contrary to the ones made by the Commission; there may be substantial evidence to support the Commission’s decision even though we might have reached a different conclusion if we sat as the trier of fact or heard the case de novo. Tucker v. Roberts-McNutt, Inc., 69 Ark. App. 150, 12 S.W.3d 640 (2000).

Arkansas Code Annotated section 11-9-102(4)(A) (Supp. 2001) defines “compensable injury” as “an accidental injury causing internal or external physical harm . . . arising out of and in the course of employment.” Employment services are performed when the employee does something that is generally required by his or her employer. Collins v. Excel Spec. Prod., 347 Ark. 811, 69 S.W.3d 14 (2002); Pifer v. Single Source Transp., 347 Ark. 851, 69 S.W.3d 1 (2002).

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Bluebook (online)
69 S.W.3d 445, 76 Ark. App. 527, 2002 Ark. App. LEXIS 183, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/privett-v-excel-specialty-products-arkctapp-2002.