Rodriguez v. Lockhart Contracting Services, Inc.

499 S.W.3d 48, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 6809, 2016 WL 3568039
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 29, 2016
DocketNo. 04-15-00654-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 499 S.W.3d 48 (Rodriguez v. Lockhart Contracting Services, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rodriguez v. Lockhart Contracting Services, Inc., 499 S.W.3d 48, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 6809, 2016 WL 3568039 (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by:

Marialyn Barnard, Justice

This is an appeal from a summary judgment in favor of appellee Lockhart Contracting Services, Inc. a/k/a Lockhart Contracting Services (“Lockhart Contracting”) in a suit involving the applicability of the exclusive remedy provision of the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act. On appeal, appellant Leonardo Rodriguez contends the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Lockhart Contracting. We reverse the trial court’s judgment and remand the matter for further proceedings.

Background

Rodriguez claims he was hired by John Lockhart of Lockhart Contracting on February 18, 2011, at a Lockhart Contracting jobsite in Sweetwater, Texas.- Both parties agree that on the 18th, Rodriguez signed several documents relating to his employment. At the time Rodriguez began working at Lockhart Contracting, it had a professional employer services agreement with Accent Professional Payroll Services, Inc. f/k/a Texas Diversification Workforce Inc. f/d/b/a TXWorks (“TXWorks”). TXWorks is a licensed Professional Employer Organization (“PEO”), an entity previously known as a staff leasing company. Lockhart Contracting contends the documents signed by Rodriguez on the 18th “enrolled] him as an employee of TXWorks with an effective hire date of February 14, 2011.” Lockhart Contracting claims Rodriguez also signed documents acknowledging he was covered by workers’ compensation insurance and his employment was a “co-employment arrangement” with a licensed PEO— TXWorks—and its client—Lockhart Contracting.

The summary judgment evidence shows Lockhart Contracting’s employer services agreement with TXWorks was administratively terminated on March 14, 2011, and Lockhart Contracting entered into a new agreement with Prime Source Too (“Prime Source”)—another licensed PEO—effec-tive the very next day. A director for both TXWorks and Prime Source, Vance Yar-ter, testified that when TXWorks terminated its contract with Lockhart, “all TXWorks employees were transferred to” Prime Source and were then subject to the new services agreement between Lockhart Contracting and Prime Source, (emphasis added)

On March 15 or 16, 2011, Rodriguez was injured while working at a Lockhart Con[51]*51tracting jobsite in Huntsville, Texas.1 According to Rodriguez, he was carrying a sixteen-foot-long- concrete form when he fell into an uncovered hole. After he was injured, Rodriguez claims he called Billy Lockhart of Lockhart Contracting to see “if Lockhart would be paying for my medical bills.” Unable to reach Billy Lockhart or anyone else at Lockhart Contracting, Rodriguez testified he then called TXWorks, the company listed on his pay stub. Thereafter, on March 29, 2011, a woman named Eva Moran faxed him two forms which he was to complete and return. The forms were titled “Employee’s Report of Accident/Injury” and. “Employee Acknowledgment of Workers’ Compensation Network,” Rodriguez completed the forms and faxed them to TXWorks on March 31, 2011. The record -shows TXWorks submitted the claim to Texas Mutual Insurance Company (“TMIC”) on April 5, 2011. However, an affidavit submitted by Lockhart Contracting asserts the claim was transferred to the workers’ compensation insurance policy held by Prime Source when a manager at TMIC learned Lockhart Contracting had changed PE Os before the accident. The record shows the transfer took place months after TMIC completed workers’ compensation payments to Rodriguez and his medical providers.

As a result of Rodriguez’s claim, TMIC paid over $26,000.00 to medical providers who treated Rodriguez for his injuries. TMIC also paid Rodriguez temporary income benefits in the amount of $255.00 a week for seventy-five weeks. A doctor ultimately gave Rodriguez a permanent impairment rating of five percent, entitling him to temporary income benefits for an additional fifteen weeks. The last weekly payment was made to Rodriguez in early 2013. Rodriguez was paid almost $26,000.00 in income benefits. Thus, in total, . TMIC paid out almost $52,000.00 in workers’ compensation benefits associated with Rodriguez’s injury.

After Rodriguez received his final temporary income benefits check, he filed suit against Lockhart Contracting and TXWorks. In his original petition, Rodriguez asserted negligence claims against both entities. However, upon discovering the employer services agreement between TXWorks and Lockhart Contracting had expired prior to the accident, Rodriguez amended his petition, maintaining his negligence claim against Lockhart Contracting—contending Lockhart Contracting was his employer and a nonsubscriber—but amending his claim against TXWorks to assert only a claim for fraud.

Ultimately, Lockhart Contracting filed a traditional motion for summary judgment, which was subsequently amended. In its amended motion, Lockhart Contracting alleged Rodriguez’s suit is barred by what is commonly referred' to as the exclusive remedy provision of the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act (“TWCA”), which is found in Section 408.001(a) of the Texas Labor Code, and states in pertinent part:

Recovery of workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy of an employee covered by workers’ compensation insurance coverage ... for ... a work-related injury sustained by the employee.

Lockhart Contracting first claimed that by virtue of its agreement with Prime Source—a professional employer organization—it was covered by workers’ compensation insurance on the day of Rodriguez’s [52]*52injury, and therefore Rodriguez was limited to recovery under the TWCA. Lockhart Contracting alternatively alleged Rodriguez was barred from bringing suit against Lockhart Contracting because he accepted benefits under the workers’ compensation insurance policy—an equitable, quasi-es-toppel theory. Rodriguez filed a response to Lockhart Contracting’s motion.for summary judgment. Rodriguez claimed: (1) he was not a Prime Source employee at the time of the accident, and therefore, even if Lockhart Contracting had coverage through its agreement with Prime Source, such coverage was not applicable - to his accident; and (2) even if he was a Prime Source employee, the agreement between Lockhart Contracting and Prime Source did not comply with the requirements of the provisions of the Labor Code applicable to such agreements, thereby negating coverage. Rodriguez also asserted that his acceptance of benefits is irrelevant to his right to bring suit against Lockhart Contracting.

The motion, response, and accompanying evidence were submitted to the trial court. The trial court rendered an order granting Lockhart Contracting’s motion for summary judgment—a partial summary judgment given that Rodriguez’s fraud claim against TXWorks was still pending. Thereafter, Lockhart Contracting filed a motion for severance and entry of final judgment. The trial court granted the motion, severing Rodriguez’s claims against Lockhart Contracting from his claim against TXWorks thereby rendering a final summary judgment in favor of Lockhart Contracting. Rodriguez perfected this appeal.

Analysis

On appeal, Rodriguez contends the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Lockhart Contracting. Rodriguez argues Lockhart Contracting was not entitled to summary judgment because it was not entitled to the benefit of the exclusive remedy provision of the TWCA.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
499 S.W.3d 48, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 6809, 2016 WL 3568039, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rodriguez-v-lockhart-contracting-services-inc-texapp-2016.