Scott v. Elderlite Express

148 S.W.3d 860, 2004 Mo. App. LEXIS 1616, 2004 WL 2434995
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 2, 2004
DocketNo. ED 84311
StatusPublished

This text of 148 S.W.3d 860 (Scott v. Elderlite Express) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scott v. Elderlite Express, 148 S.W.3d 860, 2004 Mo. App. LEXIS 1616, 2004 WL 2434995 (Mo. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

LAWRENCE E. MOONEY, P.J.

The employer, Elderlite Express, appeals from a decision by the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (Commission) awarding the claimant, Katherine Scott, workers’ compensation benefits. At issue is the Commission’s jurisdiction, which is dependent on whether the contract of employment between the claimant and the employer was made in Missouri or in Indiana. Because the last act necessary to complete the employment contract occurred in Indiana, the Commission lacked jurisdiction. Accordingly, we reverse the Commission’s decision.

In July 1998, the claimant was working for the employer as a truck driver. On July 20, 1998, the claimant injured her wrist while unloading a truck in Tacoma, Washington. Thereafter, the claimant filed a claim for workers’ compensation benefits with the Missouri Division of Workers’ Compensation.

At the hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ), the parties stipulated that the employer had paid $13,427.67 in temporary total disability benefits and $20,825.68 in medical benefits. The parties also stipulated that these payments were made under Indiana’s workers’ compensation law.

The claimant testified at the hearing as follows. In May 1998, she and her husband were driving over-the — road as a team for a trucking company. At some time in May or June 1998, the claimant’s husband telephoned Glen Craig, the employer’s safety director-recruiter, about them working for the employer driving over-the road as a team. The claimant’s husband informed Mr. Craig of their drivers’ license and social-security numbers and where he and the claimant had previously worked. Thereafter, the claimant and her husband received employment applications at their home in Festus, Missouri, which they faxed back to the employer. At some later time, Mr. Craig called the claimant’s husband at home. After this conversation, the claimant’s husband told her “we were hired and that I should contact Misty for orientation.” The claimant called Misty and set up orientation. At that point, the claimant “definitely” believed she had been hired by the employer. The claimant and her husband went to Richmond, Indiana for the three-day orientation that began June 23, 1998. During the orientation, the claimant passed a drug-screening and driving test. The employer paid for the claimant’s hotel during the orientation and paid her wages for the three days. After completing the orientation, the claimant and her husband began driving a truck for the employer. On July 28, 1998, the claimant injured her wrist while unloading a truck in Tacoma, Washington.

During cross-examination, the claimant was questioned about her previous deposition where she stated that part of applying for the job was completing a drug test. [862]*862The claimant also conceded during this deposition that “[y]ou have to take a drug test to be a truck driver,” and, if you fail the drug test, you do not go to work. The ALJ admitted the deposition into evidence.

The claimant’s husband’s testimony was similar to that of the claimant regarding the events leading up to them going to Indiana for orientation. He also believed that he and the claimant had been hired prior to going to orientation. At one point, the claimant’s husband was asked what specific statements regarding employment Mr. Craig made during their second telephone conversation. The ALJ sustained the employer’s objection to this question. In a later offer of proof, the claimant’s counsel stated that the claimant’s husband would have testified that when he spoke with Mr. Craig the second time he said that they were hired and should report to Indiana for their employment.

At the hearing, the deposition of Tiffany Clark, the employer’s current safety director-recruiter, was admitted into evidence. Although Ms. Clark was not working for the employer in 1998, she testified regarding federal regulations for over-the — road truck drivers and read two regulations from a “Pocketbook” that were entered as exhibits. The first exhibit, 49 C.F.R. section 382.301 is titled “Pre-em-ployment testing,” and addresses testing for controlled substances “[p]rior to the first time a driver performs safety-sensitive functions for an employer.” The second exhibit 49 C.F.R. section 391.31 is titled “Road test,” and states in part that, with certain exceptions, a person shall not drive a commercial vehicle unless the person has successfully completed a road test. Ms. Clark stated that truck drivers must pass the two tests before they are hired.

The ALJ concluded that the employment contract was made in Indiana and therefore Missouri’s workers’ compensation law does not apply. The ALJ stated that Whitney v. Country Wide Truck Service, Inc., 886 S.W.2d 154 (Mo.App. E.D.1994), overruled in part on other grounds, Hampton v. Big Boy Steel Erection, 121 S.W.3d 220, 228 (Mo. banc 2003), was “squarely on point both as to facts and law.” The Commission reversed the ALJ’s decision. The Commission concluded that the claimant’s husband’s testimony regarding what Mr. Craig said during their second conversation was admissible. The Commission further concluded that the last act necessary to complete the employment contract occurred in Missouri during the second telephone conversation between Mr. Craig and the claimant’s husband and when the claimant “scheduled orientation with the recruiter.” The Commission found that the claimant sustained 20 % permanent partial disability at the level of the right wrist and awarded benefits. The employer appeals.

On appeal from the Commission’s final award, this Court may modify, reverse, remand for rehearing, or set aside the award only if the Commission acted without or in excess of its powers, the award was procured by fraud, the facts found by the Commission do not support the award, or there was not sufficient competent evidence in the record to warrant the making of the award. Section 287.495 RSMo.2000. We examine the whole record to determine if it contains sufficient competent and substantial evidence to support the award, that is, whether the award is contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Hampton, 121 S.W.3d at 222-23.

Section 287.110.2 provides:

This chapter [the Workers’ Compensation Law] shall apply to all injuries received and occupational diseases contracted in this state, regardless of where the contract of employment was made, and also to all injuries received and [863]*863occupational diseases contracted outside of this state under contract of employment made in this state, unless the contract of employment in any case shall otherwise provide, and also to all injuries received and occupational diseases contracted outside of this state where the employee’s employment was principally localized in this state.

(Emphasis added). Under this section, if the employment contract was made in Missouri, then this state’s workers’ compensation law applies to the claimant’s injury occurring in Tacoma, Washington.

“[F]or a contract to be formed, there must be a meeting of the minds of the parties, to the contract regarding the same thing, at the same time.” Whitney, 886 S.W.2d at 155. In determining where the minds of the parties met, the trier of fact must consider all of the facts and circumstances and the parties’ conduct. Id.

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Related

Hampton v. Big Boy Steel Erection
121 S.W.3d 220 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 2003)
Whiteman v. Del-Jen Construction, Inc.
37 S.W.3d 823 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2001)
Whitney v. Country Wide Truck Service, Inc.
886 S.W.2d 154 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1994)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
148 S.W.3d 860, 2004 Mo. App. LEXIS 1616, 2004 WL 2434995, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scott-v-elderlite-express-moctapp-2004.