Weinstein v. St. Mary's Medical Center

58 Cal. App. 4th 1223, 68 Cal. Rptr. 2d 461, 97 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8396, 62 Cal. Comp. Cases 1412, 97 Daily Journal DAR 13521, 1997 Cal. App. LEXIS 895
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 30, 1997
DocketA075722
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 58 Cal. App. 4th 1223 (Weinstein v. St. Mary's Medical Center) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Weinstein v. St. Mary's Medical Center, 58 Cal. App. 4th 1223, 68 Cal. Rptr. 2d 461, 97 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8396, 62 Cal. Comp. Cases 1412, 97 Daily Journal DAR 13521, 1997 Cal. App. LEXIS 895 (Cal. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

Opinion

WALKER, J.

This case presents the issue whether an employee’s action against her employer for injuries sustained as the result of a “slip and fall” while on the employer’s premises in the course of treatment for a prior work-related injury is barred by the provisions of the Labor Code establishing workers’ compensation as the exclusive remedy for her recovery (Lab. Code, §§ 3600-3603); 1 or whether the employer may be held liable based upon the common law duty of a landowner to an invitee to exercise reasonable care in maintaining premises to avoid exposing persons to an unreasonable risk of harm. The trial court granted summary judgment to respondent St. Mary’s Medical Center (the Hospital), holding that it had established a complete defense to the action on the grounds appellant Beth Weinstein’s exclusive remedy was under the workers’ compensation law and her complaint for damages was statutorily barred by sections 3600 and 3602.

*1226 To answer the question posed, we focus upon the nature of the duties owed by an employer to its employee, and their origin at the time of the injury at issue. We conclude the Hospital failed to establish that the “conditions of compensation” existed at the time of the injury, as required by section 3600. It therefore failed to meet its burden, as moving party on motion for summary judgment, of establishing a complete defense to the action based upon the exclusivity of the statutory workers’ compensation obligation to compensate appellant for her injuries. Because it appears appellant has stated a prima facie cause of action based upon common law breach of the duty owed by a landowner to an invitee, we reverse.

The issue which is usually cast in terms of “dual capacity” is one we view simply as a recognition of the fact that employers may have multiple duties, some statutory and some founded in the common law, toward the persons they employ. It is only in those cases where the duty arises from the employment relationship under section 3600 that workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy. Where such a statutory duty does not exist, the employee may seek to hold responsible his or her employer based upon the existence of a duty arising independently from the employment relationship.

Factual and Procedural Background

On October 14, 1994, Weinstein sustained injuries to her left foot while acting in the course and scope of her duties as an employee of the Hospital. 2 Weinstein had to use crutches due to her injury. Although still employed, she stopped working at the Hospital on November 7, 1994, and filed a workers’ compensation claim. As a result of the injuries she sustained on October 14, Weinstein began drawing temporary disability and ongoing medical payments from the Hospital’s workers’ compensation administrator.

On January 10, 1995, while still on crutches, Weinstein went to the Hospital to receive medical treatment for her injury. After undergoing an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) procedure on her foot, Weinstein was escorted from the MRI building to the radiology department by a medical technician employed by the Hospital. As this was happening, Weinstein slipped and fell on a watery liquid substance in one of the Hospital’s hallways. The fall aggravated the previous injury to Weinstein’s left foot, resulting in a condition of chronic intense pain.

On January 25, 1995, Weinstein was laid off from her job at the Hospital due to downsizing. Through Applied Risk Management, its worker’s compensation carrier, the Hospital continues to pay the cost of medical treatment related to Weinstein’s injuries sustained in the January 10 accident.

*1227 On December 12, 1995, Weinstein filed her complaint in this personal injury action against the Hospital. The form pleading, labeled “premises liability,” seeks compensatory damages according to proof based on the January 10, 1995, accident. The Hospital filed an answer alleging as an affirmative defense the exclusivity of Weinstein’s workers’ compensation remedy under sections 3600, 3601, 3602 and 5300.

On May 21, 1996, the Hospital filed a motion for summary judgment based on the sole ground that Weinstein’s “exclusive remedy is her ongoing Workers’ Compensation action and the instant civil action is statutorily barred under Labor Code sections 3600 and 3602.” In support of the motion, the Hospital argued that Weinstein was its employee at the time of the January 10, 1995, accident, and was present at the Hospital on that date in order to receive medical treatment for a previous injury suffered in the course of her employment, for which she was receiving workers’ compensation benefits. On this basis, the Hospital contended that undisputed facts established the “conditions of compensation” existed between Weinstein and the Hospital at the time of her injury, her exclusive remedy was under the workers’ compensation law, and her complaint against the Hospital was therefore barred under section 3602, subdivision (a). The Hospital specifically argued that the “dual capacity” doctrine is inapplicable to a premises liability action against an employer as owner or occupier of real property.

Weinstein opposed the motion for summary judgment on the grounds of the dual capacity doctrine. She argued that at the time of the accident on January 10,1995, the Hospital was acting in its capacity as a medical facility rendering care to her as a member of the public, and not as Weinstein’s employer. Thus the “conditions of compensation” were not met, and Weinstein was not restricted to the remedy of workers’ compensation. At the hearing on the motion, Weinstein argued the dual capacity exception applied because she was at the Hospital as a patient rather than as an employee, and the Hospital was acting as a medical provider and not as an employer. The Hospital countered that it owed Weinstein the same duty to maintain safe premises whether she was there as a patient or an employee. Because Weinstein’s claim was based on premises liability rather than professional malpractice, the Hospital argued she could not rely on the dual capacity “exception” to the rule of workers’ compensation exclusivity.

The trial court agreed with the Hospital. In its order granting the motion for summary judgment, the court stated: “[N]o triable issue of material fact exists as to the sole cause of action for premises liability against [the Hospital]. Specifically, [Weinstein] conceded that at the time of her alleged slip and fall accident on January 10, 1995, she was an employee of [the *1228 Hospital] and was receiving workers compensation benefits related to a prior industrial injury she sustained while employed by [the Hospital], The doctrine of dual capacity is inapplicable under Labor Code section 3602[, subdivision] (a) since the [Hospital]’s duty to provide a safe premises pre-existed the injury.” The trial court entered judgment for the Hospital. This appeal followed.

Discussion

The rules governing the granting of a motion for summary judgment and appellate review thereof are well established.

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58 Cal. App. 4th 1223, 68 Cal. Rptr. 2d 461, 97 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8396, 62 Cal. Comp. Cases 1412, 97 Daily Journal DAR 13521, 1997 Cal. App. LEXIS 895, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/weinstein-v-st-marys-medical-center-calctapp-1997.