Wells v. Olsten Corp.

15 P.3d 652
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJanuary 5, 2001
Docket25281-3-II
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 15 P.3d 652 (Wells v. Olsten Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wells v. Olsten Corp., 15 P.3d 652 (Wash. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

15 P.3d 652 (2001)
104 Wash.App. 135

Priscilla WELLS, Appellant,
v.
OLSTEN CORPORATION, Respondent.

No. 25281-3-II.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 2.

January 5, 2001.

*653 Amy L. Arvidson, Seattle, for Respondent.

Steven L. Busick, Vancouver, for Appellant.

SEINFELD, J.

Priscilla Wells filed an industrial insurance claim, seeking compensation for an injury she suffered while working for Olsten Corporation. After an industrial insurance appeals judge issued a proposed order closing the claim, Wells twice sought to extend the time to petition for review. The Industrial Insurance Appeal Board (Board) granted her first request but denied her second request as untimely. It then issued a final order closing the claim and denied her later motion to vacate the final order. Wells appealed the denial of her motion to vacate to superior court which dismissed Wells's subsequent appeal, finding that CR 59(a) or CR 60 do not apply to Board proceedings and that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter.

We conclude that CR 59(a) applies to Board proceedings and, therefore, the superior court had subject matter jurisdiction to hear Wells's motion. Consequently, we reverse the superior court's order of dismissal.

FACTS

On February 26, 1999, an industrial appeals judge issued a proposed decision and order affirming an order by the Department of Labor and Industries (Department) closing Wells's industrial insurance claim. Wells received the proposed order and decision on March 11.

The proposed order contained a notice advising Wells that she had 20 days to file a petition for review and that she must file any request to extend this deadline within 20 days of her receipt of the proposed decision and order. On March 29, Wells mailed her first request for an extension of time and, on April 7, the Board granted her request and extended the deadline to April 20.

On April 19, Wells mailed a request for a second extension of time, which the Board received on April 21. The Board denied the extension request on the basis that it was not timely. The Board advised Wells that the deadline for a second-extension-of-time request differed from a first request. A first request was timely if mailed on or before the last day of the initial 20-day deadline but for a second request to be timely, the Board had *654 to receive and act upon it before the extended deadline expired, here April 20. Because Wells did not submit a timely petition for review, on April 23 the Board issued an order adopting the proposed decision and order as its final order. Final orders are unappealable. RCW 51.52.104.

On April 29, Wells moved to vacate the Board's final order, characterizing her motion as falling under either CR 60 or CR 59(a)(1), (3), (7), or (9).[1] After the Board denied her motion, Wells appealed to superior court.

Olsten moved to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim. It argued that neither the Board nor the superior court had jurisdiction to hear the appeal because by failing to file a timely petition for review, Wells had waived all objections to the proposed decision and order.

Wells responded with her own motion for summary judgment. She argued that (1) the Board had misapplied the law when it refused to consider her second request for extension of time and (2) she received inadequate notice that the first and second requests for extension of time were subject to different requirements. The superior court granted Olsten's motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and denied Wells's motion for summary judgment.

Wells appeals, arguing that both the Board and the superior court had jurisdiction to hear her appeal of the Board's denial of her motion to vacate and, thus, the superior court erred when it dismissed her appeal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. She further claims the trial court erred in denying her motion for summary judgement.

I. MOTION TO DISMISS

Where, as here, the facts are not at issue, we conduct a de novo review of rulings on motions for summary judgment, motions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction under CR 12(b)(1), and motions to dismiss for failure to state a claim under CR 12(b)(6). Reid v. Pierce County, 136 Wash.2d 195, 201, 961 P.2d 333 (1998); DeWater v. State, 130 Wash.2d 128, 133, 921 P.2d 1059 (1996); Cutler v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 124 Wash.2d 749, 755, 881 P.2d 216 (1994); Wilson v. Steinbach, 98 Wash.2d 434, 437, 656 P.2d 1030 (1982); Kearney v. Kearney, 95 Wash. App. 405, 411, 974 P.2d 872, review denied, 138 Wash.2d 1022, 989 P.2d 1137 (1999).

A. Jurisdiction of the Board

Wells challenges Olsten's argument that the Board lacked jurisdiction to consider her motion to vacate under either CR 59(a) or CR 60(b). She asserts that under WAC 263-12-125, which adopts the superior court civil rules for use in appeals before the Board unless they conflict with the Industrial Insurance Act rules and regulations, her use of CR 59(a) and CR 60(b) was appropriate.[2]

Olsten responds that the Industrial Insurance Act, chapter 51 RCW, does not authorize or contemplate motions to vacate final *655 Board orders, that Wells cannot use the civil rules to modify a jurisdictional deadline or avenue of appeal contained in the Industrial Insurance Act, and that the civil rules apply only for procedural purposes within the context of a Board hearing.

Olsten mischaracterizes Wells's appeal as either (1) a challenge to the Board's order adopting the proposed decision and order or (2) an attempt to alter the jurisdictional deadlines established under the Industrial Insurance Act. Wells's superior court notice of appeal clearly states that she is appealing the Board's order denying her motion to vacate, not the Board's order adopting the proposed order and decision. Her motion to vacate focused on the Board's refusal to accept her second request for extension of time, not on the merits of the proposed order and decision.

Nor is Wells attempting to alter jurisdictional deadlines. Instead, she is arguing that the Board misapplied the law relating to the timely filing of a request for a second extension of time, that the late filing of her request for a second extension of time was due to excusable neglect, and that she was denied adequate notice of the rules for filing requests for additional extensions of time.

CR 59(a) allows the superior court to vacate a decision and grant a new trial if there has been an irregularity in the proceedings or an abuse of discretion, CR 59(a)(1), or if the verdict or decision was contrary to law, CR 59(a)(7). CR 60(b)(1) allows the superior court to grant relief from an order for reasons of mistake, inadvertence, surprise, excusable neglect, or irregularity in obtaining the order. These are the errors Wells alleges; thus, CR 59 and CR 60 are the appropriate bases for her motion. Moreover, Wells filed her motion to vacate within the time allowed under CR 59 and CR 60. See

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Bluebook (online)
15 P.3d 652, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wells-v-olsten-corp-washctapp-2001.