Williams v. Johnson Custom Homes

288 S.W.3d 607, 374 Ark. 457, 2008 Ark. LEXIS 558
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedOctober 23, 2008
Docket07-1101
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 288 S.W.3d 607 (Williams v. Johnson Custom Homes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. Johnson Custom Homes, 288 S.W.3d 607, 374 Ark. 457, 2008 Ark. LEXIS 558 (Ark. 2008).

Opinion

Donald L. Corbin, Justice.

The present appeal is before us on a petition for review of a decision of the Arkansas Court of Appeals affirming a decision by the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission dismissing Appellant Edward Williams’s claim for benefits as estopped under the election-of- remedies doctrine and finding his constitutional arguments without merit. The primary issue to be determined on appeal is one of first impression — whether an employer may channel workers’ compensation claims to foreign states with little or no ties to the employer or employee via contract. Our jurisdiction is pursuant to Arkansas Supreme Court Rule l-2(e). We reverse the Commission’s order.

Williams was hired as a crew leader by Steve Johnson of Appellee Johnson Custom Homes in March 2002. Williams believed he was employed by Johnson, however he acknowledged receiving paychecks from other companies. The first paychecks he received came from Corporate Solutions in Texas. In early 2004, Williams’s paychecks began coming from Appellee Paysource, Inc., an Ohio company.

Williams was injured on the job on April 14, 2004, when he fell thirteen feet to the ground and slid another fifteen to twenty feet down a hillside. He injured his wrist and ankle and sought emergency treatment. Beginning on April 15, 2004, he received biweekly temporary total disability benefits for approximately seventeen to eighteen weeks from the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. Williams’s doctor encouraged him to amend his claim to include injuries to his back and left knee, but a hearing before the Industrial Board of Ohio was required in order to add the additional injuries. Williams did not travel to Ohio for the hearing due to his injuries, and he was denied the opportunity to participate in the hearing by telephone. The Industrial Board of Ohio held the hearing on July 15, 2004, and denied the additional coverage.

Williams had initiated a claim for benefits in Arkansas on July 7, 2004. The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) held a hearing in July 2005. All parties stipulated that Williams suffered a compensable injury on April 14, 2004; that Appellee Virginia Surety Company provided Johnson Custom Homes with workers’ compensation coverage from April 7, 2004, until September 23, 2004; and that the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation is a state-administered fund. The parties also agreed that the issue to be resolved was whether Williams’s claim should be dismissed on the basis that Ohio had jurisdiction of the claim, or on the basis that Williams had elected his remedy by filing his claim in Ohio and by receiving benefits from Ohio. The ALJ entered an opinion dated October 7, 2005, finding, among other things, that Williams was not estopped by the election-of-remedies doctrine from pursuing his claim in Arkansas. On appeal to the Commission, the Commission reversed, finding Williams was estopped by the election-of-remedies doctrine. The Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed the Commission. Williams v. Johnson Custom Homes, 100 Ark. App. 60, 264 S.W.3d 569 (2007). As previously stated, Williams petitioned this court for review, which we granted.

At the outset, we observe this court’s recent reiteration of its standard for reviewing workers’ compensation cases:

In appeals involving claims for workers’ compensation, this court views the evidence in a light most favorable to the Commission’s decision and affirms that decision if it is supported by substantial evidence. Substantial evidence exists if reasonable minds could reach the Commission’s conclusion. The issue is not whether the appellate court might have reached a different result from the Commission, but rather whether reasonable minds could reach the result found by the Commission. If so, the appellate court must affirm the Commission’s decision.

Texarkana Sch. Dist. v. Conner, 373 Ark. 372, 375, 284 S.W.3d 57, 60 (2008) (citations omitted). We need not review the evidence in detail here, however, because the first point for reversal presents a mixed question of law and fact, and our focus is on accurately determining the applicable law.

Appellant’s first point for reversal is that the Commission erred in finding he was estopped from claiming benefits under Arkansas’s workers’ compensation laws because he knowingly received benefits pursuant to Ohio’s workers’ compensation laws and thereby made an election of remedies. Citing Biddle v. Smith & Campbell, Inc., 28 Ark. App. 46, 773 S.W.2d 840 (1989), the Commission stated:

[T]he Arkansas Court of Appeals has indicated that the determination as to whether or not an election of remedies has been made regarding workers’ compensation benefits depends upon whether the claimant actively initiated the proceedings or knowingly received benefits pursuant to the laws of another state. We find that the instant claimant made an election of remedies by knowingly receiving benefits pursuant to the workers’ compensation laws of the State of Ohio.

The Commission erroneously relied on Biddle and the misconceptions announced therein to determine that the proceedings Williams tried to initiate in Arkansas and his claim for benefits in Ohio were mutually exclusive. Such is not the law. The law is in fact to the contrary. For decades, the law has been well settled that all states having a legitimate interest in the injury have the right to apply their own diverse workers’ compensation rules and standards, either separately, simultaneously, or successively. Mo. City Stone, Inc. v. Peters, 257 Ark. 917, 521 S.W.2d 58 (1975); Int’l Paper Co. v. Tidwell, 250 Ark. 623, 466 S.W.2d 488 (1971); McGehee Hatchery Co. v. Gunter, 234 Ark. 113, 350 S.W.2d 608 (1961). Claims for compensation benefits may be instituted in both states having jurisdiction of the claim. Peters, 257 Ark. 917, 521 S.W.2d 58; Tidwell, 250 Ark. 623, 466 S.W.2d 488; Gunter, 234 Ark. 113, 350 S.W.2d 608. Of course, there can be no double recovery. 234 Ark. 113, 350 S.W.2d 608. The Full Faith and Credit Clause does not preclude successive workers’ compensation awards, even if one statute or the other purports to confer an exclusive remedy on the claimant. Thomas v. Wash. Gas Light Co., 448 U.S. 261 (1980). A supplemental award may give full effect to the facts determined by the first award and also allow full faith and credit for payments made pursuant to the first award; there is neither inconsistency nor double recovery. Id.

It is quite clear then that in relying on Biddle, 28 Ark. App.

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Bluebook (online)
288 S.W.3d 607, 374 Ark. 457, 2008 Ark. LEXIS 558, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-johnson-custom-homes-ark-2008.