602 So. 2d 400 | Ala. | 1992
William J. Holcombe appeals from the trial court's summary judgment in favor of Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Corporation ("ADDSCO"). Under state common law theories for recovery, the trial court's summary judgment allowed ADDSCO's recovery of compensation benefits erroneously paid to Holcombe under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act,
The following facts are not in dispute:
During 1982, Holcombe was injured while working as an ADDSCO employee. ADDSCO is a maritime employer covered by the LHWCA. During March 1983, Holcombe made a claim for LHWCA compensation benefits. More than seven years later, in September 1990, a formal hearing of Holcombe's claim was conducted before an administrative law judge. After this hearing, the judge held in Holcombe's favor and awarded him $132,520.66 in LHWCA compensation benefits. The record does not indicate whether the compensation order became final. The record does indicate, however, that ADDSCO paid this amount to Holcombe within 10 days of the order, presumably to avoid a penalty imposed by
In response to ADDSCO's claims, Holcombe moved to dismiss, arguing that the trial court did not have subject matter jurisdiction over ADDSCO's claim for the return of erroneously paid LHWCA compensation benefits. ADDSCO moved for a summary judgment, arguing that, under the undisputed facts, Alabama's common law entitled it to a judgment against Holcombe requiring Holcombe to repay the erroneously paid LHWCA compensation benefits. After the parties' lawyers orally argued their respective motions in the trial court, the trial court denied Holcombe's *402 motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and granted ADDSCO's motion for summary judgment. This appeal is from the trial court's summary judgment in favor of ADDSCO.
On this appeal, Holcombe continues his argument that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. Holcombe argues that the LHWCA's procedures for recovering erroneously paid compensation benefits are exclusive because, he argues, Congress's enactment of the LHWCA had preempted the area of law governing compensation of maritime employees for work-related injuries. In factually similar cases, decided after thetrial court's denial of Holcombe's motion to dismiss and itsentry of the summary judgment for ADDSCO, two federal appellate courts have agreed with this argument, holding that the LHWCA's procedural provisions for recovering erroneously paid compensation benefits are exclusive and that no implied federal common law cause of action for recovery exists.Ceres Gulf v. Cooper,
In Ceres Gulf, supra, an employer sought an employee's repayment of $36,000 in advance payments of LHWCA compensation benefits. As required by the LHWCA, the employer made these payments prior to the formal hearing. At the formal hearing, an administrative law judge determined that the alleged work injury had not occurred. The employer attempted to recover the erroneously paid compensation benefits in an action filed in a federal district court. The district court allowed the employer's recovery, and the employee appealed.
On appeal, the Ceres Gulf court reviewed the LHWCA and concluded that the LHWCA's provisions relating to an employer's recovery of erroneously paid compensation benefits were exclusive. The court observed that the LHWCA allowed for reimbursement for erroneously paid benefits in three different sections,
Ceres Gulf,"In sum, allowing this separate [federal common law cause of] action would run counter not only to the express provisions of the LHWCA — which, alone, ends the inquiry — but also to the underlying purpose of the Act. To allow this separate action, we would have to ignore the compromise effected by the exclusivity aspects of the LHWCA, under which the employee is barred from suing the employer, in exchange for more prompt and certain, although possibly lower, recovery. The LHWCA precludes the employee's suit, yet Ceres Gulf seeks to hale the employee into federal court because of a claimed gap in the LHWCA, concerning recovery of wrongful advance payments. The cure lies with Congress, not federal courts."
In Stevedoring Services, the court reviewed the LHWCA provisions providing an employer with a remedy for erroneously paid compensation benefits, noted the "basic difference between filling a gap left by Congress' silence and rewriting rules that Congress has specifically enacted,"Stevedoring Services,
This Court's review of the LHWCA's provisions for an employer's remedy in the event of erroneous payment requires that we agree with the observations of the Ceres Gulf court and the Stevedoring Services court. In the wake of the federal appellate courts' refusal to rewrite or supplement the LHWCA, this Court cannot allow ADDSCO's summary judgment to stand on state common law theories of recovery. On the authority of Ceres Gulf, supra, andStevedoring Services, supra, the trial court's summary judgment for ADDSCO is reversed. The trial court is directed, on remand, to dismiss the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
HORNSBY, C.J., and ADAMS, STEAGALL and INGRAM, JJ., concur.