Parker v. CappelParker v. Cappel
We are presented with the question of whether or not our state constitution‘s guarantee of equal protection of the law is violated by the Legislature‘s decision to exclude sheriff‘s deputies1 from state workers’ compensation.
The trial court has declared
The statute in question is part of Louisiana‘s workers’ compensation coverage
John Burton Parker was a deputy in the Rapides Parish Sheriff‘s Office. He suffered a stroke May 16, 1984 and died four days later. Parker‘s widow filed a petition, alleging his stroke and death occurred in the course and scope of his employment. The petition initially named only the parish sheriff as a defendant. A later amendment named the State of Louisiana as a defendant. Rapides Parish did not provide its own workers’ compensation to its deputies.
The defendants each filed the peremptory exception, raising the objection of no cause of action. They argued plaintiff could obtain no relief against either defendant because
The trial court overruled the exceptions, finding
There exists no rational basis or state interest to justify treating plaintiff‘s husband any differently from any other sheriff‘s deputy solely because he chose to live and ultimately die outside of Orleans Parish or a parish in which the Sheriff chose not to provide funds for compensation coverage.
Defendants then appealed directly to this Court.5
The State argues it has a legitimate interest in defining the classes who are eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits from the state fund. The state is acting rationally in limiting access to the fund, the argument continues, because the fund must be protected from a heavy demand on claims which might drain the fund and deprive all state workers of compensation coverage.
This Court treated the equal protection analysis in a workers’ compensation case in Bazley v. Tortorich, 397 So.2d 475 (La. 1981). It found workers’ compensation legislation to be laws which serve economic and social welfare interests of the state.
... [I]n the area of economic and social welfare, a legislature does not violate the Equal Protection Clause merely because the classifications made by its lаws are imperfect. If the classification has some reasonable basis, it does not offend the constitution simply because the classification is not made with mathematical nicety or because in practice it results in some inequality. Bazley, supra, at 484. Crier v. Whitecloud, 496 So.2d 305 (La. 1986).
In Bazley, as here, the statute‘s classification does not disadvantage a suspect class or impinge on a fundamental right, nor does it classify on the basis of birth, age, sex, culture, physical condition or political ideas or affiliations.
Plaintiff argued the political affiliation clause was impinged here because the plaintiff‘s decedent was affiliated with a political subdivision, i.e., the sheriff‘s office. We do not agree. Political ideas or affiliations do not refer to an individual‘s choice of employment or еmployer, but instead refers to basic rights to freedom of beliefs and freedom of associations, with respect to government. Hargrave, The Declaration of Rights of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, 35 La.L.Rev. 1, 10 (1974).
The Bazley court concluded it should refrain from interfering in legislative decisions in workers’ compensation so long as the legislation presented a reasonable basis.
Our federal and stаte constitutions may impose certain procedural safeguards upon systems of workmen‘s compensation, but they do not empower this Court to second-guess legislators who are charged with the heavy responsibility of regulating the social obligations that exist between the employee, the employer and the public. Bazley, supra, at 484-485.
This Court has long observed a policy of restraint from interfering with the co-equal legislative branch. We have observed an act of the legislature is presumed to be legal until it is shown to be unconstitutional; we construe statutes to give them effect and purpose. Sherman v. Cabildo Const. Co., 490 So.2d 1386, 1390 (La.1986); State v. Union Tank Car Co., 439 So.2d 377 (La.1983); Johnson v. Sewerage District No. 2 of Parish of Caddo, 239 La. 840, 120 So.2d 262 (1960).
In Crier, supra, we recognized our equal protection analysis has been reformulated. Sibley v. Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University, 477 So.2d 1094 (La.1985). If a law classifies individuals on any basis other than those specifically enumerated in
Further, the State argues, the statute does not exclude sheriff‘s deputies from workers’ compensation provided by the respective parishes.
This Court has not previously considered a challenge to this statute on the grounds presented here. Nonetheless, we have concluded recently the classification of plaintiffs injured by governmental tortfeasors is related to the achievement of a legitimate State interest. Rudolph v. Massachusetts Bay Ins. Co., 472 So.2d 901 (La.1985). In Rudolph, we held
We conclude that the Legislature could have rationally believed that this classification of tort victims, who cannot require a jury trial, is related to achieving the legitimate state objectives of the protection of the state treasury and the facilitation of the judicial process. Rudolph, supra, at 905.
Challenges to the denial of workers’ compensation benefits to some individuals or classes are not new to the courts. Our intеrmediate courts have consistently held denial of compensation benefits can be an appropriate state interest.
In Sessions v. Stan Weber and Associates, Inc., 491 So.2d 54 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1986),
The Court said:
The exclusion of real estate brokers or salesmen is an economic or social decision by the legislature, and we are of the opinion that it does not exceed the bounds of reasonableness. (at p. 55)
In Coker v. State, Depart. of Elect. & Registration, 469 So.2d 451 (La.App.3d Cir. 1985), an election commissioner was hеld to be a public official under
A constitutional challenge to the workers’ compensation scheme was mounted in Vita v. United General Insurance Company, 469 So.2d 433 (La.App.3d Cir.1985), writs denied, 478 So.2d 900 (La.1985). A child who did not live with the deceased worker at the time of his death was required to prove his dependency on the deceased worker. The court said the guarantee of equal protection was not violated by distinguishing between children not living with the deceased and children living with the deceased. The latter were not required to prove dependency.
Like the election commissioner in Coker, supra, sheriff‘s deputies are now defined by the legislature as public officials and officers of their political subdivision. The legislature has repeatedly acted to place sheriff‘s deputies outside аny classification as state employees.
The fact that the state may grant to an employee of a political subdivision any additional or supplemental pay or otherwise provide funds for the payment of such employee‘s salary shall not make such employee, in whole or in part or in any way, an employee of the state.
In Bazley and subsequent cases, we have observed that the legislature‘s decisions on economic and social welfare and the preservation of the state‘s fiscal resourcеs, are decisions within the discretion of the legislative branch. While we might find the law(s) imperfect, we will not interfere with the legislative decisions, absent a clear violation of the state or federal constitutions. We have chosen to strike down legislative enactments only when the constitutional infirmity is compelling. See, e.g., Cross v. Alexander, et al., 498 So.2d 740 (La.1986).
The legislature‘s definition of sheriff‘s deputies as public officials аnd its exclusion of deputies from workers’ compensation, while municipal policemen are included, has been the subject of scholarly criticism. Louisiana Civil Law Treatise, Vol. 13, Workers’ Compensation Law and Practice, Malone and Johnson, § 98 (West, 1986); Note: The Deputy Sheriff — Public Officer or Public Employee?, 44 La.L.Rev. 1075 (1984). The Malone & Johnson treatise says the classification of deputies as public officials is “spurious” and comments the deputies should never have been excluded.
While we might agree sheriff‘s deputies sorely need the protection workers’ compensation provides, we are loathe to rewrite the legislation judicially. We leave the Legislature to address the criticism. Absent that response, the parishes may provide their own workers’ compensation to sheriff‘s deputies, whose salaries probably ill-afford coverage for work-related injuries.
The trial judge criticized
Orleans Parish Civil Sheriff‘s Office derives its inсome from parish revenues, licenses and state taxes, while the Criminal Sheriff‘s Office is funded by the City of New Orleans. Other sheriff‘s offices obtain funds by acting as tax collectors for the parish. Thus, parish revenues pay for the sheriff‘s office and the offices (except for Orleans) provide a full array of law enforcement functions. Orleans is the only parish with a division of civil and criminal sheriffs. The
The State argues there are unique geographical, historical and population differences between Orleans and other parishes, and these differences justify exceptions in certain statutes. We agree and hold the
The trial court struck down
CONCLUSION
For the reasons given above, we reverse the decision of the trial court. We find
Accordingly, the peremptory exceptions raising the objection of no cause of action are maintained and plaintiff‘s action is dismissed.
REVERSED AND RENDERED.
DIXON, C.J., concurs.
DENNIS, J., concurs with reasons.
WATSON, J., dissents and assigns reasons.
LEMMON, J., dissents and will assign reasons.
DENNIS, Justice, concurring.
The discussion in dicta of the various court of appeal decisions involving other types of legislative classifications is obviously not part of the ratio decidendi of this decision, nor intended to have precedential vаlue. Therefore, approval of the court of appeal decisions should not be inferred from the majority opinion.
WATSON, Justice, dissenting.
With respect, I dissent for the reasons assigned by the trial judge, Honorable William P. Polk.