Billy L. POWELL, et al.
v.
Ronald T. SAPPINGTON, et al.
Supreme Court of Alabama.
James P. Rea and S. Shay Samples of Hogan, Smith, Alspaugh, Samples & Pratt, Birmingham, for appellants.
Charles E. Sharp and Marcia E. Wright of Sadler, Sullivan, Sharp & Stutts, Birmingham, for appellees.
HOUSTON, Justice.
This case calls for the application of choice of law principles in a workmen's compensation context. The parties ask this Court to answer the following question: Does the filing of a claim and receipt of benefits pursuant to the Alabama Workmen's Compensation Act by one who has been injured in another state give rise to an exception to the Alabama conflicts rule of lex loci delicti for purposes of that person's co-employee suit; i.e., will Alabama law control disposition of the suit rather than the law of the state of injury?
The undisputed facts of this case are as follows:
Plaintiff Billy Powell, a resident of Alabama, was employed as a truck driver by Barber Pure Milk Company, an Alabama corporation. While en route back to Alabama from a pick-up of milk in Georgia, Powell wrecked his truck in Monroe, Georgia, and was injured. As a result, Powell filed for and received disability benefits pursuant to the Alabama Workmen's Compensation Act. Code 1975, § 25-5-1, et seq.
Powell then brought an action in Alabama against two of his co-employees, Ronald Sappington and Coster Smith, for their alleged negligence in failing to inspect, repair, service, and maintain his truck. Powell's wife Carolyn joined in that suit as co-plaintiff, alleging loss of her husband's services.
Sappington and Smith moved for summary judgment on the grounds that Georgia law applies to the action against them and that Georgia law forbids co-employee suits. The trial court granted the motion and entered a final judgment pursuant to Rule 54(b), Ala.R.Civ.P.
The Powells appeal, arguing that because Powell elected to pursue his remedy under the Alabama Workmen's Compensation Act rather than under the Georgia Workmen's Compensation Act, Alabama law rather than Georgia law applies to their action against Sappington and Smith. Because Alabama law permits co-employee suits, they argue that summary judgment was improperly entered. We do not agree.
This Court reaffirmed in Norris v. Taylor,
In essence, the Powells argue that an exception to the lex loci delicti rule is applicable in a workmen's compensation context where an injured employee invokes that exception by electing to accept benefits under the workmen's compensation act of his state of employment and not of the state where the injury occurred. Recognition of such an exception, however, would create a broad avenue for abuse. As another court has stated, "[adoption of this exception would allow] a claimant with a choice of jurisdictions in a compensation claim ... to juggle with the substantive law uniformly applied ... and thus defeat its application." Wardell v. Richmond Screw Anchor Co.,
Although we reject the exception claimed by the Powells, our inquiry is not yet at an end. It is eligibility for benefits under the workmen's compensation act of the state of the employee's injury, not whether a claim for benefits was made or received in Alabama, which determines whether a bar to a common law action exists. Wilson v. Fraser,
Georgia Code 1981, § 34-9-1, defines "employee" for purposes of workmen's compensation as "every person in the service of another under any contract of hire or apprenticeship...." It does not by its terms exclude coverage for nonresident employees of nonresident employers. Moreover, the Georgia Court of Appeals in Security Insurance Group v. Plank, supra, held that, under Georgia law, jurisdiction in a workmen's compensation case attaches when an employee suffers an accidental injury in Georgia, regardless of the employee's residence or where he contracted for employment. Thus, nothing in the law of Georgia would have prevented Billy Powell from receiving workmen's compensation benefits under the Georgia Act. That being so, the Powells' suit against Sappington and Smith is prohibited by Georgia law; thus, the trial court's entry of summary judgment in favor of Sappington and Smith was proper.
The judgment of the trial court is due to be, and it is hereby, affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
TORBERT, C.J., and MADDOX, SHORES, BEATTY and STEAGALL, JJ., concur.
JONES, ALMON and ADAMS, JJ., dissent.
JONES, Justice (dissenting).
I respectfully dissent.
*571 Employed in Alabama and injured in Georgia, Powell could have filed for workmen's compensation benefits under either the law of Alabama (the site of his employment), or the law of Georgia (the site where the injury occurred). See, Code 1975, § 25-5-35. See, also, Restatement (Second) Conflict of Laws § 181 (1969). Because he elected to pursue his remedy under the Alabama Workmen's Compensation Act, Powell invoked that Act in its entirety. Therefore, Powell's right to a cause of action for personal injury against his co-employees is also derived from the Alabama statute:
"Where the injury or death for which compensation is payable under this chapter was caused under circumstances also creating a legal liability for damages on the part of any party other than the employer, whether or not such party is subject to the provisions of this chapter, the employee, or his dependents in case of his death, may proceed against the employer to recover compensation under this chapter or may agree with the employer upon the compensation payable under this chapter, and, at the same time, may bring an action against such other party to recover damages for such injury or death, and the amount of such damages shall be ascertained and determined without regard to this chapter." Code 1975, § 25-5-11. (Emphasis supplied.)
The majority cites our recent reaffirmance of the conflict of laws rule of lex loci delicti as applied to tort actions in Alabama (see Norris v. Taylor,
By electing to file for and accept benefits under the workmen's compensation law of his state of employment (here, Alabama), and not under the workmen's compensation law of the state in which he was injured, Powell necessarily subjected himself to Alabama's entire workmen's compensation statute. He took its limitations and restrictions, as well as its benefits. Western Union Telegraph Co. v. George,
From the very inception of this State's Workmen's Compensation Act in 1919, an injured employee's right to recover from a third party has been regulated by the Act. Originally, a "third party" did not include any employer covered by the Act. Harris v. Louisville & N.R. Co.,
In my opinion, the majority has misapplied the traditional conflict of laws rule to the facts of this case. The traditional lex loci delicti rule still has full application to the trial of the third party common law action. It is the Georgia law, not the Alabama law, that governs the trial of this case in Alabama. But nothing in this conflict of laws rule requires us to apply the statutory law of Georgiathe workmen's compensation act not here invokedto exclude the injured employee's right to bring the third party action. See Norris,
ALMON and ADAMS, JJ., concur.
NOTES
Notes
[1] Georgia Code 1981, § 34-9-11, which provides for co-employee immunity, reads in pertinent part as follows:
"The rights and remedies granted to an employee by this chapter shall exclude all other rights and remedies of such employee, his personal representative, parents, dependents, or next of kin, at common law or otherwise, on account of such injury, loss of service, or death; provided, however, that no employee shall be deprived of any right to bring an action against any third-party tortfeasor, other than an employee of the same employer...." (Emphasis added.)