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Roads West12/19/2003
Mandate Issued: 05/27/2004
VACATED IN PART, SUSTAINED IN PART, AND REMANDED
Petitioner, Roads West, Inc. (Employer), seeks review of an order of a three-judge panel of the Workers' Compensation Court, affirming the decision of the trial court which found Respondent, Neal Austin (Claimant) was employed by Employer when he sustained an accidental personal injury to the left leg arising out of and in the course of Claimant's employment. The trial court found TTC Illinois , Inc. (TTC) was not Claimant's employer and dismissed it as a party. It also found neither CNA Insurance Companies (CNA) nor Regency Insurance Company (Regency) had issued policies providing coverage in this matter and dismissed both insurance companies as parties. We vacate as to the dismissal of TTC, CNA, and Regency as parties, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Claimant brought a workers' compensation claim against Employer to recover benefits for injuries he sustained on July 9, 2001, in a rollover accident while he was driving Employer's truck. Employer denied Claimant was its employee and moved to join TTC as an additional party. It later moved to join CNA, Regency, and TTC's officers, but then withdrew the motion as to the TTC officers.
TTC appeared, answered, moved to dismiss, and filed notice of its pending bankruptcy case and automatic stay of actions to recover claims against it. Regency specially appeared and moved to dismiss the claim against it, asserting it had not been served process and had not collected any premium related to any Oklahoma employee. CNA moved to dismiss, asserting it had not provided workers' compensation insurance coverage to TTC, or in the alternative, any coverage was excess coverage only and not first-dollar coverage. Employer moved to strike CNA's defenses, asserting it had violated court orders regarding discovery.
At trial on December 18, 2002, all parties stipulated Claimant injured his left leg in a single-event injury falling under the Workers' Compensation Act, and that Claimant was temporarily totally disabled and in need of further medical treatment. The dispute among the parties related only to who was responsible for paying Claimant's benefits.
Employer's position was it transferred its employees to TTC, which was an employee leasing organization. It asserted Claimant was TTC's employee, and was covered by TTC's insurers, CNA and Regency. Employer argued its liability, if any, was secondary, and could not be determined until TTC's liability was determined. Because TTC was in bankruptcy and the automatic stay had not been lifted, Employer argued the trial court had no jurisdiction to determine any liability against Employer. Employer also argued it had been denied due process because it had not been able to obtain documents from TTC and because CNA had hindered its ability to defend by not timely providing discovery materials. The trial court denied Employer's motion to strike CNA's defenses and heard evidence on the remaining issues.
The trial court issued an order finding Employer and TTC had entered into a service agreement under which TTC agreed to provide payroll services and workers' compensation insurance coverage. It found that under the terms of the agreement, the employees for whom TTC provided services were to remain the employees of Employer and not become the employees of TTC. Therefore, the trial court found Employer was Claimant's employer. It sua sponte dismissed TTC with prejudice. The trial court found neither CNA nor Regency had ever entered an insurance contract to provide coverage for Oklahoma employees and dismissed both with prejudice. It awarded
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