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Davenport v. City and County of Honolulu12/30/2002
LEVINSON, NAKAYAMA, AND RAMIL, JJ.; MOON, C.J., DISSENTING; AND ACOBA, J., CONCURRING SEPARATELY
I. INTRODUCTION
Petitioner/employer-appellee City and County of Honolulu, Honolulu Fire Department ("the Department") petitioned this court for a writ of certiorari to review the published opinion of the Intermediate Court of Appeals ("ICA") in Davenport v. City and County of Honolulu, Honolulu Fire Department, No. 23141 (Hawaii App. Dec. 13, 2001) [hereinafter "Davenport I"]. The ICA affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded the January 5, 2000 Amended Decision and Order of the Labor and Industrial Relations Appeals Board ("the Board").
The Department contends that the ICA erred in holding: (1) psychological injuries resulting from the stress of non-disciplinary personnel actions are compensable under Hawaii's worker's compensation statute, Hawaii Revised Statutes ("HRS") chapter 386 (1963); and (2) remand is required for findings on whether claimant David Davenport's ("Davenport") hypertension is compensable as an injury directly and naturally resulting from a compensable primary injury.
We granted certiorari because we believe the ICA erred in its application of Mitchell v. State Department of Education, 85 Hawaii 250, 942 P.2d 514 (1997). Although we agree the ICA's conclusion that Davenport's injuries are compensable, we believe that the ICA erred in applying Mitchell to the present case and failing to apply the unitary test to determine whether the personnel action that gave rise to the injury arose out of employment. We otherwise affirm the ICA's holding that the Board was clearly erroneous in finding that Davenport's hypertension injury resulted from the stress of a medical examination conducted on April 10, 1995. We further affirm the ICA's holding to vacate the Board's determination of Davenport's hypertension claim and remand to resolve the issue of whether the hypertension injury was a direct and natural result of a prior compensable injury.
II. BACKGROUND
Davenport became a firefighter with the Department on January 3, 1972 with his ultimate goal being a captain's position. The subject of this appeal concerns two psychological injuries. The first injury occurred in January 1994 and originated from stress surrounding Davenport's endeavor to advance to the position of Fire Fighter Level III ("FFIII"), one level below captain. Davenport's second injury concerns his elevated blood pressure condition diagnosed in April 1995, allegedly stemming from a prior compensable injury to his Achilles tendon.
A. January 1994 Injury
On November 2, 1991, Davenport took promotional examinations for placement on the lists of eligibles for Fire Fighter Level II ("FFII") and FFIII positions. Davenport was dissatisfied with the outcome of the test, specifically, his resulting ranking. According to Davenport, he was originally ranked seventeen on the FFII list, but after a determination that he was not credited properly for education, his ranking increased to eight. His position on the list for FFIII eligibles, however, was not improved. Davenport filed a petition of appeal with the City and County of Honolulu's Civil Service Commission ("the Commission"), requesting that the Commission: (1) disclose certain information relating to three challenged test questions; (2) clarify the formula used by the Personnel Department to compute the scores; and (3) allow additional time for administrative review of the test results.
In July and November of 1993, the Commission held two hearings to resolve Davenport's claims, at which the parties discussed the selection process for determining how candidates are chosen
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