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Gunderson v. Harrington9/6/2001
the remedies provided by the WCA unless some exception applies. The court further held that the intentional injury exception does not apply because, accepting all of Gunderson's allegations as true, the record does not support a reasonable inference that Harrington acted with conscious and deliberate intent to injure Gunderson. The court noted that Gunderson stated she did not think that Dr. Harrington meant to hurt her when he first hit her on the top of the head in late spring of 1997, and that she did not know if Harrington meant to hurt her when he hit her on the other occasions. The court stated, " o allow an employee a civil tort action for what Gunderson herself has characterized as little swats on the head would trivialize the intentional injury exception and eviscerate the exclusive remedy doctrine." Finally, the court concluded that Gunderson's claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress fail as a matter of law because she offered no proof of extreme emotional distress nor physical manifestation of her emotional distress.
The court of appeals affirmed in a divided opinion. The court held that Harrington is the only agent of Harrington Orthodontics and as such, a " olding that respondent was not appellant's employer would ignore reality." Gunderson v. Harrington, 619 N.W.2d 760, 763 (Minn. App. 2000). Further, Harrington allegedly injured Gunderson while acting in his capacity as her supervisor because he was dissatisfied with her job performance. The court of appeals held that denying Harrington the protection of the exclusive liability provision because he chose to do business as a corporation would frustrate the stated purpose of the WCA: mutual renunciation of common law rights and defenses by employers and employees alike. Gunderson, 619 N.W.2d at 763 (quoting Minn. Stat. §176.001 (1998)). In reaching its decision, the court cited Fox v. Swartz for the well-accepted principle that the WCA governs the master-servant relationship "to the exclusion of any liability at common law." Fox v. Swartz, 228 Minn. 233, 36 N.W.2d 708, 710 (1949) (holding employee may not maintain separate damages suit under the civil damages act for injury compensable under workers' compensation).
The court also affirmed the dismissal of Gunderson's claim under the intentional injury exception to the WCA, ruling that she failed to present facts supporting a reasonable inference that Harrington acted with a conscious and deliberate intent to injure her. The dissent agreed with the majority that the intentional injury exception does not apply under the facts, but asserted that Harrington is an employee of Harrington Orthodontics and therefore subject to suit as Gunderson's co-employee. Gunderson, 619 N.W.2d at 766 (Klaphake, J., dissenting).
On review here, Gunderson argues that dismissal was error as a matter of law because the corporation and not Harrington is her "employer" under the WCA, and therefore Harrington's actions should be measured by the standards applicable to co-employees. Gunderson argues that Minn. Stat. § 176.011, subd. 10 clearly and unambiguously defines the employer as the corporation and does not state that "sole shareholders" or "alter egos" of a corporation are also employers for purposes of the act. Gunderson argues that it would be fundamentally unfair to allow Harrington to "have it both ways" —having the benefit of the corporate entity as a shield against personal liability for actions by creditors and others while at the same time claiming the protection offered by the exclusive remedy provision of the workers' compensation statute as the "alter ego" of Harrington Orthodontics.
Gunderson asserts that her position is supported by a recent decision o
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