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Hough v. Pacific Insurance Co.11/26/1996
OPINION OF THE COURT BY MOON, C.J.
Plaintiffs-appellants Jeffrey J. Hough (Hough or claimant) and his wife, Terry Medeiros Hough (collectively, the Houghs), appeal from: (1) the order, filed on August 2, 1991, granting in part and denying in part defendants-appellees Pacific Insurance Company, Ltd., Sentinel Insurance Company, Ltd., Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, Hartford Fire Insurance Company, and The Hartford Insurance Group's [hereinafter, collectively, Pacific] motion for summary judgment; (2) the order, filed on March 19, 1992, granting Pacific's motion for summary judgment; and (3) the judgment and notice of entry of judgment, filed on March 25, 1992.
In this appeal, we are presented with the question whether a worker who originally sustains an injury covered by Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) Chapter 386 (1993), Hawaii's Workers' Compensation Law, is precluded from bringing a separate claim for damages against the workers' compensation insurer where the separate claim is based on allegations that the insurer committed intentional torts and acted in bad faith in processing the worker's compensation claim, causing separate and additional injury to the worker. For the reasons discussed below, we answer in the negative and vacate all orders granting summary judgment in favor of Pacific, except for: (1) that part of the August 2, 1991 order granting Pacific's motion for summary judgment on Hough's claims under Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) Chapters 386, 431, and 480; and (2) that part of the March 19, 1992 order granting Pacific's motion for summary judgment on Hough's claims for breach of fiduciary duty.
I. BACKGROUND
On March 13, 1985, Hough injured his back during the course and scope of his employment with Ramco, Inc. (Ramco), a construction firm. Thereafter, Hough continued to experience back pain and, on June 22, 1987, while working for Royal Contracting Co., Ltd. (Royal), he suffered a recurrence of the March 13, 1985 injury , resulting in temporary total disability.
Hough timely filed a claim for workers' compensation benefits with both Ramco and Royal. As the workers' compensation insurance carrier for both Ramco and Royal, Pacific initially made payments, under protest. However, on August 11, 1987, Pacific terminated all benefits.
On December 10, 1987, when Hough was still not being paid benefits for either the 1985 or 1987 injuries, Hough's physician, Donald E. Nicol, M.D., wrote Pacific, noting that:
My concern with Mr. Hough is that stress may be contributing to his delayed convalescence from his low back injury . . . .
Mr. Hough wears a lumbosacral belt while awake. He receives trigger point injections of corticosteroids bimonthly in my office, and his medications include Darvocet-N-100 on an ad lib basis. My records reveal an average use of # 120 Parafon Forte and # 30 Darvocet-N-100 per month.
Although his injury was work related, his 1985 employer denied responsibility by claiming his injury was "new" which in my opinion it was not, and his 1987 employer denied responsibility by claiming there was no definite injury of Mr. Hough while he worked for them.
Although Pacific Insurance was the carrier for both employers, they refused to pay Mr. Hough under either policy while at the same time acknowledging that one policy or the other was responsible. Thus was Mr. Hough caught in a classic "catch 22".
I treated Mr. Hough during the period when he was attempting to deal with the insurance company and the strain on his day to day existence was obvious. He depleted
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