No. 91

-195 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA 1991

SAMUEL J. GRENZ, Plaintiff and Appellant, 

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# 59Ld JEANETTE STANGL and VOCATIONAL RESOURCES, INC., ,T,.ERK OFSUPREMECOUR-1 ‘38ATEOF MONTANA Defendants and Respondents.

APPEAL FROM: District Court of the Eleventh Judicial District, In and for the County of Flathead, The Honorable Robert S. Keller, Judgepresiding.

COUNSEL OF RECORD: ForAppellant: Samuel 3. Grenz, Pro Se,Whitefish, Montana For Respondents: Todd A. Hammer, Warden, Christiansen, Johnson & Berg, Kalispell,Montana

Filed: Submitted on Briefs: June 6, 1991 Decided: September 18, 1991Justice William E. Hunt, Sr., delivered the opinion of the Court. Samuel J. Grenz, pro se, appeals from a grant of summary judgment against him in the District Court for the Eleventh Judicial District, Flathead County. We affirm. The issue before us is whether the District Court erred 

### in granting summary judgment. The present appeal before this court is one ofmany brought by appellant arising out of an industrial accident he suffered on August 22, 1984. The factual and procedural backgrounds to this controversy have been set out in some detail by this Court 

### on a number of occasions,most recently in Grenz v. Medical Management Northwest, et al., pending Supreme Court Cause No. 91

-100. (MMN) Thepresent appeal and the companion case of were submitted to this Court at the same time andwere considered togetherdue to the similarity of issues. Appellant was injured while at work. At the time of the injury appellant's employer was enrolled under Workers' Compensation Plan 11. The insurer assumed liability and began to pay compensation and medical benefits to the appellant. Approximately fouryearsafterthe appellant's injury,the insurer, by way of its attorney,arranged for appellant to undergo a series of examinations for the purpose of determining the extent of his disability and the feasibility of future employment. Participating in this multi-specialty panel examination of the appellant were four doctors procured by Medical Management
2Northwest, Inc., and Jeanette Stangl, a vocational consultant employed by Vocational Resources, Inc. (VRI). Subsequent to this examination,the insurer temporarilyreduced appellant'sbenefits. After mediation of appellant's claim,his prior level of benefits was retroactively reinstated. As a result of the appellant's unhappiness with the conduct of the panel members, he brought suit against Medical Management Northwest, Inc.,and all thedoctors involved,alleging conspiracy, fraud, bad faith, and professional negligence. For reasons that are not clear, the appellant brought a separate suit against the vocational consultant and her employer, again alleging conspiracy, fraud, bad faith, and professional negligence. In the companion case, the District Court granted summary judgment for the doctors and MMN. We have affirmed the District Court in that case. In the present case, the District Court granted the respondents' motions for summary judgment on all the claims. In so doing, the District Court relied on the same rationale used in the @QI case. We agree that the respondents in the present case are similarly situated in regard to the appellants allegations,as were thedoctors in the companion case,andwe therefore,will only briefly repeat our discussion 

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# m. Appellant failed to bring forward any evidence at all concerning either fraud or conspiracy. Likewise, his bad faith claim fails in the absence of specific statutory authorization or

3a contract involving a special relationship between the parties. Appellant did not offer any evidence of negligence. The District Court was correct in finding that no genuine issues of material fact existed and that respondentswere entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Affirmed. Pursuant to Section I,Paragraph 3(c), Montana Supreme Court 1988 InternalOperating Rules, this decision shall not be cited as precedent and shallbe publishedby its filingas apublic document with the Clerk of the Supreme Court and by a report of its result to Montana Law Week, State Reporter and West Publishing Company.

We concur: 

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4September 18, 1991 CERTIFICATE OFSERVICE Ihereby certifythat the followingorder was sentbyUnited States mail,prepaid, to the followingnamed:
Samuel J. Grenz 104Colorado Ave. Whitefish, MT 59937
Todd A.Hammer Warden, Christiansen,Johnson &Berg P.O.Box 3038 Kalispell, MT 59903

-3038 ED SMITH CLERK OF THE SUPREME COURT STATE OF MONTANA