Source: http://web.openjurist.org/384/f3d/1220/radil-v-sanborn-western-camps-inc
Timestamp: 2018-02-18 05:12:04
Document Index: 589848225

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 8', '§ 108', '§ 108', '§ 1332', '§ 3602', 'art, 271', '§ 3602', '§ 8', '§ 8']

384 F3d 1220 Radil v. Sanborn Western Camps Inc | OpenJurist
384 F. 3d 1220 - Radil v. Sanborn Western Camps Inc
384 F3d 1220 Radil v. Sanborn Western Camps Inc
384 F.3d 1220
Jennifer RADIL, Plaintiff-Appellant,
SANBORN WESTERN CAMPS, INC., a Colorado corporation, Defendant-Appellee,
As Corrected September 27, 2004.
Thomas L. Roberts (Bradley A. Levin, Daniel W. Patterson, and Michael J. Rosenberg with him on the briefs), Roberts Levin & Patterson, P.C., Denver, CO, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Diane Vaksdal Smith (Peter W. Burg and David K. TeSelle with her on the brief) Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh & Jardine, P.C., Englewood, CO, for Defendant-Appellee.
James M. Wagstaffe and Ivo LaBar, Kerr & Wagstaffe LLP, San Francisco, CA, filed an Amicus Curiae brief on behalf of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, in support of Plaintiff-Appellant.
Shortly after the accident, Radil filed a workers' compensation claim against Sanborn under Colorado law. In Colorado, workers' compensation benefits enure only "[w]here, at the time of the injury, the employee is performing service arising out of and in the course of the employee's employment." Colo.Rev.Stat. § 8-41-301(1)(b) (1999) (the "Colorado Act"). Pinnacol Assurance, Sanborn's workers' compensation insurer, denied recovery after Sanborn represented to Pinnacol that Radil's injuries were not work-related and did not occur in the scope and course of her employment. See App. at 1226. Therefore, because she could not receive workers' compensation, in March 2001 Radil filed a federal diversity action against Sanborn in the District of Colorado, alleging that Sanborn had been negligent in planning and organizing transportation for the activity and that Sanborn was vicariously liable for Dana Richardson's negligent driving.1
Finally, on April 22, 2003, Sanborn made its final attempt to extinguish the case by filing a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1). Sanborn maintained that under Stuart v. Colorado Interstate Gas Co., 271 F.3d 1221 (10th Cir.2001), the district court had no jurisdiction over the suit because Colorado workers' compensation law provided Radil's exclusive remedy.2 See App. at 752. In response, Radil contended that whether state law barred her civil suit was a factually disputed affirmative defense. Thus, it did not present a jurisdictional question and Sanborn bore the burden of proving the defense at trial. Id. at 787.
We review the district court's dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction de novo. Marcus v. Kan. Dept. of Revenue, 170 F.3d 1305, 1309 (10th Cir.1999). Subject-matter jurisdiction involves a court's authority to hear a given type of case, United States v. Morton, 467 U.S. 822, 828, 104 S.Ct. 2769, 81 L.Ed.2d 680 (1984), and may not be waived. Laughlin v. Kmart Corp., 50 F.3d 871, 873 (10th Cir.1995) (citing Ins. Corp. v. Compagnie des Bauxites, 456 U.S. 694, 702, 102 S.Ct. 2099, 72 L.Ed.2d 492 (1982)). The party invoking federal jurisdiction bears the burden of establishing such jurisdiction as a threshold matter. Marcus, 170 F.3d at 1309; see also Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Env't, 523 U.S. 83, 94-95, 118 S.Ct. 1003, 140 L.Ed.2d 210 (1998). Where a party attacks the factual basis for subject matter jurisdiction, the court does not presume the truthfulness of factual allegations in the complaint, but may consider evidence to resolve disputed jurisdictional facts. Pringle v. United States, 208 F.3d 1220, 1222 (10th Cir.2000).
Subject matter jurisdiction is "the courts' statutory or constitutional power to adjudicate the case." United States v. Cotton, 535 U.S. 625, 630, 122 S.Ct. 1781, 152 L.Ed.2d 860 (2002) (quoting Steel Co., 523 U.S. at 89, 118 S.Ct. 1003); see also 16 James Wm. Moore, Moore's Federal Practice § 108.04 (3d ed.2003). District and appellate courts have limited subject matter jurisdiction and may only hear cases "when empowered to do so by the Constitution and by act of Congress." Moore, supra, § 108.04(2). To establish subject matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332, a party must show that complete diversity of citizenship exists between the parties and that the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000. Id. See generally 13B Charles Alan Wright et al., Federal Practice and Procedure § 3602 (2d ed.1984) (describing the requirements of diversity jurisdiction).
The plaintiff appealed the choice-of-law question to this Court. We affirmed the district court's choice-of-law decision and also explained that dismissal was proper because "there are cases where, even if diversity of citizenship exists, a federal court `will not take jurisdiction [ ] unless the plaintiff has asserted a claim cognizable in the state courts.'" Stuart, 271 F.3d at 1225 (quoting 13B Wright, supra, § 3602). Because the parties had conceded that workers' compensation was the exclusive remedy for the plaintiff's injuries under Colorado law, it was undisputed that the plaintiff's claim was not cognizable in Colorado state court. Thus, because federal courts will not exercise diversity jurisdiction over non-cognizable state claims, dismissal of the case was the obvious and necessary outcome.
In contrast, the parties here have disputed the factual basis supporting the exclusivity defense throughout the proceedings. Under Colorado law, the defendant bears the burden of proving as a waivable, affirmative defense that workers' compensation is a plaintiff's exclusive remedy. See Popovich v. Irlando, 811 P.2d 379, 385 (Colo.1991) (holding that a defendant bears the burden of establishing affirmative defenses under the workers' compensation statute); Lancaster v. C.F. & I. Steel Corp., 190 Colo. 463, 548 P.2d 914, 916 (1976) (referring to workers' compensation immunity as an "affirmative defense"); Bigby v. Big 3 Supply Co., 937 P.2d 794, 799 (Colo.Ct.App.1996) (holding that "the exclusivity of workers' compensation is an affirmative statutory defense which must be timely raised, or it is waived"). As a waivable defense, this issue does not implicate the federal courts' subject matter jurisdiction. See Laughlin, 50 F.3d at 873 (citing Compagnie des Bauxites, 456 U.S. at 702, 102 S.Ct. 2099) (noting that subject matter jurisdiction cannot be waived); 2 Moore's, supra, § 8.07 [3] (noting that affirmative defenses are waivable); see also Denver & Rio Grande W.R. Co. v. Blackett, 538 F.2d 291, 294 (10th Cir.1976) ("[T]he application of affirmative defenses offer[s] no jurisdictional question.").3
While it is true, as Sanborn points out, that Colorado courts have barred civil suits against employers when workers' compensation was available, in none of these cases did the parties dispute the existence of the state law bar, as they have done in the current case. See, e.g., Kandt v. Evans, 645 P.2d 1300, 1305-06 (Colo.1982) (affirming grant of summary judgment because plaintiff had already received workers' compensation benefits and the fact that plaintiff was acting within scope of employment was not disputed); Hilzer v. MacDonald, 169 Colo. 230, 454 P.2d 928, 931-32 (1969) (affirming district court's dismissal of suit against employer because plaintiff had already received benefits); McKelvy v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 983 P.2d 42, 43-44 (Colo.Ct.App.1998) (affirming dismissal for lack of jurisdiction where plaintiff admitted injury occurred in the scope of employment); Colo. Comp. Ins. Auth. v. Baker, 955 P.2d 86 (Colo.Ct.App.1998) (affirming dismissal for lack of jurisdiction where claimants had already received benefits).
On the other hand, in cases where the parties have challenged the existence of the state law bar, the issue has always been sent to the trier of fact. See J & K Constr. Co. v. Molton, 154 Colo. 214, 390 P.2d 68, 73-74 (1964) (holding that the disputed issue with respect to the state law bar was properly submitted to the jury); United Cable Television of Jeffco, Inc. v. Montgomery LC, Inc., 942 P.2d 1230, 1234 (Colo.Ct.App.1996) (holding that factual issues essential to determining whether state law bar applied should be submitted to a jury); cf. Massie v. Godfather's Pizza, Inc., 844 F.2d 1414, 1421 (10th Cir.1988) (finding that the case was properly submitted to a jury because the parties disputed the exclusive nature of workers' compensation proceedings under Utah law). Thus, under Colorado law, where the application of the state law bar is conceded, workers' compensation law provides the exclusive remedy and civil tort suits against the employer are barred (thus making such claims non-cognizable in state and federal courts). Conversely, where the application of the exclusivity defense bar is disputed, as it is here, the issue must be determined by the trier of fact.
It is the general rule, of course, that a federal appellate court will not consider an issue not passed upon below. Lyons v. Jefferson Bank & Trust, 994 F.2d 716, 720 (10th Cir.1993) (citing Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. 106, 120, 96 S.Ct. 2868, 49 L.Ed.2d 826 (1976)). Furthermore, subject to narrow exceptions not applicable here, a party may not raise an issue on appeal unless he or she objected to the issue in the district court. See Farmers Ins. Co., Inc. v. Hubbard, 869 F.2d 565, 570 (10th Cir.1989). Although it is true that Radil eventually acquiesced to an evidentiary hearing on the court's subject matter jurisdiction, both Sanborn and the court were well aware of Radil's contention throughout the proceedings that a jury was required to decide whether the state law bar applied. See App. 266 (Answer Br. in Opp'n to Sanborn's Mot. for Summ. J.), 579 (Opp'n to Sanborn's Mot. for Stay), 782 (Resp. in Opp'n to Sanborn's Rule 12(b)(1) Mot.). In fact, approximately one month prior to the evidentiary hearing, Radil stated her objection in the following terms:
Radil also included Dana Richardson as a defendant in her original complaint, but claims against her are not at issue in this appeal
When an employee qualifies for workers' compensation under Colorado law, the Colorado Act provides the exclusive remedy and bars civil tort actions against the employerHorodyskyj v. Karanian, 32 P.3d 470, 474 (Colo.2001) (citing Colo.Rev.Stat. §§ 8-41-102, 8-41-104 (2000)).
Sanborn apparently agrees. In its motion for stay of proceedings, Sanborn asserted that exclusivity is an affirmative defense. App. at 538 ("Sanborn filed a Motion for Summary Judgment based upon its affirmative defense that the injury arose in the course and scope of Plaintiff's employment and that this action was therefore barred under Colorado's worker's compensation exclusivity rule.")