Case Name: PASCHKE v. RETOOL INDUSTRIES
Court: Michigan Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1994-07-05
Citations: 445 Mich. 502
Docket Number: Docket No. 96276
Parties: PASCHKE v RETOOL INDUSTRIES
Judges: Cavanagh, C.J., and Levin and Boyle, JJ., concurred with Mallett, J.
Reporter: Michigan Reports
Volume: 445
Pages: 502–534

Head Matter:
PASCHKE v RETOOL INDUSTRIES
Docket No. 96276.
Argued January 12, 1994
(Calendar No. 6).
Decided July 5, 1994.
Raymond R. Paschke sought worker’s compensation benefits, alleging total disability arising out of his employment with Retool Industries. Soon after, he relocated to Florida. Thereafter, he sought and obtained unemployment compensation. A worker’s compensation hearing referee denied benefits. The Worker’s Compensation Appeal Board reversed. The Court of Appeals, Weaver, P.J., and Wahls and Taylor, JJ., reversed in an opinion per curiam, finding that the claim of total disability was barred by the doctrine of judicial estoppel because it was inconsistent with previous assertions made to the Michigan Employment Security Commission that he was willing and able to work (Docket No. 131280). On rehearing, the Court further explained that under the doctrine of judicial estoppel only wholly inconsistent claims are prohibited and that the receipt of unemployment benefits would not preclude a claim of partial disability for the same period. The claimant appeals.
In an opinion by Justice Mallett, joined by Chief Justice Cavanagh, and Justices Levin and Boyle, the Supreme Court held:
A representation made before the Michigan Employment Security Commission in order to secure unemployment benefits that a person is willing and able to work may not be used to preclude a subsequent worker’s compensation claim of total disability during the same period.
1. The doctrine of judicial estoppel precludes the assertion of inconsistent positions; however, the mere assertion of inconsistent positions is not sufficient to invoke estoppel. Rather, there must be some indication that the court in the earlier proceeding accepted that party’s position as true. To apply, the claims must be wholly inconsistent. In this case, there is neither statutory nor judicial support for the Court of Appeals determination that the plaintiff’s representation before the mesc that he was ready and available for work, was wholly inconsistent with his subsequent claim of total disability during the same period.
References
Am Jur 2d, Workers’ Compensation §§ 381, 413.
Application for, or receipt of, unemployment compensation benefits as affecting claim for workmen’s compensation. 96 ALR2d 941.
2. A comparison of the Worker’s Disability Compensation Act and the Employment Security Act provides no support for the conclusion that the plaintiff’s receipt of unemployment benefits estops his worker’s compensation claim of total disability for the same period. Nor do the statutes provide that a claim that a person is ready and able to work is inherently inconsistent with a subsequent claim of total disability for the same period. Further, the worker’s compensation offset provision suggests that the Legislature contemplated the simultaneous recovery of worker’s compensation and unemployment benefits.
3. Representations made before the mesc generally may not be used to estop claims in other forums in which the mesc is not a party. Long delays in pursuing worker’s compensation claims can make interim measures a vital necessity. The use of mesc determinations in other forums not only may disadvantage the parties to such litigation, but actually may impede the objectives of the unemployment compensation system itself.
Justice Brickley, concurring in the result, stated that because MCL 418.358; MSA 17.237(358) provides a specific legal remedy for the situation presented in this case, it absolutely precludes the application of equitable principles. Thus, the Court of Appeals erred in invoking, sua sponte, the equitable doctrine of judicial estoppel, requiring remand for a determination whether the wcab applied the correct legal standard, i.e., whether being disabled from particular previous employment suffices to establish disability in the employee’s general field of employment pursuant to MCL 418.301(4); MSA 17.237(301X4).
Reversed and remanded.
Justice Griffin, joined by Justice Riley, dissenting, stated that, under the particular circumstances of this case, the plaintiff, by seeking and obtaining unemployment compensation benefits, is judicially estopped from claiming that, for the same period, he was totally disabled and entitled to worker’s compensation benefits.
Under the doctrine of judicial estoppel, a party who has successfully and unequivocally asserted a position in a prior proceeding is estopped from asserting an inconsistent position in a subsequent proceeding. Use of the doctrine depends on the facts and circumstances of each case. In this case, the plaintiff tried to get back his former job from the defendant, refused the offer of a different job by the defendant out of an apparent lack of desire to work under a former subordinate, represented to the Michigan Employment Security Commission that he was able and available to work full-time in his usual line of work, sought employment in Michigan and in Florida, yet claims that he is totally disabled, i.e, that his wage-earning capacity in his general field of employment has been foreclosed for the same periods. The doctrine of judicial estoppel goes to the heart of the plaintiff’s eligibility for benefits. The Court of Appeals properly applied the doctrine.
198 Mich App 702; 499 NW2d 453 (1993) reversed.
Worker’s Compensation — Unemployment Compensation — Total Disability — Judicial Estoppel.
A representation made before the Michigan Employment Security Commission in order to secure unemployment benefits that a person is willing and able to work may not be used to preclude a subsequent worker’s compensation claim of total disability during the same period.
Goodman, Eden, Millender & Bedrosian (by Roderick V. MacNeal) for the plaintiff.
Lacey & Jones (by Gerald M. Marcinkoski) for the defendants.
Amici Curiae:
Conklin, Benham, Ducey, Listman & Chuhran, P.C. (by Martin L. Critchell), for Michigan Self-Insurers’ Association.
Sachs, Waldman, O’Hare, Helveston, Hodges & Barnes, P.C. (by Theodore Sachs, Andrew Nickelhoff, and Granner S. Ries), for Michigan State AFL-CIO.

Opinion:
Mallett, J.
This worker's compensation case comes to us following a reversal of an award by the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals found that plaintiff was judicially estopped from assert ing his claim of total disability by previous assertions made to the Employment Security Commission that he was willing and able to work.
We reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals and find that plaintiff was not judicially estopped from advancing his claim. A representation made before the mesc that one is willing and able to work, in order to secure unemployment benefits, may not be used to preclude a subsequent claim that one was totally disabled during that same period.
i
There being no showing of fraud, we take the factual findings of the Worker's Compensation Appeal Board as conclusive. Const 1963, art 6, § 28, MCL 418.861; MSA 17.237(861).
Plaintiff Raymond R. Paschke was employed by defendant Retool Industries from 1956 until 1983. During that twenty-seven year span, Mr. Paschke worked in the capacity of office manager. As office manager, he was in charge of funding, client development, payroll, and similar matters. He testified that he spent the majority of his time in customer relations.
In 1981, the owner of Retool Industries sold his interest to Herman Wilson, previously the company foreman. Within less than a month after taking over the business, Mr. Wilson discharged assistant office manager Nelson Nettie, despite admitted discussions before the takeover that he would keep on both Mr. Nettie and plaintiff. While Mr. Wilson testified that he had discharged Mr. Nettie for stealing from the company, he also stated that he had been aware of that stealing before his promise to keep him on. Mr. Nettie denied that he was discharged for stealing. After terminating Mr. Nettie, Mr. Wilson replaced him as assistant office manager with Carolyn Wilkerson, Mr. Wilson's live-in girl friend.
After the first year of Mr. Wilson's ownership, in late 1982 and early 1983, plaintiff began to experience physical problems such as inability to sleep, chest pains, and headaches. He attributed these ailments to troubling conditions at work. Specifically, he felt that Ms. Wilkerson was given preferential treatment in the form of a relaxed workday schedule and pay increases, while he and other employees received no increased benefits, but actually had their vacation pay benefits cut. Further, he had seen Mr. Nettie discharged, despite Mr. Wilson's promise to keep him on, and plaintiff feared that he might be next to go. He also testified that he felt anxiety regarding his dealings with creditors, who had loaned funds to the company largely on the basis of their past dealings with and trust of him. The company was increasingly unable to satisfy those debts because of financial difficulties, and plaintiff felt that he could not deal honestly with those creditors, because Mr. Wilson refused to discuss workplace finances with him and also refused to deal with the creditors himself.
On March 22, 1983, plaintiff stayed home from work, on the advice of his wife, and sought medical treatment from their family doctor, Robert Tam. Dr. Tam prescribed antidepressants and blood pressure and water pills. He also recommended that plaintiff not return to work.
By June, 1983, plaintiff had begun to feel better, and he contacted Mr. Wilson about resuming his former position as office manager. By registered letter, Mr. Wilson informed plaintiff that he could return to work, but not in his former position. Instead, he offered plaintiff the assistant office manager position, in which plaintiff would serve as subordinate to his former underling, Ms. Wilkerson, at a corresponding cut in pay. The letter acknowledged that plaintiff's "hypertension and nerves" might be related to work and stated that the board felt a lessening of responsibility might alleviate plaintiff's ailments.
Plaintiff testified that he was "[s]hocked" by this response, that it caused his physical condition to worsen, and that he rejected the offer of reemployment. For the next six months, he received company health and accident benefits. In August, 1983, plaintiff petitioned for worker's compensation benefits, alleging total disability, and soon thereafter relocated to Florida, where he and his wife purchased a home. In November, 1983, he sought and obtained unemployment compensation, over Mr. Wilson's objection.
At the worker's compensation hearing before a hearing referee, plaintiff testified, without objection, to the fact that he had previously received unemployment compensation and that, in order to receive that benefit, he had represented to the mesc that he was ready and able to return to work at some place other than Retool Industries. He also testified that he had unsuccessfully sought work since leaving Retool. His wife testified that he had sent out twenty-five to thirty résumés, primarily in Florida.
The referee found that plaintiff had failed to establish any disability arising out of the course of employment. The ruling was reversed by the wcab. By order dated June 29, 1990, the wcab awarded plaintiff total disability benefits on the basis of his hypertension and psychiatric claims.
Defendants appealed in the Court of Appeals, which found, sua sponte, that plaintiff's worker's compensation claim was barred by the doctrine of judicial estoppel. 197 Mich App 650; 496 NW2d 804 (1992). The Court held that plaintiff's claim was inconsistent with claims earlier made to the mesc that he was willing and able to work.
Following a petition for rehearing, the Court of Appeals clarified its brief holding in the case. 198 Mich App 702; 499 NW2d 453 (1993). While maintaining that plaintiff was judicially estopped from asserting his worker's compensation claim, the Court limited its decision to the facts of plaintiff's case, i.e., a claim for total disability. The Court explained that under the doctrine of judicial estoppel only "wholly inconsistent" claims are prohibited, and that the receipt of unemployment benefits would not preclude a claim of partial disability for the same period. Id. at 709. Dual recovery might also be allowed if claimant's disability consisted of a latent condition that was not discovered until after claimant had sought and received unemployment benefits.
This Court granted leave to appeal. 444 Mich 866 (1993). We reverse.
II
The doctrine of judicial estoppel first emerged in the mid 1800s, in a Tennessee case, Hamilton v Zimmerman, 37 Tenn (5 Sneed) 39 (1857). Comment, Judicial estoppel — Beating shields into swords and back again, 139 U Pa L R 1711, 1719 (1991). In Hamilton, the court determined that the plaintiff was estopped from maintaining a position inconsistent with one he had asserted under oath in an earlier judicial proceeding. Sometimes described as the doctrine against the assertion of inconsistent positions, Comment, supra at 1711, judicial estoppel is widely viewed as a tool to be used by the courts in impeding those litigants who would otherwise play "fast and loose" with the legal system. Bigelow, Estoppel (6th ed), p 783. Since Hamilton, the doctrine has been adopted by most state and federal courts, in slightly varying forms.
In the context of the administrative proceedings at issue, we adopt the "prior success" model of judicial estoppel:
Under this doctrine, a party who has successfully and unequivocally asserted a position in a prior proceeding is estopped from asserting an inconsistent position in a subsequent proceeding. [Lichon v American Univ Ins Co, 435 Mich 408, 416; 459 NW2d 288 (1990), citing Edwards v Aetna Life Ins Co, 690 F2d 595, 598 (CA 6, 1982). Emphasis added.]
Under the "prior success" model, the mere assertion of inconsistent positions is not sufficient to invoke estoppel; rather, there must be some indication that the court in the earlier proceeding accepted that party's position as true. Further, in order for the doctrine of judicial estoppel to apply, the claims must be wholly inconsistent.
While the Court of Appeals correctly stated that only wholly inconsistent claims were precluded, we find that the panel's application of that standard to the facts in this case was clearly error. There exists neither statutory nor judicial support for the Court of Appeals determination that plaintiff's representation that he was ready and available for work, made before the mesc, was wholly inconsistent with his subsequent claim of total disability during the same period.
A
This Court and the lower courts of Michigan have devoted considerable time and energy to the examination of both statutes involved in this dispute: the Worker's Disability Compensation Act, MCL 418.101 et seq.; MSA 17.237(101) et seq., and the Employment Security Act, MCL 421.1 et seq.; MSA 17.501 et seq. In the course of this exploration, a number of guiding principles has emerged that might be helpful in evaluating the interrelation of the two statutes in the present case.
We have previously explained that the wdca is in derogation of the common law, and its terms should be literally construed without judicial enhancement.
The workmen's compensation law is a departure, by statute, from the common law, and its procedure provisions speak all intended upon the subject. Rights, remedies, and procedure thereunder are such and such only as the statute provides. If the statute is short of what it should contain in order to prevent injustice, the defects must be cured by future legislation and not by judicial pronouncement. [Luyk v Hertel, 242 Mich 445, 447; 219 NW 721 (1928). Emphasis added.]
Where the statutory language is clear, the courts should neither add nor detract from its provisions. Nevertheless, where ambiguity exists, and judicial interpretation is needed, the act should be liberally construed to grant rather than to deny benefits. Bower v Whitehall Leather Co, 412 Mich 172, 191; 312 NW2d 640 (1981).
Like the wdca, the Employment Security Act is a legislative construct intended to "provide relief from the hardship caused by involuntary unemployment . . . ." Storey v Meijer, Inc, 431 Mich 368, 377; 429 NW2d 169 (1988). Accordingly, this Court will not "broaden or extend the disqualifications fixed, in plain language, by the legislature." Thomas v Employment Security Comm, 356 Mich 665, 669; 97 NW2d 784 (1959). We will, however, keep in mind the legislative purpose of the statute, "to get 'money into the pocket of the unemployed worker at the earliest point that is administratively feasible.' " Storey, 431 Mich 377, quoting California Dep't of Human Resources Development v Java, 402 US 121, 135; 91 S Ct 1347; 28 L Ed 2d 666 (1971).
This Court has also had occasion to examine the interplay of the worker's compensation and unem ployment compensation systems, and, in doing so, has emphasized the distinct character and objectives of the two institutions. In Bartels v Ford Motor Co, 292 Mich 40; 289 NW 322 (1939), the defendant argued that it should be relieved of making partial disability payments to the claimant during a period in which the claimant was also receiving unemployment compensation. In rejecting the defendant's claim, we explained:
The legislative intent was to set up two independent organizations for the administration of two kinds of compensation, payable from different funds or sources. Until the unemployment compensation act became the law of this State there could be no question of plaintiff's right to compensation for the disputed period; and to permit a set-off by the department of labor and industry would in effect extend relief to the employer beyond the express terms of the workmen's compensation act. The contingency which has arisen in this case has come about by reason of the passage of the unemployment compensation act. The remedy lies with the legislature.[ ] [Id. at 46. Emphasis added.]
The Legislature has since passed a wdca provision that allows for a dollar-for-dollar setoff between worker's compensation and unemployment benefits. However, the underlying premise of Bartels remains valid, and we will not sanction the denial or diminution of otherwise available worker's com pensation benefits because of claims cognizable only under the Employment Security Act, absent legislative authorization.
B
Turning to the statutes in question, we can find no support for the Court of Appeals conclusion that plaintiff's receipt of unemployment benefits estops his total disability claim for the same period. Unlike several states, the Michigan Legislature has not explicitly prohibited the receipt of total disability payments for a period in which unemployment was received. Nor is there evidence that, under the statutes, a claim that one is ready and able to work is inherently inconsistent with a subsequent total disability claim for the same period.
Professor Larson explored the latter point in his treatise on worker's compensation law, in which he explained:
At first glance the two positions may appear mutually exclusive; but the inconsistency disappears when the special meaning of disability in workmen's compensation is remembered, involving, as we have seen, the possibility of some physical capacity for work which is thwarted by the inability to get a job for physical reasons. Thus, the injured claimant may honestly represent to the Employment Security office that he is able to do some work, and with equal honesty tell the Compensation Board later that he was totally disabled during the same period since, although he could have done some kinds of work, no one would give him a job because of his physical handicaps. [1C Larson, Workmen's Compensation, § 57.65, p 10-492.50.]
Further, the offset provision of the Michigan worker's compensation statute suggests that the Legislature contemplated the simultaneous recovery of worker's compensation and unemployment benefits. MCL 418.358; MSA 17.237(358). As previously discussed, this provision allows a dollar-for-dollar setoff between unemployment benefits and benefits sought under worker's compensation. Importantly, it specifically references not only the partial disability section of the statute, but the section concerning total disability as well, implicitly acknowledging that the Legislature envisaged instances in which both unemployment and total disability benefits would be recoverable.
In rejecting the estoppel theory applied by the Court of Appeals and urged by defendants, we act in concert with numerous other jurisdictions faced with the same question, within the context of similar legislation. We also act in accordance with past case law and with policy considerations that require us to interpret liberally both the wdca and the Employment Security Act, in order to fulfill their remedial objectives.
c
We further find persuasive plaintiff's assertion that even were the claims inconsistent, representations made before the mesc may not generally be used to estop claims in other forums, where the mesc is not a party to the proceeding. The Employment Security Act provides in pertinent part:
Information obtained from any employing unit or individual pursuant to the administration of this act, and determinations as to the benefit rights of any individual shall be held confidential and shall not be disclosed or open to public inspection other than to public employees in the performance of their official duties pursuant to this act in any manner revealing the individual's or the employing unit's identity. However, any information in the commission's possession that may affect a claim for benefits or a charge to an employer's rating account shall be available to interested parties. Except as provided in this act, such information and determinations shall not be used in any action or proceeding before any court or administrative tribunal unless the commission is a party to or a complainant in the action or proceed ing, or unless used for the prosecution of fraud, civil proceeding, or other legal proceeding pursuant to subdivision (2). Any report or statement, written or verbal, made by any person to the commission, any member of the commission, or to any person engaged in administering this law shall be a privileged communication, and a person, firm, or corporation shall not be held liable for slander or libel on account of a report or statement. Such records and' reports in the custody of the commission shall be available for examination by the employer or employee affected. [MCL 421.11(b)(1); MSA 17.511(b)(1). Emphasis added.]
In Storey v Meijer, Inc, supra, we interpreted the above provision to prohibit the use of factual determinations of the mesc to collaterally estop the litigation of issues in a subsequent civil proceeding. We determined that application of collateral estoppel to such determinations would be contrary to legislative intent as well as public policy considerations that support expeditious and nonadversarial unemployment proceedings. Were mesc determinations to have binding effect upon subsequent and more consequential civil actions, employers would be more likely to contest their comparatively minor unemployment liability, thus significantly delaying the recovery of unemployment benefits. Id. at 378. Further, the binding effect of unemployment compensation determinations might cause a potential claimant to forgo those benefits, otherwise available, in order to preserve a later claim for civil damages. It might also cause one who pursued unemployment benefits, ignorant of their effect on future civil claims, to unknowingly and permanently forfeit his right to recovery. Id. at 378-379.
The same policy considerations that governed in Storey are applicable where unemployment bene fits are balanced against worker's compensation. We have previously acknowledged that long delays in pursuing worker's compensation claims can make interim measures a vital necessity for those suffering from involuntary unemployment. As in Storey, we have no desire to impede those who would otherwise take advantage of such interim measures, particularly when a statutory offset provision precludes dual recovery by claimants.
Defendants argue that judicial estoppel is appropriate here because, unlike in Storey, it is plaintiff's statements, not the determinations of the mesc, that are being used to estop him. Accordingly, defendants claim that the protections afforded under § 11(b)(1) are not implicated by the facts of this case.
We disagree. As discussed above, our theory of judicial estoppel differs from the original Hamilton formulation in that it requires a party to have successfully asserted an inconsistent position in an earlier proceeding in order for estoppel to apply. A finding of estoppel is inextricably linked to the mesc findings regarding plaintiff's unemployment claims. Moreover, the same policy considerations that we found persuasive in Storey are applicable here. It would be counter to the objectives of both unemployment and worker's compensation either to increase the litigiousness of unemployment claims or to discourage workers from seeking unemployment benefits altogether.
Lastly, defendants argue that by voluntarily testifying about the substance of his representations made before the mesc, plaintiff waived any privilege attached thereto. This argument fails because the Employment Security Act provision, as interpreted by this Court, provides for an absolute privilege:
We find that § 11(b)(1) clearly and unambiguously prohibits the use of mesc information and determinations in subsequent civil proceedings unless the mesc is a party or complainant in the action. [Storey, 431 Mich 376. Emphasis added.]
See also Wojciechowski v General Motors Corp, 151 Mich App 399, 406; 390 NW2d 727 (1986). There is no indication that this privilege is subject to waiver by the parties.
The rationale for the bright-line test provided by the Legislature is clear from a policy standpoint. As discussed above, use of mesc determinations in other forums may not only disadvantage the parties to that litigation, but may actually impede the objectives of the unemployment compensation system itself. We will not read a waiver provision into § 11(b)(1) when it is not evident from the language that one was intended, and when the effect of a waiver would be to impede legislative objectives.
III
We find that the Court of Appeals clearly erred in determining, sua sponte, that plaintiff's total disability claim was judicially estopped by earlier representations before the mesc that he was ready and able to work. Neither the language nor the policy objectives of the Worker's Disability Compensation Act or the Employment Security Act support that result. Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals. We remand this case to the Court of Appeals to consider those issues previously raised by the parties but not addressed by that Court.
Cavanagh, C.J., and Levin and Boyle, JJ., concurred with Mallett, J.
The wcab reported that plaintiff received unemployment benefits until November, 1983. However, plaintiff's testimony established that he began receiving unemployment compensation in November, 1983. His last payment was received on July 14, 1984.
The sum of the Court of Appeals explanation was contained in the following paragraph:
In applying for and receiving unemployment benefits, plaintiff asserted that he was able to continue to engage in gainful employment. The Court will not allow a party to assert a position and receive a benefit on one side of the ledger, then make a contrary assertion on the other. Allen v Zurich Ins Co, 667 F2d 1162 (CA 4, 1982); SCA Services, Inc v General Mill Supply Co, 129 Mich App 224; 341 NW2d 480 (1983); Murdock v Michigan Health Maintenance Organization, 434 Mich 851; 450 NW2d 264 (1990). [Id. at 652.]
There is no indication that plaintiff's representations were themselves inconsistent. According to testimony, plaintiff advanced both his unemployment and worker's compensation claims on the premise that he was ready and able to work, although at some place other than Retool Industries. Therefore, the Court of Appeals decision must be read as implying that it was the nature of his claims that was inconsistent, i.e., a claim that one is able and available for work is inherently inconsistent with a claim of total disability for the same period.
It is questionable, however, whether the doctrine has been adopted by the United States Supreme Court. See, generally, Comment, supra.
In contrast to the Hamilton test, the "prior success" model is more narrowly tailored to allow for alternative pleadings in the same or different proceedings. As such, it may he seen as focusing less on the danger of inconsistent claims, than on the danger of inconsistent rulings. See, e.g., note, Judicial estoppel: The refurbishing of a judicial shield, 55 Geo Wash L R 409, 426 (1987); comment, Precluding inconsistent statements: The doctrine of judicial estoppel, 80 NW U L R 1244, 1253 (1986).
See also Henry v Ford Motor Co, 291 Mich 535, 541; 289 NW 244 (1939), in which we stated, in regard to the simultaneous receipt of unemployment benefits and worker's compensation:
Both awards are purely statutory and, while there is no question about some incongruity in the provisions, nevertheless we.are bound by the wording of the statutes. The remedy is with the legislature who alone can provide for deductions or denial of compensation under one act or the other.
MCL 418.358; MSA 17.237(358).
See 4 Larson, Workmen's Compensation, § 97.20, pp 18-11 to 18-19. Further, we note that the temporary suspension measures applied in those states are far less severe than the potentially permanent forfeiture advocated here by defendants.
The Employment Security Act does prohibit the receipt of unemployment compensation during a period of continuous disability, MCL 421.28a(5); MSA 17.530(1)(5). However, there is no indication that the reverse is true, and we decline to read a reciprocal provision into the wdca, given the differing objectives and mechanisms of the two acts.
See 1C Larson, supra, § 57.65, p 10-492.51, n 62. As of its 1992 publication, Larson pointed to seventeen jurisdictions that had refused, absent legislative authorization, to deny or diminish worker's compensation benefits on the basis of representations made for unemployment compensation purposes that claimant was ready and able to work. Several of those jurisdictions were faced, as are we, with reconciling unemployment claims with claims for total disability. See, e.g., Wells v Jones, 662 SW2d 849 (Ky App, 1983); Dolbow v Holland Industrial, Inc, 64 NC App 695; 308 SE2d 335 (1983); Crow's Hybrid Corn Co v Industrial Comm, 72 Ill 2d 168; 380 NE2d 777 (1978); Utica Mutual Ins Co v L J Pioda, 90 Ga App 593; 83 SE2d 627 (1954).
See, e.g., Henry, n 5 supra, finding that an award of total disability was not precluded by receipt of unemployment benefits during the same period.
In a wage-loss system, in which disability is phrased in terms of a limitation of the worker's earning capacity, rather than the degree of physical impairment, physical disability is only one factor of the equation. See St. Antoine, Workers' Compensation in Michigan: Costs, Benefits, and Fairness, pp 24-26. The fact that the mesc may have adjudged plaintiff able and available to perform some work for which he was qualified by training and experience simply does not foreclose the possibility that, during that same period and thereafter, plaintiff actually suffered a limitation of his earning capacity, even one rising to the level of total disability. See dissent, pp 531-532.
In reaching this determination, we do not pass upon the possible evidentiary uses of such representations. See Murdock v Michigan Health Maintenance Organization, n 2 supra (remanding the case to the wcab for reconsideration of its factual finding of disability in light of the plaintiff's receipt of unemployment compensation benefits).
In Bower v Whitehall Leather Co, supra at 193, we determined that the plaintiff's refusal of favored work was reasonable because he had subsequently moved to Florida to accept a new position. In reaching that decision, we relied partly on the economic necessity of a claimant securing a means of support pending resolution of his disability claim:
Further, it is important to recognize that if the employer does not pay compensation voluntarily, the employee may be without any means of support until an award of benefits is made by the referee at the hearing. In the instant case, the hearing did not take place until nine months after the claim was filed, regrettably only a short time in the life of a court proceeding, but a long time in the economic existence of an individual. Yet the threat of denial of benefits would discourage the worker from seeking, and another employer from offering, a substitute job the claimant may need to survive.
Since the Court's 1981 decision in Bower, the delay in pursuing a worker's compensation claim has, if anything, increased. In plaintiff's case, his petition for hearing was received by the wcab on August 9, 1983, and his case was not heard until July 15 and 16, 1985, nearly two years later.
These findings apply with equal or greater force to the argument advanced by amicus curiae, Michigan Self-Insurers' Association, that res judicata should apply to bar plaintiff's claim. This contention runs counter to the Court's decision in Storey, and, amicus curiae has failed to provide any relevant case law to support its argument. No cases cited by amicus curiae involved previous claims made before the MESC.
Defendants' attempt to analogize § 11(b)(1) to the attorney-client privilege is inapposite. As described by this Court, the attorney-client privilege is personal to the client and hence may be waived by that client:
There is a privilege of secrecy as to what passes between attorney and client, but it is the privilege of the client and he may waive it if he so chooses. . . . It is not the privilege of the court or of any third party. [Passmore v Passmore Estate, 50 Mich 626, 627; 16 NW 170 (1883), quoted in In re Dalton Estate, 346 Mich 613, 621; 78 NW2d 266 (1956).]
In contrast, § 11(b)(1) is constructed less as a personal privilege than a systemic policy. There is no indication in the language of the section that the action of either party is necessary to give it effect, or that the action of either party can obviate its effect.
Under the facts of this case, we have focused primarily on the negative effect that judicial estoppel would have upon the potential claimant. Nevertheless, it seems clear that employers might also be disadvantaged by the binding effect of mesc proceedings. For instance, an employer who succeeds in defeating an unemployment claim on the ground that claimant was not ready and able to work, could be held bound by that assertion in later worker's compensation or civil proceedings.