Case Name: Maxine M. LOOMIS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HIGHLAND HOSPITAL, INC., Defendant-Appellee
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1973-02-06
Citations: 274 So. 2d 200
Docket Number: No. 12016
Parties: Maxine M. LOOMIS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HIGHLAND HOSPITAL, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
Judges: Before AYRES, BOLIN, and HEARD, JJ-
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 274
Pages: 200–204

Head Matter:
Maxine M. LOOMIS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HIGHLAND HOSPITAL, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
No. 12016.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.
Feb. 6, 1973.
John A. Richie, Edward Kernaghan, Shreveport, for plaintiff-appellant.
Blanchard, Walker, O’Quin & Roberts, by J. Edgerton Pierson, Jr., Shreveport, for defendant-appellee.
Before AYRES, BOLIN, and HEARD, JJ-

Opinion:
AYRES, Judge.
This action, instituted under the provisions of the workmen's compensation statute (LSA-R.S. 23:1021 et seq.), presents an alternative demand to that for damages in an action in tort contained in Loomis v. Highland Hospital, Inc. et al., bearing No. 12,015 of the docket of this court, this day decided (274 So.2d 198).
Both actions arose out of the same accident; they were not consolidated but separately tried, the action in tort, upon its merits, and this, the compensation case, on a motion for a summary judgment, followed by the rendition of separate judgments. The motion in the instant case was sustained and plaintiff appealed.
• As a basis of their respective positions with reference to the merits of the motion for a summary judgment, both plaintiff and defendant relied upon and filed excerpts of the sworn testimony taken on the trial of the action in tort. Neither objected to the form of this proceeding nor as to the testimony offered in support of or in opposition to the motion.
The accident of which plaintiff complained occurred about 2:40 p. m. on April 2, 1971, as plaintiff walked across an unimproved parking lot owned by defendant located across a side street from the hospital and its principal facilities. The lot involved was posted for the use of hospital employees only. Plaintiff contends that as she walked across the parking lot she slipped and fell and that, as a result, she sustained permanent disabling -injuries entitling her to the maximum benefits prescribed for total disability.
It is deemed necessary at this point to note that the scope of the workmen's compensation statute is limited to rights and duties that obtain between employers and employees. It follows that the existence of an employer-employee relationship or of a similar relationship between an employee and an independent contractor is an essential requisite to any action arising under the statute. Thus, it must be concluded that this relationship predicated upon a contract must be expressly stated or implied. The burden of proof is upon a claimant to establish this requisite by a reasonable preponderance of the evidence.
As a basis for the establishment of the aforesaid relationship, plaintiff alleges:
1. That she was employed directly by Highland Hospital, Inc., as a medical aid at a weekly wage of $79.20;
2. That, in the alternative, she was an employee of an independent contractor ; and
3. That, still further in the alternative, she was herself an independent contractor doing a substantial part of the manual labor associated with her employment.
Defendant, in its motion for a summary judgment, controverted plaintiff's claim to an employer-employee relationship and averred there was no genuine issue as to a material fact concerning the question of plaintiff's employment at the time of the alleged accident. That plaintiff was an employee of the defendant is disproved not only by her own testimony but by that of Mrs. Nezzie Perkins, director of nursing facilities at the Highland Hospital, adduced during the trial of the action in tort, excerpts of which were attached to and made a part of defendant's motion.
In this connection, the record establishes that Mrs. Martha Patterson, a patient in the hospital, was in need of a "sitter," or a medical aid, to sit with and attend her, and to render her minor but nonmedical services such as keeping her bed in order, adjusting the patient thereon, noting her pulse, and taking her blood pressure and temperature.
Plaintiff was listed on the Bluebird Medical Register, Inc., a general listing of those who desired to be called for service as medical aids, or "sitters." In this instance, the registry was notified by defendant's supervisor of nurses that Mrs. Patterson was in need of the services of a member of that organization and that Mrs. Patterson had suggested that plaintiff, Mrs. Loomis, be sent to fill that need. Mrs. Loomis was notified and she accepted the referral. It was on her way to the hospital that she sustained accidental injuries.
Mrs. Loomis testified and so did the Director of Nursing Service, as shown by excerpts of their testimony, that Mrs. Loomis was employed and paid for her services by the patient for and with whom she worked. There was no contract with the hospital as to her employment. The responsibility of the hospital was to ascertain that the medical aid was qualified to and did perform the services for which she was employed and paid by the patient. In this instance, we are impressed that the hospital's only other connection with Mrs. Loomis' employment was the calling of the registry for and on behalf of the patient which, as done in the instant case, was for the patient's accommodation.
Thus, as will appear from the foregoing sworn testimony of plaintiff and of defendant's supervisor of nurses, plaintiff, at the time of the accident forming the basis of this action, was not an employee of Highland Hospital, Inc., nor a contractor for the hospital. Neither was the Bluebird registry an employee or a contractor or subcontractor of the hospital; nor was plaintiff employed by that organization in its alleged capacity as a subcontractor. To the contrary, plaintiff was an employee of Mrs. Martha Patterson, who, at the time, was a patient confined in the hospital. Plaintiff's services were engaged by Mrs. Patterson through the Bluebird registry of medical aids, which organization had no contractual relationship with the hospital to perform the services of a medical aid, or sitter. The responsibility of the registry was, so it appears, to maintain a list of those persons qualified to render such services and to recommend, when so requested, a person for employment.
From the above, we conclude, as did the trial judge, there was no employer-employee relationship between plaintiff and the hospital that would entitle plaintiff to recover from the defendant the benefits prescribed by the workmen's compensation statute. Hence, the judgment sustaining the motion for a summary judgment was proper. It is accordingly affirmed at plaintiff-appellant's costs.
Affirmed.
BOLIN, J., dissents, giving written reasons.