Title: Blank v. Chawla
Citation: 234 Kan. 975, 678 P.2d 162
Docket Number: 55,606
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: February 18, 1984

234 Kan. 975 (1984)
678 P.2d 162
THOMAS J. BLANK, Plaintiff,
v.
MOHINDER P. CHAWLA, Appellee,
v.
BOEING MILITARY AIRPLANE COMPANY, AND AETNA CASUALTY AND SURETY COMPANY, Intervenors-Appellants.
No. 55,606

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed February 18, 1984.
Frederick L. Haag, of Foulston, Siefkin, Powers &amp; Eberhardt, of Wichita, argued the cause and was on the brief for the appellants. Jerry L. Griffith, of Derby, was with him on the brief as attorney for the plaintiff.
Kurt A. Harper, of Sherwood &amp; Hensley, of Wichita, argued the cause and was on the brief for the appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
LOCKETT, J.:
Thomas Blank, the plaintiff, brought this action against Mohinder P. Chawla on January 20, 1982, after he was struck by an automobile operated by Chawla, a fellow employee, as he was walking in the Boeing parking lot. Boeing, the employer, *976 through its insurer, paid workers' compensation benefits to the plaintiff and intervened in the present action to protect and enforce its subrogation rights pursuant to K.S.A. 1983 Supp. 44-504(b). Boeing, as intervenor, appealed the trial court's granting summary judgment in favor of defendant based on the exclusivity of workers' compensation as the sole remedy for the plaintiff.
The trial court, prior to granting Chawla's motion for summary judgment, made the following findings of fact and conclusions of law:
"Findings of Fact
"Conclusions of Law
Chawla contends the intervenor, Boeing, lacks the statutory authority to appeal from the summary judgment granted against Blank, the plaintiff. Blank filed a negligence action against his fellow employee, Chawla. Boeing filed a motion and petition to intervene to protect its right of subrogation. K.S.A. 1983 Supp. 44-504(b) provides in part:
The intervening employer's right to subrogation creates only a limited right as to active participation in the trial. In Gorrell v. Kansas Power &amp; Light Co., 189 Kan. 374, 369 P.2d 342 (1962), a worker received workers' compensation from his employer and then brought a negligence action against a negligent third party, Kansas Power &amp; Light Company. The insurance carrier of the worker's employer was permitted to intervene in the action pursuant to 44-504. Over objections of both plaintiff and defendant, the intervenor was allowed to participate in the trial. We held it was error for the trial court to permit the insurance carrier actively to participate in the trial. Where a worker has filed his action within one year after injury, before an assignment of the cause of action could occur pursuant to 44-504, his employer, as intervenor, cannot actively participate in the trial except when requested by the worker.
K.S.A. 1983 Supp. 44-504 provides that Blank, the injured worker, must prosecute his action against the third party within one year from the date of injury. Failure on the part of Blank to bring the action within the one-year period operates as an assignment to the employer of any action in tort which the injured worker may have against any other party for the injury. The employer is allowed to prosecute and actively try the action in its employee's name when the employee fails to bring the action within the one-year period.
Here the question is whether the employer, after properly intervening to protect its right of subrogation, has a right to *978 appeal an order granting summary judgment adverse to the employer's injured worker. Ordinarily a party cannot appeal from a judgment unless it has a particular interest therein and is aggrieved or prejudiced thereby. Ordinarily its interest must be immediate and pecuniary. McLeod v. Palmer, 96 Kan. 159, 150 Pac. 535 (1915). Appeals are not for the purpose of settling abstract questions, however interesting or important to the public generally, but only to correct errors injuriously affecting the appellant. Anderson v. Carder, 159 Kan. 1, 4, 150 P.2d 754 (1944).
In 4 C.J.S., Appeal &amp; Error § 186, pp. 572-73, it is stated:
See 4 Am.Jur.2d, Appeal &amp; Error § 175.
In Smith v. Henger, dba Henger Const. Co., 148 Tex. 456, 226 S.W.2d 425 (1950), the Supreme Court of Texas stated the employer's workers' compensation insurer which intervened in an action to protect its subrogation rights could appeal an adverse decision even if the employee/plaintiff failed to appeal.
Where an employer is given the right to intervene or prosecute an action under K.S.A. 1983 Supp. 44-504 to protect its subrogation rights, the intervening employer can appeal an adverse decision where the employee/plaintiff fails to appeal. Here the intervening employer had the right to appeal the adverse decision against its employee/plaintiff.
Boeing contends the trial court erred in ruling as a matter of law the uncontroverted facts were sufficient to sustain a motion for summary judgment.
Summary judgment is proper only if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show there is no genuine issue as to any material fact remaining, leaving the moving party entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Panhandle Agri-Service, Inc. v. Becker, 231 Kan. 291, 295, 644 P.2d 413 (1982). In considering a motion for summary judgment, the party against whom the motion is directed is entitled to the benefit of all reasonable inferences and doubts which may be drawn from the facts under *979 consideration. Farmers State Bank &amp; Trust Co. of Hays v. City of Yates Center, 229 Kan. 330, 341-42, 624 P.2d 971 (1981).
It is undisputed that Blank and Chawla were each employees of Boeing. Both were leaving work at the time the accident occurred in the employer's parking lot; the automobile driven by Chawla struck Blank as he was walking through the parking lot to his car. All parties agreed that Blank was entitled to workers' compensation benefits under the Act.
Boeing claims that since both Blank and Chawla were leaving work at the time of the accident, there can be no contention as a matter of law defendant was acting (1) as an employee, and (2) in the course of his employment when his vehicle struck Blank. There is no doubt that Chawla was employed by Boeing. Injuries that occur to an employee while the worker is on the way to assume the duties of employment or after leaving such duties, and the proximate cause of the injury is not the employer's negligence, are not included in the Workmen's Compensation Act. But an employee shall not be considered as being on the way to assume the duties or having left such duties at a time when the worker is on the premises of the employer. K.S.A. 1983 Supp. 44-508(f).
If Chawla, the defendant, had been injured in the car/pedestrian accident, would he have been covered by workers' compensation? In Teague v. Boeing Airplane Co., 181 Kan. 434, 312 P.2d 220 (1957), an employee of Boeing arrived at work and parked her car in the company parking lot. Walking from her car to the building, she slipped and fell on icy blacktop. The court ruled the injury was incidental to the worker's employment and there was a causal connection between her employment and the injury she sustained, and that she was entitled to compensation under the Act.
In Martin v. U.S.D. No. 233, 5 Kan. App.2d 298, 615 P.2d 168 (1980), a worker arrived in his employer's parking lot and as he started to get out of his truck, he hurt his back. He had experienced problems with his back in the past. The Court of Appeals determined the injury was not compensable under the Act. The court stated the condition of the premises had nothing to do with the injury and there was no causal connection between the injury and the employment. The court determined the risk was a personal one. See Hensley v. Carl Graham Glass, 226 Kan. 256, 597 P.2d 641 (1979).
*980 Here, unlike Martin, there was a causal connection between Blank's injury and the employment. If Chawla had been injured in the accident, there would have been the same causal connection between his injuries and employment as Blank's. Therefore, summary judgment was appropriate if Chawla was immune from civil liability under the Workmen's Compensation Act as a fellow employee.
Chawla contends that summary judgment in the negligence action was proper on the ground that plaintiff's claim was barred by the exclusive remedy provision of the Workmen's Compensation Act. K.S.A. 44-501 provides in part:
K.S.A. 1983 Supp. 44-504(a) provides:
In Rajala v. Doresky, 233 Kan. 440, 661 P.2d 1251 (1983), Rajala was injured when struck by a fellow employee, Doresky. Rajala commenced a civil damage action against Doresky. The trial court entered summary judgment in favor of defendant on the basis plaintiff's exclusive remedy was under the Workmen's Compensation Act. The Kansas Legislature had determined the better public policy was to preclude a person from maintaining a civil damage action against a fellow employee for any injury for which compensation is recoverable under the Act. Doresky was immune from civil liability as a fellow employee under K.S.A. 44-501.
In Wells v. Anderson, 8 Kan. App.2d 431, 659 P.2d 833 (1983), Wells was injured by Anderson, a fellow employee at a service station. Wells was injured by Anderson while Anderson was servicing his personal vehicle in violation of his employer's orders. The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court sustaining Anderson's motion for summary judgment, finding there was a *981 question of fact as to whether the employer prohibited employees to work on their own vehicles during working hours or not. In a well-reasoned opinion, Judge Spencer wrote:
Here, had Chawla been injured in the same accident, under the same circumstances, he would have been entitled to recover under the Workmen's Compensation Act. In an action for damages by an injured party against his co-employee in which the exclusive remedy provision of the Workmen's Compensation Act is asserted as a defense, it is held: (1) a co-employee is immune only if he or she would have been entitled to receive workers' compensation had she or he been injured in the same accident; and (2) since no genuine issues of material fact remained to be resolved, the trial court did not err in granting summary judgment.
The appellee argues this was a frivolous appeal and he should be awarded the cost of reproducing his brief and attorney fees pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 7.07 (230 Kan. lxii). A frivolous appeal has been defined as:
Considering the uncertain state of the law, the appeal was not frivolous.
The judgment is affirmed.