Opinion ID: 1428002
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The District Court Properly Dismissed Van Tine's Constitutional Claim Based On A Lack Of Subject Matter Jurisdiction.

Text: In its order granting the SIF's summary judgment motion on Van Tine's counterclaim, with respect to Count II, Van Tine's constitutional challenge, the district court simply ruled that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear the allegations. During the telephonic hearing on the motion, the court stated as follows with respect to Count II: With respect to the constitutional argument of count one [siccount two], I recognize the argument, but I would say having been forced into a decision on count three, that I think that the constitutional argument bumps right along with it. And that constitutional argument is preserved, can be made before the Industrial Commission and bumps up to the supreme court along with the argument there, or can bump up along with the argument here, but it isit would be improper, I think, given the clear declaration in Vantine I, to attempt an end run around the Supreme Court by visiting the constitutional issue. And so I decline to do so. Van Tine argues that the district court did have jurisdiction to decide the constitutional issue, especially over the Industrial Commission. We agree. This Court has indicated that the courts are the proper forum for the determination of the constitutionality of statutes. See Lynn v. Kootenai County Fire Protective Dist. # 1, 97 Idaho 623, 624, 550 P.2d 126, 127 (1976); State v. Evans, 73 Idaho 50, 59, 245 P.2d 788, 797 (1952); Wanke v. Ziebarth Const. Co., 69 Idaho 64, 202 P.2d 384 (1949). Further, the Court recently held that the Industrial Commission in particular does not have jurisdiction to decide such constitutional challenges. Tupper v. State Farm Ins., 131 Idaho 724, 729, 963 P.2d 1161, 1166 (1998). Thus, we hold that the district court did have subject matter jurisdiction to address Van Tine's constitutional challenge. However, because this Court exercises free review over constitutional issues, Meisner, 131 Idaho at 260, 954 P.2d at 678, we will decide the merits of the issue rather than remanding the case to the district court. Van Tine argues that I.C. § 72-804 is unconstitutional if it precludes him, an injured worker, from bringing a bad faith action against his employer's surety. Although Van Tine argues that such an interpretation of I.C. § 72-804 would deprive him of due process and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, he provides argument and authority for only the equal protection claim. Therefore, the Court's focus will be limited to the equal protection question. Weaver v. Searle Bros., 131 Idaho 610, 616, 962 P.2d 381, 387 (1998) (holding that pursuant to I.A.R. 35(a)(6), issues on appeal must be supported by propositions of law, authority or argument in the argument section of a party's brief or they will not be considered); State v. Zichko, 129 Idaho 259, 263, 923 P.2d 966, 970 (1996). Van Tine argues that it is unconstitutional to exclude an injured worker, insured by a worker's compensation policy, from bringing a bad faith claim while allowing all other persons insured by contracts of insurance to have as a remedy a bad faith cause of action against the insurer. Van Tine contends that if his counterclaim allegations relating to the SIF's breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing must be characterized as stemming from the SIF's unreasonable denial of benefits and thus falling under I.C. § 72-804 of the worker's compensation law, then I.C. § 72-804 is unconstitutional as it precludes him from bringing a tort action against the SIF for bad faith. Van Tine argues that the worker's compensation act was never intended to shield the type of harassing conduct exhibited by the SIF, and that such an interpretation would deny him equal protection under the law. This Court has held that when a statute is constitutionally challenged, it will make every presumption in favor of constitutionality, and that the burden of establishing unconstitutionality rests upon the challengers. Tupper, 131 Idaho at 730, 963 P.2d at 1167; Rhodes v. Indus. Comm'n, 125 Idaho 139, 142, 868 P.2d 467, 470 (1993). The Court has also held that its inquiry is not concerned `with the accuracy as to the legislative finding, but only with the question of whether it so lacks any reasonable basis as to be arbitrary.' Tupper, 131 Idaho at 730, 963 P.2d at 1167 (quoting Sellmer v. Ruen, 115 Idaho 700, 701, 769 P.2d 577, 578 (1989)). In the present case, Van Tine's constitutional challenge of I.C. § 72-804 should be tested under the rational basis test of equal protection review since the statute creates `no suspect or invidiously discriminatory classification' and implicate[s] `no fundamental right,' but rather involve[s] `economic and social welfare legislation.' Tupper, 131 Idaho at 730, 963 P.2d at 1167 (quoting Rhodes, 125 Idaho at 142, 868 P.2d at 470). In order to pass the rational basis test, the statute must bear a rational relationship to a legitimate legislative purpose. Id. Under the rational basis test, a classification will withstand an equal protection challenge if there is any conceivable state of facts which will support it. Meisner, 131 Idaho at 262, 954 P.2d at 680. Worker's compensation statutes must be considered in the context of the entire act. Id. Pursuant to I.C. § 72-201 and § 72-707, it is clear that the legislature intended, in order for the worker's compensation law to achieve its purpose of providing sure and certain relief for injured workers and their families, that all claims, issues and civil actions relating in any manner to the injury of a worker, whether procedural or substantive, be decided under the worker's compensation act by the Commission. This would also include subrogation issues, I.C. § 72-223(3), and issues involving the unreasonable denial or delay of compensation by the employer or his surety, I.C. § 72-804. We believe that the legislature did not intend for a worker to be able to bring a bad faith tort action against his employer's surety in courts of general jurisdiction, but rather that a worker could receive attorney fees and sometimes punitive costs if the employer or surety acts unreasonably. Thus, Van Tine has failed to show why I.C. § 72-804 does not bear a rational relationship to the above stated purpose of the worker's compensation act. We therefore hold that Van Tine's equal protection rights have not been violated.