Opinion ID: 1429594
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: adequate quid pro quo

Text: The plaintiffs claim that their due process rights have been violated because their remedy in a workers compensation action has been limited due to a more stringent notice of claim statute, a limitation in the recovery available for shoulder injuries, and various other limitations set forth above that were placed on workers compensation recovery. In analyzing a potential due process violation, the following test should be utilized: `If a remedy protected by due process is abrogated or restricted by the legislature, such change is constitutional if `[1] the change is reasonably necessary in the public interest to promote the general welfare of the people of the state,' Manzanares v. Bell, 214 Kan. 589, 599, 522 P.2d 1291 (1974), and [2] the legislature provides an adequate substitute remedy to replace the remedy which has been restricted.' Bonin v. Vannaman, 261 Kan. 199, 217, 929 P.2d 754 (1996) (citing Aves v. Shah, 258 Kan. 506, 521, 906 P.2d 642 [1995]). Lemuz, 261 Kan. at 946-47. As previously set forth in this opinion, Step 1 of the due process test in Lemuz is satisfied. In applying Step 2 of the due process test, it is important to realize that the workers compensation remedy is not a common-law remedy. Rather, it is an adequate, substitute remedy itself (or quid pro quo) for the abrogation of a plaintiff's right to sue an employer for an injury incurred on the job due to the employer's negligence. In 1911, the legislature stripped employees of their common-law right to bring a civil action against employers for injuries caused by employers' negligence. The legislature can modify the common law so long as it provides an adequate substitute remedy for the right infringed or abolished. Kansas Malpractice Victims Coalition v. Bell, 243 Kan. 333, 350, 757 P.2d 251 (1988). Thus, when the legislature abolished the employees' common-law right to sue employers for injuries, the legislature provided employees with an adequate substitute remedythe Workers Compensation Act. The Act allowed employees to quickly receive a set but possibly smaller sum of money for injuries received at work, regardless of whether the injuries were the result of the employer's negligence. This made the Act an adequate substitute remedy for the abrogation of the employees' common-law right to sue an employer for negligence. Shade v. Cement Co., 92 Kan. 146, 139 Pac. 1193, aff'd on rehearing 93 Kan. 257, 144 Pac. 249 (1914). Now, the legislature has made the Act's notice of claim statute more strict, making it more difficult than it was prior to the 1993 amendments for injured employees to timely notify an employer of an injury so the worker can recover compensation. The legislature has also classified shoulder injuries as scheduled injuries, which typically means that those employees who suffer a shoulder injury under the new Act will receive less compensation than they would have under the pre-1993 Act. The legislature also allowed workers compensation benefits to be offset by the amount of money an injured employee receives in retirement benefits from social security or from a private pension plan funded by the employer. Further, the legislature enacted various other amendments to the Act which make it more difficult than it was prior to 1993 for an injured worker to receive workers compensation benefits. For instance, the legislature disallowed recovery for the aggravation of a preexisting injury even though the aggravation of the injury was due to a work-related activity. The 1993 amendments repealed an employee's right to vocational rehabilitation, allowing an employer to provide vocational rehabilitation only if the employer chose to do so. The legislature limited the healing period for scheduled injuries only to cases involving amputations. The reform bill placed a cap on the top wage rate an employee can be compensated at ($450 per week), regardless of an employee's actual earnings, and placed a cap on the amount of compensation an employee can receive for functional impairment ($50,000), regardless of the severity of the employee's impairment. Finally, the legislation made conclusive the prior presumption against work disability when an employee earns a comparable wage. L. 1993, ch. 286. These changes in the Act indicate that the quid pro quo for the abrogation of the employees' common-law right to sue an employer for negligence is less than what it was prior to 1993. The plaintiffs claim that the quid pro quo is so much less that it is no longer an adequate substitute remedy for the abrogation of their right to sue an employer for negligence. Thus, the plaintiffs claim that the Act, or at least portions of itthe portions which dilute the quid pro quo, are an unconstitutional violation of due process. Bair v. Peck, 248 Kan. 824, 844, 811 P.2d 1176 (1991), was the first case to express that an originally adequate quid pro quo for the abrogation of a common-law right might become so cut down and diluted that it would no longer be adequate to support the abrogation of the common-law right and would thus violate due process. In analyzing this issue, Bair identified a test to use in order to determine whether the legislature has altered the original statutory replacement to such an extent to make it unconstitutional. In Bair, this court stated: [W]e are directly faced with a determination of whether the comprehensive remedy of mandatory insurance and excess coverage from the [Health Care Stabilization] Fund, provided by the original [Health Care Insurance Availability] Act, is a sufficient quid pro quo for this subsequent amendment or modification of the Act. We have long recognized, at least tacitly, that major statutory enactments establishing a broad, comprehensive statutory remedy or scheme of reparation in derogation of a previously existing common-law remedy may be subsequently amended or altered without each such subsequent change being supported by an independent and separate quid pro quo. Provisions of the original Workmen's Compensation Act adopted in 1911 and upheld as constitutional in Shade v. Cement Co., 92 Kan. 146, 139 Pac. 1193, aff'd on rehearing 93 Kan. 257, 144 Pac. 249 (1914), have been repeatedly amended without the adoption of an additional quid pro quo each time an amendment operated to the detriment of the employee. The original quid pro quo providing recovery for injury regardless of fault or negligence has been deemed sufficient to support dozens of amendments to the original act, many of which involved the abrogation of an existing common-law right. In Rajala v. Doresky, 233 Kan. 440, 661 P.2d 1251 (1983), the court, in a unanimous opinion, found that the Kansas Workmen's Compensation Act, in providing immunity to fellow employees when compensation is recoverable under the Act, did not violate Section 18. In doing so, the court expressly stated that it did not `view as significant' the fact that fellow employee immunity was not enacted until 1967. `The Workmen's Compensation Act removes certain common law remedies for injured employees but provides a statutory substitute therefor.' 233 Kan. at 441. While not specifically stated, the court obviously held that the 1967 amendment, which provided fellow employee immunity, did not require a new quid pro quo because the comprehensive remedy afforded by the Workmen's Compensation Act, already in existence, was sufficient. .... In considering the adequacy of the quid pro quo of comprehensive legislation, which substitutes a statutory remedy for one that formerly existed at common law, and its sufficiency to support subsequent amendments or modifications which diminish the substitute remedy originally granted, no hard and fast rule can apply to all cases. It is obvious that the needs and goals of comprehensive legislation such as the Workers Compensation Act, the Kansas Automobile Injury Reparations Act and the Health Care Provider Insurance Availability Act will change with the passage of time and the needs of a fluctuating society. It would take the wisdom of Solomon to devise comprehensive remedial legislation, such as that now before us, which would never need fine tuning, change, or modification. The Act is a piece of ongoing legislation which will, of necessity, require continuous modification to accomplish its goals. .... At the time of the malpractice alleged by the plaintiff in this case, each individual health care provider who was alleged to be negligent was required to maintain $200,000 malpractice coverage and, in addition, the Fund provided $3,000,000 excess coverage for each tortfeasor. Without the Act, there would be no guarantee that a plaintiff injured because of the negligence of a health care provider could ever recover for his injuries, let alone have an assured fund available of $3,200,000. That is a sizeable quid pro quo, established by the Act, and certainly is an adequate substitute remedy for the common-law rights given up by injured malpractice victims. No argument is made that if the elimination of the employer's vicarious liability had been a part of the original Act, the quid pro quo would somehow be insufficient. We conclude that in reviewing the sufficiency of the substitute remedy as it applies to amendment or modification of comprehensive remedial legislation, each determination must be made on a case-by-case basis. Recognizing that all such legislation may need periodic modification, we think the proper test to apply is whether the substitute remedy would have been sufficient if the modification had been a part of the original Act. If so, then no new or additional quid pro quo is necessary to support the modification against a Section 18 attack. Any other holding would require that every modification of a substitute remedy provided by comprehensive legislation that originally abrogated a common-law remedy would require a new and additional substitute remedy. As already noted, it would be virtually impossible to draft such legislation in a form that would anticipate all contingencies and which would not thereafter need change and modification. We recognize that there is a limit which the legislature may not exceed in altering the statutory remedy previously provided when a common-law remedy was statutorily abolished. The legislature, once having established a substitute remedy, cannot constitutionally proceed to emasculate the remedy, by amendments, to a point where it is no longer a viable and sufficient substitute remedy. K.S.A. 1990 Supp. 40-3403(h) does not amend the Act to such a degree that the substitute remedy is no longer sufficient and we hold that the statute is not unconstitutional under Section 18 of the Kansas Bill of Rights. (Emphasis added.) 248 Kan. at 841-44. Relying on the Bair test, the plaintiffs contend that the substitute remedy for the abrogation of an employee's common-law right to sue an employer for negligencethe Actwould not have been a sufficient quid pro quo when the common-law right was originally abrogated if the current amendments at issue had been a part of the original Act. The plaintiffs concede that the legislature provided an adequate substitute remedy for the abrogation of an employee's common-law right to sue an employer for negligence the original Act. However, once having established this substitute remedy (the Act), the plaintiffs claim that the legislature has proceeded to emasculate the remedy (the Act), by amendments, to a point where it is no longer a viable and sufficient substitute remedy. Thus, the plaintiffs assert that the Act, or the certain amendments which emasculate the adequacy of the remedy as a quid pro quo, violate due process under Section 18 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights. In support of their contention that the adequate substitute remedy of the original Act has been emasculated by amendments, the plaintiffs point out that the Act no longer provides a speedy remedy. Litigants may wait months for a final award to be issued. According to the plaintiffs, requests for review of an award by the Workers Compensation Board may take months to be scheduled for argument, and many more months waiting decision. Further, the plaintiffs contend that a workers compensation proceeding is no longer an inexpensive undertaking. Expert witnesses are usually necessary, and unauthorized medical benefits may no longer by used by the injured worker to obtain an independent disability evaluation. The plaintiffs concede that this court has approved previous amendments to the Act. See Rajala v. Doresky, 233 Kan. 440, 661 P.2d 1251 (1983). However, the plaintiffs contend that none of those changes were of the cumulative magnitude of the 1993 amendments. According to the plaintiffs, it is one thing for the legislature to make relatively minor adjustments to one or two sections of the Act, but it is an entirely different matter when the legislature makes major changes designed to reduce or eliminate compensation for workers. Lemuz v. Fieser, 261 Kan. 936, sheds further light on this issue. In Lemuz, the question was whether the Health Care Provider Insurance Availability Act and the Health Care Stabilization Plan, which were considered adequate substitute remedies or quid pro quos for the abrogation of some of the plaintiff's common-law rights in 1976, were still considered adequate remedies for the continued abrogation of those same rights, in light of amendments the Act and the Fund had undergone in 1989 which reduced the statutory benefits available to the plaintiff. This court held that the Act and the Fund were both still adequate substitute remedies for the abrogation of the plaintiffs' common-law rights despite any amendments the Act and the Fund had undergone. 261 Kan. at 950-58. In so holding, this court stated: In summary, this court struggles with the bottom line figure as to how much a quid pro quo can be amended and still remain an adequate quid pro quo. As in Bair, 248 Kan. at 844, this court realizes that an original quid pro quo cannot be emasculated to a point where it is no longer a viable and sufficient substitute remedy. Here, the legislature did not emasculate the quid pro quo provided in the Act, the Plan, and the Fund, through the 1989 amendments, to a point where it was no longer an adequate substitute remedy .... Under the amended Fund, the minimum amount of medical malpractice insurance the doctor is now required to carry is $300,000. If they can prove negligence, the plaintiffs will recover at least $300,000. Without the Act and the Fund, the doctor might not have been insured at all and the plaintiffs might have recovered nothing. In a medical malpractice case, the doctor has his or her personal fortune at stake if adequate insurance is not purchased. It is basically the doctor who has little to risk who carries the minimum insurance. The public is benefitted by any insurance that is carried by that doctor. This is, and should be to some extent, a legislative call and we are unable to say that requiring $300,000 minimum to be available in every case is so inadequate that it is an inadequate quid pro quo. The plaintiffs herein will personally receive the benefit of the portion of the original quid pro quo that remainsrequired primary medical malpractice insurance and guaranteed excess medical malpractice insurance.... Thus, the legislature has provided an adequate quid pro quo for the statutory abrogation of the plaintiffs' common-law remedy to sue a hospital for corporate negligence. 261 Kan. at 959-60. (Emphasis added.) Here, S.B. 307 passed unanimously in both the Kansas House and the Kansas Senate, and Governor Finney signed the bill. At the start of the 1993 session, legislators had before them the reports of the Governor's Task Force on Workers Compensation, the Insurance Commissioner's Workers Compensation Task Force, and the Legislative Post Audit Committee, all of which suggested areas of the workers compensation system which needed reform. Before passing the bill, the House Committee on Labor and Industry and the Senate Committee on Commerce conducted many hearings and heard from many witnesses representing employees, employers, trial lawyers, labor organizations, and business associations. The bill was the product of a comprehensive reform effort that attempted to balance the interests of employees, employers, labor, and business organizations. The amended Act still provides compensation for injured workers without proof of negligence or fault, a benefit not allowed under typical tort law. While several of the amendments at issue do restrict an employee's right to receive workers compensation benefits, several other amendments have also been enacted with the intent to expand an employee's rights. (However, the expansion pales in comparison to what was taken away.) With these rights still available to injured workers under the amended Act, it cannot be said that the Act, which originally provided an adequate substitute remedy for the abrogation of an employee's common-law right to sue an employer for negligence, has been emasculated to the point where it is no longer an adequate quid pro quo. Neither the Act as a whole nor the individual 1993 amendments violate due process. Affirmed. ALLEGRUCCI, J., dissenting: I disagree with the majority's conclusion that the Act as amended continues to be an adequate substitute remedy. The legislature responds to a so-called crisis by restricting or reducing the right of an injured citizen to a remedy by due course of law. However, as noted by the majority, when the legislature provides a substitute remedy, its authority to subsequently alter that remedy is not unlimited. The legislature cannot alter the remedy to the point it is no longer a viable and sufficient substitute remedy. Bair v. Peck, 248 Kan. 824, Syl. ¶ 16, 811 P.2d 1176 (1991). As in the amendments to the Health Care Provider Insurance Availability Act at issue in Bair, I am unable to determine at what point, if any, the majority would conclude the legislature went too far in altering a substitute remedy. I would conclude that the Workers Compensation Act, as amended, no longer provides an adequate quid pro quo. I therefore dissent.