Court Opinion

ID: 9774952
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:39:03.61361+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:42.526460
License: Public Domain

JABAR, J.,
with whom ALEXANDER, J., joins,
dissenting.
[¶ 14] I respectfully dissent. Because employers and employees are mutually obligated to participate in mediation in workers’ compensation cases, those obligations have by implication become incorporated into the contract of employment. See 39-A M.R.S. § 313 (2009).4 Accordingly, I *675would hold that travel to a workers’ compensation mediation is incidental to employment, and an injury incurred by an employee during that travel arises out of and in the course of employment.
[¶ 15] As noted by the Court, we traditionally follow the “going and coming” or the “public streets” rule, which provides “that an accident occurring off the employer’s premises while an employee is merely on his way to or from his place of business is not, without more, compensable.” Waycott v. Beneficial Corp., 400 A.2d 392, 394 (Me.1979). While the rule is “grounded in the notion that there is an insufficient connection with the employment context to warrant compensation for an injury occurring in such circumstances,” we have, in the past, not hesitated to compensate an off-premises accident when there is “a significant relationship between injury and employment.” Id. We found such a “significant relationship,” and thus, an exception to the rule, in Moreau v. Zayre Corp., 408 A.2d 1289 (Me.1979).
[¶ 16] In Moreau, the employee suffered an injury when driving home from medical treatment for her work-related injury. Id. at 1291. She was denied benefits on the ground that the injury did not arise out of and in the course of employment because there had not been a determination that the injury for which she was receiving treatment was compensable. Id. We vacated the decision and remanded for a determination of whether the initial injury was compensable. Id. at 1295. We reasoned that the Workers’ Compensation Act places reciprocal obligations on the employer to provide and the injured employee to accept medical treatment, which are obligations that have become part of the employment contract. Id. at 1294. Thus, if the first injury was work-related, medical treatment for that injury was incident to the employment, and an injury that occurred when traveling from the medical appointment would arise out of and in the course of employment. Id.
[¶ 17] Most jurisdictions agree that injuries sustained when traveling to or from an appointment for medical treatment of a work-related injury are compensable. See 1 Arthur Larson & Lex K. Larson, Bar-*676son’s Workers’ Compensation Law § 10.07 (2009). In Professor Larson’s view, the best rationale for providing compensation in these cases is the one we followed in Moreau: “the employer is under a statutory duty to furnish medical care, and the employee is similarly under a duty to submit to reasonable medical treatment under the act. The provisions of the act, in turn, become by implication part of the employment contract.” Id.
[¶ 18] There is authority holding that where the employee is injured off-premises while pursuing his own interest, such as litigation of his workers’ compensation claim, the injury does not come under the exception to the going and coming rule. We adopted this approach in Dorey v. Forster Manufacturing Co., 591 A.2d 240 (Me.1991). Following Dorey, the Court today concludes that no reciprocal duties to participate in mediation have by implication become part of the employment contract because the employee acts exclusively in his own interest.
[¶ 19] However, the injury in Dorey occurred before the Legislature enacted mandatory mediation as a reciprocal statutory obligation of the employer and employee. This enactment was part of a significant change in the workers’ compensation law following recommendations of a Blue Ribbon Commission. See P.L.1991, ch. 885, §§ A-7, A-8 (effective Jan. 1, 1993) (codified at 39-A M.R.S. § 313 (2009)). In enacting title 39-A, the Legislature established a process designed not to “comprehensively address every workers’ compensation issue in a detailed and specific way, but to commit some issues to a process in which the participants in the system, labor and management, can work out flexible and realistic solutions.” Bridgeman v. S.D. Warren Co., 2005 ME 38, ¶ 11, 872 A.2d 961, 965 (quotation marks omitted). We have “recognized a legislative intent in title 39-A to encourage mediation. Indeed, we have stated that mediation pursuant to the new Act was intended to ‘replace litigation whenever possible.’ ” Hoglund v. Aaskov Plumbing & Heating, 2006 ME 42, ¶ 7, 895 A.2d 323, 325 (quoting Jasch v. Anchorage Inn, 2002 ME 106, ¶ 17, 799 A.2d 1216, 1220). We noted in Hoglund that the Legislative History of the current Workers’ Compensation Act
includes a statement of Representative Anthony that “[t]he strength of [Title 39-A] is to convert from a litigated system to a system centered around mediation,” 7 Legis. Rec. H-45 (3d Spec. Sess.1992), and a statement from Senator Bustin that “if this system works the way people think it’s going to work, with the way the Blue Ribbon Commission thinks it’s going to work, then the mediation is going to take care of all the cases.” Id. at S-24.
2006 ME 42, ¶ 7 n. 5, 895 A.2d at 325; see also Bureau v. Staffing Network, Inc., 678 A.2d 583, 590 (Me.1996).
[¶ 20] While mandatory mediation is a step in the process of the administrative litigation of a workers’ compensation claim, it is distinctly different from other stages of litigation because it requires the employee and the employer to cooperate with the mediator and it authorizes sanctions against a party who does not cooperate. 39-A M.R.S. § 313(4). It requires the employer and employee to collaborate with the goal of reaching a mutually agreeable solution. See id.
[¶ 21] Other courts have found injuries incurred in situations analogous to this case to be compensable. For example, in Turner v. Industrial Claim Appeals Office, 111 P.3d 534, 537-38 (Colo.Ct.App. 2004), the Colorado Court of Appeals held that an injury incurred while returning from a mandatory vocational evaluation *677was compensable because the evaluation would not have been undertaken but for the compensable injury. In American Manufacturers Mutual Insurance Co. v. Hernandez, 252 Wis.2d 155, 642 N.W.2d 584, 590-91 (App.2002), the Wisconsin Court of Appeals held that an injury sustained in a car accident en route to the employee’s treating physician not for medical treatment but for a final evaluation before returning to work was compensable. In Woodrum v. Premier Auto Glass Co., 103 Ohio App.3d 530, 660 N.E.2d 491, 493 (1995), the Ohio Court of Appeals held that an injury suffered in a car accident when returning from an independent medical examination, required to receive benefits, was compensable.
[¶ 22] In my view, by virtue of the mandatory mediation provisions in the Workers’ Compensation Act, participation in mediation is a reciprocal obligation of the employer and employee inherent in the contract of employment. See Moreau, 408 A.2d at 1294. Thus, travel to a mandatory mediation is an activity incident to employment, and an injury occurring during that travel falls within an exception to the going and coming rule.
[¶ 23] Accordingly, I would vacate the hearing officer’s decision.

. Title 39-A M.R.S. § 313 (2009) provides, in relevant part:
1. Procedure. Except as provided in section 205, subsection 9, paragraph D, upon filing of notice of controversy or other indication of controversy, the matter must be referred by the board to mediation.
2. Mediation. The mediator shall by informal means, which may include telephone contact, determine the nature and extent of the controversy and extent of the controversy and attempt to resolve it. The mediator ... may require that the parties appear and submit relevant information.
3. Conclusion. At the conclusion of mediation, the mediator shall file a written report with the board stating the information required by section 305, 2nd paragraph and the legal issues in dispute. If an agreement is reached, the report must state the terms of the agreement and must be signed *675by the parties and the mediator. If a full agreement is not reached, the report must state the information required by section 305, 2nd paragraph, any terms that are agreed on by the parties and any facts and legal issues in dispute and the report must be signed by the parties and the mediator.
4. Cooperation; sanctions. The parties shall cooperate with the mediator assigned to the case. The assigned mediator shall report to the board the failure of a party to cooperate or to produce requested material. The board may impose sanctions against a party who does not cooperate or produce requested materials, including the following:
A. Assessment of costs and attorney’s fees;
B. Reductions of attorney’s fees; or
C. If the party is the moving party, suspension of proceedings until the party has cooperated or produced the requested material.
’s. Duties of employer or representative of the employee, employer or insurer. The employer or representative of the employee, employer or insurer who participates in mediation must be familiar with the employee's claim and has authority to make decisions regarding the claim. The board may assess a forfeiture in the amount of $100 against any employer or representative of the employee, employer or insurer who participates in mediation without full authority to make decisions regarding the claim. If a representative of the employer, insurer or employee participates in mediation or any other proceeding of the board, the representative shall notify the employer, insurer or employee of all actions by the representative on behalf of the employer, insurer or employee and any other actions at the proceeding.