Court Opinion

ID: 9781180
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 16:20:03.670134+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:34:20.291377
License: Public Domain

WILLIAMS, J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur with the majority in affirming the trial court’s grant of summary judgment on Prysmian’s counterclaims. However, I respectfully dissent with the portion of the majority’s opinion that affirms the trial court’s application of collateral estoppel in a retaliatory discharge action pursuant to section 41-1-80.
As to the issue of collateral estoppel, the majority concludes “[N]o unfairness or injustice will result from the application of issue preclusion to this situation.” I respectfully disagree. The “countervailing considerations” presented in this case necessitate relitigation.
First, I note the dichotomy regarding the application of preclusion doctrines in the context of administrative tribunals between Bennett v. South Carolina Department of Corrections., 305 S.C. 310, 408 S.E.2d 230 (1991), and Shelton v. Oscar Mayer Foods, 325 S.C. 248, 481 S.E.2d 706 (1997).
In Bennett, Bennett filed a grievance complaint with the State Employee Grievance Committee (Grievance Committee) challenging his discharge from the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC). Bennett, 305 S.C. at 311, 408 S.E.2d *115at 231. The Grievance Committee denied Bennett’s complaint and Bennett failed to appeal. Id. Bennett then filed a retaliatory discharge claim pursuant to section 41-1-80. Id. The SCDC moved for summary judgment, claiming the Grievance Committee’s decision precluded Bennett’s retaliatory discharge claim under the doctrines of collateral estoppel and res judicata. Id. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of SCDC on the grounds of collateral estoppel and res judicata and also held Bennett failed to exhaust his administrative remedies. Id. at 312, 408 S.E.2d at 231. On appeal, our supreme court affirmed the trial court and held:
The doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel do not bar recovery under S.C.Code section 41-1-80 for state employees, but they do bar relitigation of issues which have been decided by or should have been presented to the State Grievance Committee. The statutory requirements that state employees bring their grievances before the State Grievance Committee and that they exhaust their administrative remedies before seeking judicial review do not bar the bringing of an action under S.C.Code § 41-1-80, but they do require that the Grievance Committee have the exclusive right to decide those issues subject only to an appeal for judicial review of their decisions.
Id. at 313, 408 S.E.2d at 231-32.
In Shelton, our supreme court addressed the issue of whether findings of fact made during a South Carolina Employment Security Commission (ESC) hearing were entitled to a preclusive effect under the doctrine of collateral estoppel. 325 S.C. 248, 481 S.E.2d 706. In Shelton, a security guard observed Shelton smoking marijuana in the company’s parking lot, and as a result, Shelton was allegedly discharged without further investigation. Shelton, 325 S.C. at 250, 481 S.E.2d at 707. Shelton filed and received unemployment benefits after an ESC hearing officer found he was discharged without cause. Id. Shelton’s former employer did not appeal the ESC’s decision. Id.
Shelton initiated a wrongful termination action. Shelton, 325 S.C. at 250, 481 S.E.2d at 707. Based on the ESC’s finding, Shelton moved for partial summary judgment, claiming his employer was collaterally estopped from litigating *116whether he was discharged for smoking marijuana. Id. The trial court denied Shelton’s motion for partial summary judgment. Id. On appeal, this court initially reversed the trial court’s ruling but ultimately affirmed after rehearing the matter. Id. at 250-51, 481 S.E.2d at 707. Our supreme court affirmed and held, “The purposes of the ESC are in conflict •with the doctrine of collateral estoppel; therefore, public policy dictates the findings made during an ESC hearing should not receive collateral estoppel effect.” Id. at 252, 481 S.E.2d at 708.
In a footnote, our supreme court distinguished Bennett, and stated:
Bennett dealt with the application of collateral estoppel to a proceeding before the State Employee Grievance Committee. Bennett filed a complaint with the grievance committee and the grievance committee ruled in favor of the employer. Instead of appealing this decision through the proper administrative channels, Bennett filed a civil suit alleging he was discharged in retaliation for filing a workers’ compensation claim. This Court held the circuit court properly granted the employer’s summary judgment motion because the issues in Bennett’s civil claim were identical to the issues presented to and ruled upon by the grievance committee. Bennett had abandoned any opportunity for a ruling on these issues in his favor when he failed to appeal the grievance committee’s findings. Bennett is distinguishable from the matter, sub judice. State employees must bring complaints before the grievance committee prior to seeking judicial review; therefore, the hearing before the grievance committee is necessarily more in the nature of a full evidentiary hearing. An ESC hearing only determines the narrow issue of whether an employee may receive unemployment benefits.
Shelton, 825 S.C. at 251, 481 S.E.2d at 708.
Next, our supreme court discussed the purpose of an ESC hearing is to expeditiously provide benefits for employees who became unemployed through no fault of their own, and the ESC’s jurisdiction is limited to whether an employee is qualified to unemployment benefits. Id. at 252, 481 S.E.2d at 708. Thus, the supreme court opined collateral estoppel in the ESC *117context would transform these hearings into a forum of lengthy civil litigation of claims relating to the employee’s discharge. Id. Finally, the supreme court concluded employers generally do not intensely contest ESC hearings and stated:
Employers normally are not compelled to intensely contest ESC hearings because the stakes are not great in such hearings. An ESC hearing only determines whether an employee was discharged for cause and thus disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits. A wrongful termination lawsuit determines whether the employer wrongfully discharged the employee and seeks to place blame on the employer. The damages available in a wrongful discharge lawsuit are much greater than unemployment benefits. Thus, an employer has more incentive to fully contest a civil suit.
Id. at 258, 481 S.E.2d at 708.
Although, a workers’ compensation hearing is more akin to a full evidentiary hearing, collateral estoppel is inapplicable to this case. Similar to the ESC context, our State’s workers’ compensation laws were enacted by our General Assembly to provide benefits to individuals. Specifically, the purpose of our workers’ compensation scheme is to protect workers who have suffered injuries arising out of and in the course of their employment. Parker v. Williams & Madjanik, Inc., 275 S.C. 65, 69-70, 267 S.E.2d 524, 526 (1980) (stating our workers’ compensation laws reflect a societal recognition to provide swift and sure compensation for injuries arising out of and in the course of employment); see also Peay v. U.S. Silica Co., 813 S.C. 91, 94, 437 S.E.2d 64, 65 (1993) (“Workers’ compensation laws were intended by the Legislature to relieve workers of the uncertainties of a trial for damages by providing sure, swift recovery for workplace injuries regardless of fault.”). This principle was aptly noted in Cokeley v. Robert Lee, Inc., 197 S.C. 157, 168, 14 S.E.2d 889, 893-894 (1941), in which our supreme court stated:
Compensation laws constitute a form of social legislation and were enacted primarily for the benefit, protection and welfare of working men and their dependents, to relieve them of the uncertainties of a trial in a suit for damages, to cast upon the industry in which they are employed a share *118of the burden resulting from industrial accidents, and to prevent the burden of injured employees and their dependents becoming charges on society.
In addition to the public policy underpinnings of workers’ compensation law, the claimant-friendly inferences drawn in the workers’ compensation context will unduly bind the trial court in subsequent retaliatory discharge actions. It is axiomatic that workers’ compensation laws are to be liberally construed in favor of coverage in order to serve the beneficent purpose of the Act and to avoid any incongruous or harsh results. See Cokeley, 197 S.C. at 169, 14 S.E.2d at 894; see also Pelfrey v. Oconee Cnty., 207 S.C. 433, 440, 36 S.E.2d 297, 300 (1945) (“Where employer and employee are subject to the compensation act, ... an injured employee should not be excluded from the benefits of the law upon the ground that the accident did not arise out of and in the course of his employment when there is substantial doubt ... of the propriety of such conclusion.”). Applying collateral estoppel from the workers’ compensation context to a retaliatory discharge action will bind the trial court to a liberal construction doctrine, which favors the inclusion of injured employees. Thus, an issue decided in a workers’ compensation hearing, which must be construed in favor of the claimant, will result in the trial court being bound to apply this finding in a separate and distinct retaliatory discharge action. As a result, the application of collateral estoppel will significantly conflict with the trial court’s purview in independently determining the merits of a retaliatory discharge claim pursuant to section 41-1-80.
Further, the workers’ compensation commission is a forum of limited jurisdiction because it determines the compensability of an injury arising out of and in the course of employment. The imposition of collateral estoppel from a forum that only decides such a narrow issue will force employers and employees to fully litigate ancillary civil claims due to the majority’s holding. Therefore, I believe the workers’ compensation commission is not the appropriate forum to determine whether a claimant filed a claim in good faith for purposes of section 41-1-80. This point is further underscored because a retaliatory discharge action under section 41-1-80 is not actionable in a workers’ compensation proceeding. See Hinton v. Designer Ensembles, Inc., 343 S.C. 236, 242, 540 S.E.2d 94, 96 (2000) *119(“A retaliatory discharge claim is an equity action tried without a jury.”).
Moreover, a workers’ compensation proceeding determines whether a claimant has suffered a compensable claim arising out of and in the course of employment. On the other hand, a retaliatory discharge action determines whether the employer wrongfully discharged an employee for filing a workers’ compensation claim in good faith. Similar to the reasoning expressed in Bennett, I believe due to the nature of the workers’ compensation proceedings that applying collateral estoppel prevents the employer from having an opportunity to fully contest the retaliatory discharge action.
Accordingly, I would hold collateral estoppel from the workers’ compensation context is inapplicable to a retaliatory discharge action under section 41-1-80. Accordingly, I would reverse the grant of summary judgment and remand this matter for trial.