Court Opinion

ID: 9529846
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:54:47.606773+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:27:55.800410
License: Public Domain

SILAK, Justice,
dissenting.
I concur in the Court’s opinion, except that I respectfully dissent to Part 111(C)(2), which concludes that substantial, competent evidence supports the Industrial Commission’s determination that Bybee was employed by a sympathetic employer. The record contains no substantial, competent evidence that By-bee was employed because the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation was a sympathetic employer.
The Court’s opinion admits Bybee presumptively established she was not an odd-lot worker by showing that she was regularly employed at the time of the accidents. After such a showing, the ISIF:
must establish that she was in fact an odd-lot worker even though employed at that time. To do so, it must show that the claimant’s actual employment was due to “a business boom, the sympathy of a particular employer or friends, temporary good luck, or a superhuman effort on [her] part.”
Opinion at 1206 (quoting Lyons v. Industrial Special Indent. Fund, 98 Idaho 403, 406, 565 P.2d 1360, 1363 (1977)).
The Commission found that Bybee was not required to perform all the duties on the “goals and objectives” sheet for the summer of 1991 and that she was performing no more than a light duty task in a job classified by the Dictionary of Occupational Titles as medium duty. From these findings the Commission concluded, and now the Court upholds, that Bybee was employed by a sympathetic employer. This conclusion was made despite the fact that there was no testimony from anyone who had first-hand *84knowledge about the nature of Bybee’s employment relationship with the Department of Parks. Although there was evidence that Bybee did not perform all the duties on the “goals and objectives” sheet, there was no evidence that she did not perform these duties because of a sympathetic employer. In fact, Bybee testified that one of the listed tasks was actually the responsibility of the Highway Department.
The ISIF’s expert testified as to her opinion “that only with a sympathetic employer would she [Bybee] be employed.” However, on cross-examination the following exchange between Bybee’s attorney and the ISIF’s expert occurred:
Q. In your evaluation or review of Mrs. Bybee’s case, is there any indication in your records at all that show she was having — that she was not performing the job that she was supposed to do at the Parks Department?
A. I do not have any information on that. I’ve had no direct contact with her supervisor.
The purely speculative testimony of an expert regarding the attitude of an employer with whom she has had no direct contact lacked foundation and cannot be said to be substantial evidence that Bybee was employed by a sympathetic employer. See, Gubler v. Boe, 120 Idaho 294, 298, 815 P.2d 1034, 1038 (1991) (trial court properly excluded testimony of expert who had no personal knowledge of the plaintiffs condition); Petersen v. Parry, 92 Idaho 647, 652, 448 P.2d 653, 658 (1968) (verdict cannot rest on conjecture). See also Ryan v. Beisner, 123 Idaho 42, 46, 844 P.2d 24, 28 (Ct.App.1992) (expert testimony which is speculative, conclusory, or unsubstantiated by facts in the record is of no assistance to the finder of fact and is inadmissible as evidence). As the ISIF expert stated on cross-examination, there is no evidence in the record to show that Bybee was not doing the job expected of her at the Department of Parks.
Bybee’s case stands in sharp contrast to our recent decision in Hamilton v. Ted Beamis Logging & Constr., 127 Idaho 221, 899 P.2d 434 (1995), where this Court upheld an Industrial Commission determination that the claimant, Hamilton, was an odd-lot worker and held his position because of a sympathetic employer. The odd-lot finding in Hamilton was supported by testimony from Hamilton’s employer, Beamis, who testified he would not have hired Hamilton on a regular basis because he was unable to work in the steep and uneven terrain where the logging work was performed. Id. 127 Idaho at 225, 899 P.2d at 438. Additionally, Beamis made special arrangements for Hamilton such as restricting his work to level ground and allowing him to take more breaks. Finally, there also was evidence that Beamis “only hired Hamilton because they were friends and Beamis was attempting to help Hamilton out.” Id. Even with such a sympathetic employer, Hamilton lasted only four days before leaving the position.
Contrary to Hamilton, there is no evidence whatsoever from Bybee’s employer regarding the nature of her performance. The record does show that Bybee was employed by the Department of Parks for six months. During that time she earned $6.24 an hour, working eight hour days. She testified that she washed the windows, floors, mirrors, doors, sinks, toilets, and drinking fountains of the park’s restrooms daily. Bybee also stocked the soap dispensers, toilet tissue dispensers, and the supply room. Additionally, she cleaned the roadways, parking lots, picnic areas and shelters as well as emptied the garbage cans throughout the park. The only tasks that Bybee did not perform were pruning the trees and bushes, mowing and irrigating the grounds, inspecting and replacing signs, and ensuring that the tools and equipment were kept in top working order. As noted above, at least one of the listed tasks, sign maintenance and repair, was actually the responsibility of the Highway Department. Overall, there was testimony that By-bee was performing in a light duty capacity and handling the job adequately.
In summary, the fact that Bybee did not perform all the tasks on the sheet defining *85her goals and objectives for the summer of 1991, or that she was performing in a light duty capacity, does not equate to evidence that her employment was the result of a sympathetic employer or that she was not adequately performing her job at the Department of Parks. The testimony of the expert lacked foundation as to the sympathetic employer issue. There was no evidence from the employer regarding Bybee’s actual job requirements and her employment evaluations. I cannot conclude that the ISIF carried its burden of rebutting the presumption that Bybee was not an odd-lot worker by showing that Bybee held her position as the result of the sympathy of the Department of Parks.
SCHROEDER, J., concurs.