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Linden v. Cincinnati Cyclones Hockey Club6/30/2000
OPINION.
Judgment Appealed From Is: Reversed and Cause Remanded
Plaintiff-appellant Jamie Linden appeals from the trial court's entry of summary judgment in favor of all defendants-appellees on Linden's application for participation in Ohio's workers' compensation fund. Although the trial court did not give any reason for its decision to grant summary judgment, the record demonstrates that the defendants-appellees had sought summary judgment on the grounds that Linden was not an employee of the Cincinnati Cyclones at the time of his injury, that he had signed an agreement with the Florida Panthers to be bound by Florida law for all workers' compensation claims, and that his employment was not localized in Ohio. Because we believe that genuine issues of material fact exist in this case, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand for further proceedings.
I. STANDARD OF REVIEW
This court reviews the grant of summary judgment de novo. In seeking summary judgment, the moving party bears the burden of demonstrating that there remain no genuine issues of fact. The trial court, in ruling on a motion for summary judgment, must construe the evidence most favorably to the non-moving party, in this case Linden.
For the defendants to prevail on their motions for summary judgment in this case, they had to show that (1) no genuine issue as to any material fact remained to be litigated; (2) they were entitled to judgment as a matter of law; and (3) the evidence, when viewed most strongly in favor of Linden, supported only one conclusion, and that conclusion was adverse to Linden.
II. FACTS
The facts, construed in the light most favorable to Linden, are as follows: Jamie Linden is a Canadian citizen who was injured on March 7, 1995, while employed as a hockey player in the United States. At the time of his injury, he was playing hockey in a game in Peoria, Illinois, for the Cincinnati Cyclones. The Florida Panthers, a hockey club based in Florida, paid all of the medical expenses and the associated rehabilitation expenses for treatment of Linden's injury from March 7, 1995, until August 1995.
Linden was contacted by someone in the Florida Panthers' organization in 1993 to attend training camp with the Panthers in the fall of 1993. The Florida Panthers Hockey Club is a member of the National Hockey League, the only major hockey league in the United States. Linden attended the Panthers' training camp for approximately ten days, when he and other young players were notified that they were being sent to the Panthers' minor league affiliate team, the Cincinnati Cyclones. The Panthers had a written agreement with the Cincinnati Cyclones, a member of the International Hockey League, to supply the Cyclones with ten hockey players and two goaltenders. The Panthers paid the players' salaries, but the Cyclones paid the players' per-diem expenses and travel expenses. The Cyclones also agreed to pay $300,000 over the course of the season to the Panthers.
The Panthers and Linden signed a "National Hockey League Standard Player's Contract" sometime in October 1993. The contract was for three seasons and set forth Linden's salary for each season. The contract specifically stated, "It is mutually agreed that the Club shall have the right to sell, assign, exchange, and transfer this contract, and to loan the Player's services to any other professional hockey club, and the Player agrees to accept and be bound by such sale, exchange, assignment, transfer or loan, and will faithfully perform and carry out this contract with the same purpose and effect as if it had been entered into by the Player and such other club."
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