Lavoie v. Gervais6/30/1998
Decision: 1998 ME 158
Submitted on Briefs: January 8, 1998
Aurel Lavoie and Edwina Lavoie appeal from the judgment of the Superior Court (Aroostook County, Marden, J.) granting a motion for a summary judgment and/or a motion to dismiss in favor of Rainald Gervais, Sr.; motions for a summary judgment in favor of Rainald Gervais, Inc., and Gervais Farms, Inc.; and a motion to dismiss in favor of American Fidelity Insurance Company/MGA Insurance Services. The Lavoies contend that the court erred by finding that their claims of fraud fail because Aurel had not exhausted his administrative remedies; that the court erred by applying an incorrect legal standard to the dispositive motions of Gervais, Rainald Gervais, Inc., and American Fidelity/MGA; and that the court erred by not specially assigning the case. Because we find that the Superior Court did not have subject matter jurisdiction of the Lavoies' claim based on fraud in the workers' compensation proceedings, we vacate the judgment and remand for dismissal of the complaint.
Aurel suffered a work-related injury in October 1989. He did not know, and indeed it was unclear, whether his employer at that time was Gervais, Rainald Gervais, Inc., or Gervais Farms, Inc. He filed a workers' compensation claim in December 1989 naming Gervais Farms, Inc., as his employer. Following a complicated and drawn-out series of proceedings over the course of two years, the commission issued a decision in June 1992. The commission found that at the time of the injury Aurel had been employee of Gervais personally, and that Gervais was exempt from providing workers' compensation coverage because he had fewer than six full-time employees. See 39-A M.R.S.A. Section 401(1)(C) (Supp. 1997) (replacing 39 M.R.S.A. Section 21-A(1)(C) (1989)). Consequently, Aurel was denied any recovery under the Workers' Compensation Act.
Aurel filed a motion with the Workers' Compensation Board in January 1993 requesting that the decision be set aside, alleging that Gervais, Rainald Gervais, Inc., Gervais Farms, Inc., their attorneys, and their insurers had perpetrated fraud during the workers' compensation proceedings. Shortly thereafter, however, Aurel withdrew his motion, apparently in the belief that the Board did not have jurisdiction to hear it.
While the workers' compensation claim was pending, in February 1990 the Lavoies filed a civil claim for negligence against Gervais and Rainald Gervais, Inc. For the purposes of that litigation, the parties stipulated that Gervais was Aurel's employer at the time of the accident. Following a jury trial, judgment was entered in April 1994 in the Lavoies' favor in the amount in the amount of $30,000.
In September 1993, prior to the entry of judgment in the civil complaint, the Lavoies filed the instant action. They claimed that Gervais, Rainald Gervais, Inc., Gervais Farms, Inc., American Fidelity/MGA, and five other parties (including an insurer, an insurance agency, and attorneys for some of the defendants) conspired to deny Aurel recovery under the Workers' Compensation Act and to deny the Lavoies recovery through the negligence action. Pointing to the representations made by the defendants during the course of the workers' compensation proceedings and the then- ongoing negligence action, the Lavoies contended that the parties had colluded to obscure the identity of Aurel's employer, thus limiting their ability to recover for his injury.
The complaint consisted of six counts. Count I, tortious deprivation of Aurel's rights under the Workers' Compensation Act, and Count II, tortious deprivation of the Lavoies' rights in the negligence proceeding, were pleaded in
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