Ryan v. Hiller3/22/1994
The plaintiffs, Deborah Ryan and Diane Buckley, appeal from an order of the Superior Court (Mohl, J.) dismissing their claim against the defendant, Dennis Hiller. On appeal, the plaintiffs argue that the trial court erred in failing to apply the dual capacity doctrine. We affirm.
The defendant is a dentist and the principal of a professional corporation with four offices throughout northern New Hampshire and Maine. The plaintiffs were employed, respectively, as a dental hygienist and a bookkeeper. All divided their time among the different offices. At the beginning of the work day on March 17, 1989, the defendant was driving the plaintiffs and two other employees from North Conway to the Berlin office when he slid off the road in a snowstorm, injuring the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs received workers' compensation benefits and then sued the defendant individually on a negligence theory. The defendant moved to dismiss arguing that he enjoyed immunity under the Workers' Compensation Law, RSA281-A:8, I (Supp. 1993), which provides in part:
"An employee of an employer subject to this chapter shall be conclusively presumed to have accepted the provisions of this chapter and, on behalf of the employee... , to have waived all rights of action whether at common law or by statute or otherwise:
(a) Against the employer... ; and
(b) Except for intentional torts, against any officer, director, agent, servant or employee acting on behalf of the employer ...."
The plaintiffs objected, arguing that application of the "dual capacity" doctrine, which we recognized in Quinn v. National Gypsum Co., 124 N.H. 418, 469 A.2d 1368 (1983), precluded a finding of immunity. In Quinn, we said:
"This Court has recognized the fact that a plaintiff may, under certain circumstances, maintain an action against his employer... in spite of the fact that the plaintiff has received workmen's compensation benefits as a result of the same injury and... that the 'dual capacity' doctrine permits an employer, normally shielded from tort liability by the exclusive remedy principle, to become liable in tort to his own employee if he acts, in addition to his capacity as an employer, in a second capacity conferring on him obligations independent of those imposed on him as employer."
124 N.H. at 420-21, 469 A.2d at 1369 (quotations omitted). According to the plaintiffs, the dominant relationship between the parties at the time of the accident was not an employment one, but rather one of driver and passenger, and thus the defendant was acting in such a second capacity. The trial court granted the motion to dismiss, regarding Dr. Hiller as a co-employee of the plaintiffs and reasoning that even if the dual capacity doctrine applied as an exception to co-employee immunity, none of the facts indicated that the defendant was acting in any capacity other than that of co-employee.
At the outset we note that there is some question as to whether we should treat Dr. Hiller as the plaintiffs' co-employee or as their employer. Through the notice of appeal stage, the plaintiffs consistently referred to him as their co-employee, but in their brief, the plaintiffs term him their employer. Generally, a principal of a corporation who performs work on behalf of the corporation is treated as an employee, see Stevens v. Lewis, 118 N.H. 367, 369, 387 A.2d 637, 638 (1978); however, where a principal is an alter ego of his corporation, id., and is performing corporate responsibilities, he will be treated as the employer. Tanguay v. Marston, 127 N.H. 572, 576, 503 A.2d 834, 836 (1986). We need not undertake this analysis, however, because we would affirm regardless of whether Dr
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