Andover Volunteer Fire Department And Travelers Insurance Company Vs. Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company ( 2010 )

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF IOWA
No. 08–1628
Filed August 13, 2010
ANDOVER VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT
and TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY,
Appellees,
vs.
GRINNELL MUTUAL REINSURANCE COMPANY,
Appellant.
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Eliza J.
Ovrom, Judge.
Workers’ compensation insurer for volunteer fire department
appeals district court decision reversing ruling by workers’ compensation
commissioner finding a volunteer firefighter died in the course of his
employment both as volunteer firefighter and as farmhand. DISTRICT
COURT JUDGMENT AFFIRMED AND CASE REMANDED WITH
INSTRUCTIONS.
Charles A. Blades of Scheldrup, Blades, Schrock, Smith, and
Aranza, P.C., Cedar Rapids, for appellant.
Aaron T. Oliver of Hansen, McClintock & Riley, Des Moines, for
appellees.
2
CADY, Justice.
Justin Faur died attempting to save the life of another person. He
was twenty-three years old. His heroic efforts denied him a full life, but
left behind the true measure of his abundant character. These efforts
are documented in this opinion because they serve as the backdrop to a
legal dispute over the interpretation of Iowa Code section 85.61(7)(a)
(2009). 1 We resolve the dispute by affirming the decision of the district
court.
I. Background Facts and Proceedings.
Justin Faur died ten days after he sustained an anoxic brain
injury from the inhalation of methane gas. He was employed by Johnson
Valley Beef, a farm corporation owned by Dwight Johnson and located in
rural Andover. Justin worked as a farmhand on the farm. The farm
operation consisted of raising crops and livestock, including
approximately 1200 head of cattle. Justin was a dependable and reliable
worker and maintained a close relationship with Dwight and his wife,
Sherril.
Justin was also a volunteer firefighter for the Andover Volunteer
Fire Department. As a volunteer firefighter, Justin wore a pager issued
by the volunteer department. The pager allowed him to be notified when
his services as a volunteer firefighter were needed. Each volunteer
firefighter normally had the responsibility to promptly report to duty
when paged.
1Although the compensable event in this case occurred in 2005, we will refer to
the 2009 Code unless otherwise noted for ease of reference to the applicable language at
issue. Iowa Code section 85.61(7) did not separate the text into subsections until 2008.
See 2008 Iowa Acts ch. 1031, § 91 (codified at Iowa Code § 85.61(7) (2009)). The
content of section 85.61(7) remained otherwise unchanged by the amendment.
3
The pager system was tied to the county 911 emergency system.
The volunteer fire department was part of the enhanced 911 emergency
services system in the county. All emergency calls from the public were
directed to the communication center in Clinton, and a dispatcher at the
center would notify the appropriate emergency responder. When a call
required the services of the fire department, the dispatcher would send a
page to the volunteer firefighters. Some volunteer firefighters carried
their uniform and equipment in their vehicles and could proceed directly
to the scene of the emergency in response to a page. Other volunteer
firefighters kept their uniform and equipment at the fire station and
would first proceed to the station in response to a page before going to
the scene of the emergency. Justin kept his uniform and equipment at
the station.
On April 16, 2005, Justin and Dwight spent most of the day
cleaning a manure pit under a cattle confinement barn on the farm.
After draining and washing the pit, Dwight apparently climbed into the
manure pit to retrieve a chain that had dropped and was overcome by
methane fumes. Methane gas inhibits the ability of a person to breathe
when inhaled into the lungs, and the effects can be immediate and
dramatic. In addition to its natural state, it is produced by the
fermentation of organic matter such as manure. Methane gas produced
by manure can be highly toxic in a closed environment, especially when
the manure is wet.
Justin ran to the farmhouse, approximately 150 yards from the
barn. He told Sherril that Dwight had fallen into the pit and to call 911.
Justin promptly returned to the barn and apparently attempted to
remove Dwight from the pit on his own. There were no witnesses,
however, to the event. Justin was found a few minutes later lying face
4
down in the pit near Dwight. Like Dwight, he had been overcome by
methane gas. The gas rendered Justin unconscious and unresponsive.
The men were removed from the pit after rescue personnel arrived,
which included members of the Andover Volunteer Fire Department. The
Andover volunteer firefighters were paged one minute and eight seconds
after the law enforcement center received the 911 call from Sherril. It is
unknown if the page was sent to the volunteer firefighters before Justin
was overcome by methane gas.
Dwight died four days after the incident. Justin died in the
hospital ten days later. He never regained consciousness. He
posthumously received a national award for his heroic actions from the
Carnegie Foundation.
The workers’ compensation carrier for Johnson Valley Beef,
Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance (Grinnell), paid the workers’ compensation
benefits for Justin’s injuries and death. Grinnell then sought
contribution or indemnity from the workers’ compensation carrier for the
Andover Volunteer Fire Department, Travelers Insurance Company
(Travelers). Grinnell claimed Justin was acting as a volunteer firefighter
at the time of his death because he had been “summoned to duty as a
volunteer fire fighter” in accordance with Iowa Code section 85.61(7)(a)
once he witnessed that Dwight had fallen unconscious into the manure
pit.
A deputy workers’ compensation commissioner determined
Justin’s death arose out of and in the course of his employment with
both Johnson Valley Beef and the Andover Volunteer Fire Department.
In reaching this decision, the deputy concluded a volunteer firefighter is
not in the course of employment for purposes of Iowa Code section
85.61(7)(a) until summoned by a third party. However, he determined
5
Justin was summoned to duty by the dispatcher either before or after he
was overcome by the methane gas. In any event, the deputy determined
the summons preceded his death, which meant that some of the injuries
he sustained that led to his death occurred in the course of employment
as a volunteer firefighter. As a result, the deputy found Travelers was
responsible for one-half of the workers’ compensation benefits payable as
the result of Justin’s injuries and death.
Travelers appealed. 2 The workers’ compensation commissioner
affirmed the decision of the deputy, but on different grounds. The
commissioner concluded the timing of the page was not critical to the
determination of coverage under section 85.61(7)(a) because Justin had
been summoned to duty as a volunteer firefighter by the circumstances
themselves. The commissioner determined that the failure to allow
volunteer firefighters to call themselves to duty after witnessing an
emergency situation would have the absurd result of deterring them from
immediately rendering assistance upon encountering an emergency. The
commissioner stated:
For by acting immediately the firefighter would
jeopardize the firefighter’s or any dependent’s entitlement to
workers’ compensation benefits if the firefighter were injured
while so acting. Given that result from immediate action,
the rational volunteer firefighter would call 911 and then
wait to receive a summons from the appropriate entity before
initiating actions consistent with a firefighter’s duties to the
general public. Certainly, in situations of imminent peril
minutes and seconds do matter. A volunteer firefighter’s
failure to act immediately could well increase the peril to the
public or decrease the possibility of averting disaster.
Common sense compels the conclusion that the legislature
did not intend such absurd results.
2Grinnell also cross-appealed, claiming Justin acted solely in his capacity as a
volunteer firefighter at the time of his injury. Grinnell abandoned the claim on appeal.
6
The commissioner determined a volunteer firefighter is summoned to
duty when “a reasonable firefighter faced with the circumstances
presented would have felt called upon to act in a manner consistent with
the duties a voluntary firefighter assumes as regards the general public.”
Travelers sought judicial review. The district court rejected the
ruling of the commissioner. It concluded a volunteer firefighter cannot
be summoned to duty by circumstances, but can only be summoned by
the fire department or some other official channel. It concluded that
Justin could only be summoned in this case by a page from the
emergency communication center. It remanded the case to the workers’
compensation commissioner for further proceedings under the correct
legal standard. Grinnell appealed.
II. Scope of Review.
The standards of chapter 17A are applied to determine whether the
conclusions we reach are the same as those of the district court.
Mycogen Seeds v. Sands, 686 N.W.2d 457, 464 (Iowa 2004). If the
conclusions are the same, we affirm. Id. Otherwise, we reverse. Id. Our
review of agency decisions begins with proper direction from Iowa Code
chapter 17A. Renda v. Iowa Civil Rights Comm’n, 784 N.W.2d 8, 10 (Iowa
2010). Ordinarily, “the interpretation of a statute is a pure question of
law over which agencies are not delegated any special powers by the
General Assembly . . . .” Arthur E. Bonfield, Amendments to Iowa
Administrative Procedure Act, Report on Selected Provisions to Iowa State
Bar Association and Iowa State Government 62 (1998). However, we
recently clarified that we defer to the agency’s interpretations of statutes
when the legislature has clearly vested the agency with the proper
authority to do so based on the agency’s expertise on the subject matter.
Renda, 784 N.W.2d at 11. We do not focus our inquiry on whether the
7
agency does or does not have the broad authority to interpret the act as a
whole. Id. at 10. Instead, when determining whether the legislature has
clearly vested the agency with authority to interpret, “each case requires
a careful look at the specific language the agency has interpreted as well
as the specific duties and authority given to the agency with respect to
enforcing particular statutes.” Id. at 13. 3 If we find the legislature has
clearly vested the agency with interpretive authority for the phrase under
consideration, we reverse only if the interpretation is “irrational, illogical,
or wholly unjustifiable.” Iowa Code § 17A.19(10(l). On the other hand, if
we do not find that the legislature has clearly granted the agency
authority to interpret, we do not defer to the agency’s interpretation. Id.
§ 17A.19(11)(b). We will reverse if we find the agency’s decision was
“[b]ased upon an erroneous interpretation of a provision of law.” Id.
§ 17A.19(10)(c).
In the absence of an explicit grant of authority to interpret in the
agency’s enabling statute, we turn to other indications that the
interpretation of the applicable law has been clearly vested with the
agency. In this case, we are unable to find any indication the legislature
intended to grant the workers’ compensation commissioner the authority
3Our prior cases have appeared to treat the workers’ compensation
commissioner differently. In Mycogen Seeds, we held the legislature had not delegated
special authority to interpret any statute to the workers’ compensation commissioner.
686 N.W.2d at 464. The same year, we made a similar statement broadly excepting the
commissioner from any case-by-case approach to deference. P.D.S.I. v. Peterson, 685
N.W.2d 627, 633 (Iowa 2004) (“We see nothing in the workers’ compensation statutes
that convinces us that the legislature has delegated any special powers to the agency
regarding its interpretation of . . . statutes.”). Most recently, we explicitly disavowed the
case-specific analysis for the workers’ compensation commissioner’s interpretation of
any workers’ compensation statutes. Rojas v. Pine Ridge Farms, L.L.C., 779 N.W.2d
223, 231 (Iowa 2010) (“It is well-settled law that the legislature did not clearly vest the
workers’ compensation commissioner with the power to interpret the workers’
compensation statutes.”). In accordance with our clarification of the appropriate
analysis for all agency discretion decisions in Renda, we will examine the workers’
compensation commissioner’s interpretations on a case-by-case basis.
8
to interpret the phrase “summoned to duty.” Generally, “summoned to
duty” is not a phrase “uniquely within the subject matter expertise of the
agency.” Renda, 784 N.W.2d at 13. In fact, in interpreting “summoned
to duty,” the commissioner relied on social policy reasons rather than
special subject matter expertise to conclude a volunteer firefighter may
summon himself or herself to duty when an emergency arises. Moreover,
the phrase has a broad range of meanings that touches several areas of
the law, which makes it unlikely the legislature intended to authorize the
commissioner to interpret the phrase by granting the commissioner
general rule-making and enforcement powers. See Iowa Code § 86.8(1)
(establishing the commissioner’s duty to “[a]dopt and enforce rules
necessary to implement” workers’ compensation laws). Finally, we can
find no other feature of the statute that reveals a clear intent to vest
authority with the commissioner. Accordingly, we do not give deference
to the commissioner’s interpretation of the statute in this case, Iowa
Code § 17A.19(11)(b), and we will reverse or otherwise grant relief from
the agency action if the rights of the appellant have been prejudiced
because of an erroneous interpretation of the statute, id. § 17A.19(10)(c).
III. Statutory Interpretation.
The resolution of this case requires us to interpret Iowa Code
section 85.61(7)(a). The statute provides:
Personal injuries sustained by a volunteer fire fighter arise in
the course of employment if the injuries are sustained at any
time from the time the volunteer fire fighter is summoned to
duty as a volunteer fire fighter until the time the volunteer
fire fighter is discharged from duty by the chief of the
volunteer fire department or the chief's designee.
Iowa Code § 85.61(7)(a).
Grinnell claims a volunteer firefighter can be “summoned to duty”
as a volunteer firefighter by circumstances. Travelers asserts a volunteer
9
firefighter can only be “summoned to duty” under the statute by a means
or method approved by the fire chief to call a volunteer firefighter to duty,
which in this case would have been an audible page.
We begin our resolution of this case with a firm understanding of
our task. It is only to determine the intent of the legislature. In re Det. of
Shaffer, 769 N.W.2d 169, 173 (Iowa 2009). Fundamentally, this task is
tied to the separation-of-powers doctrine, as well as two important
underlying principles that the legislature makes the law and courts
interpret the law. Courts are given the role to interpret statutes enacted
by the legislature because even the most carefully drafted law can never
eliminate all uncertainty when applied to future unanticipated
circumstances. Teamsters Local Union No. 421 v. City of Dubuque, 706
N.W.2d 709, 713 (Iowa 2005). Uncertainty is inherent in statutes largely
because it is inherent in the English language itself. 4 See Ronald Benton
Brown & Sharon Jacobs Brown, Statutory Interpretation: The Search for
Legislative Intent 2 (2002) (noting statutory language is often unclear
“because the English language by its very nature . . . is an inherent
breeding ground for ambiguity”). Thus, courts resolve uncertainties in
the application of statutes, but only in a way that captures the will of the
legislature.
The first task for courts in interpreting statutes is to identify the
presence of an ambiguity. Larson Mfg. Co. v. Thorson, 763 N.W.2d 842,
859 (Iowa 2009). Of course, if no ambiguity exists, the statute is
4A major reason effective communication can be difficult is because a single
word frequently represents numerous distinct meanings. Jon L. Ericson & Robert F.
Forston, Public Speaking as Dialogue: Readings and Essays 40 (1970). For example,
the Oxford Dictionary lists an average of twenty-eight separate meanings for the five
hundred most commonly used words in the English language. Id. The difficulty in
communicating with clarity was perhaps best captured by Mark Twain, when he wrote:
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference
between lightning and the lightning bug.” Id. at 39.
 10
rationally applied as written. Iowa Comprehensive Petroleum
Underground Storage Tank Fund Bd. v. Shell Oil Co., 606 N.W.2d 376,
379 (Iowa 2000).
In this case, the ambiguity in the statute is found in the
application of the phrase “summoned to duty.” Grinnell claims a
volunteer firefighter can be “summoned to duty” by the circumstances
encountered by a volunteer firefighter that present the type of danger to
which a volunteer firefighter has been trained to respond. Travelers
asserts a volunteer firefighter can only be “summoned to duty” by the fire
chief or someone else authorized to call a volunteer firefighter to duty.
We have said that an ambiguity exists when more than one reasonable
interpretation is presented by the circumstances. Shell Oil Co., 606
N.W.2d at 379–80 (“[I]f reasonable minds could disagree over the
meaning of a word or phrase of a statute, the statute is ambiguous
. . . .”). Because the separate meanings claimed by the parties can be
attributed to “summoned to duty,” we find ambiguity exists in this case.
See Webster’s Third New Int’l Dictionary 2290 (unabr. ed. 2002)
(providing five definitions for “summon”). Numerous intrinsic aids can
help courts discover the intent of a statute in the face of an ambiguity.
In this case, two rules of construction are particularly pertinent. First,
we interpret statutes in their context. Griffin Pipe Prods. Co. v. Guarino,
663 N.W.2d 862, 865 (Iowa 2003). Second, undefined words used in the
statute are normally given their ordinary and common meaning. Mason
v. Schweizer Aircraft Corp., 653 N.W.2d 543, 548 (Iowa 2002).
A. Context of Statute. The context of a statute is an important
consideration in the search for legislative intent because “[w]ords may
have different meanings when used in the context of a special subject.”
2A Norman J. Singer & J.D. Shambie Singer, Statutes and Statutory
11
Construction § 47:27, at 443 (7th ed. 2007) [hereinafter Statutes and
Statutory Construction]. Additionally, we look to the statute as a whole to
make sure our interpretation is harmonious with the entire legislative
enactment. Griffin Pipe Prods. Co., 663 N.W.2d at 865.
The statute in dispute is found within the definitions section of the
Workers’ Compensation Act. It is a subsection enacted in 1985 as a part
of a broader definition of the phrase “personal injury arising out of and in
the course of employment” and is part of an even larger body of law
extending workers’ compensation benefits to volunteer firefighters. See
1985 Iowa Acts ch. 46, § 1 (codified at Iowa Code § 85.61(6) (1987))
(entitled “Time of Volunteer Fire Fighter’s Employment”); see also Iowa
Code § 85.61(7). While regular firefighters across Iowa are excluded from
workers’ compensation benefits, the legislature included volunteer
firefighters within the workers’ compensation statute in 1945. 5 See 1945
Iowa Acts ch. 75, §§ 2, 3 (codified at Iowa Code §§ 85.1(4), .61(8) (1946))
(defining “volunteer firemen” and providing for compensation under the
Workmen’s Compensation Law). In that year, the legislature specifically
excepted volunteer firefighters from the statutory exclusion for
firefighters and amended section 85.61 by adding a definition of
“volunteer fireman,” which also made it explicitly clear that a volunteer
firefighter could not be excluded from benefits as a casual employee. Id.
When volunteer firefighters were included in Iowa’s workers’
compensation system, they also became subject to the body of law
governing entitlement to benefits. This law includes the basic principle
5In Heiliger v. City of Sheldon, we held that volunteer firefighters were impliedly
excluded from the protections of the workers’ compensation statute by the general
statutory exclusion for firefighters. 236 Iowa 146, 162, 18 N.W.2d 182, 190 (1945). A
week later, the legislature amended the statute to specifically exempt volunteer
firefighters from the general exclusion for firefighters. Maurice H. Merrill, Fifteen Years
More of Workmen’s Compensation in Iowa, 32 Iowa L. Rev. 1, 16 (1946).
12
of compensation that employers are required to pay workers’
compensation only for personal injuries sustained by an employee
“arising out of and in the course of employment.” Iowa Code § 85.3(1).
Generally, we have indicated an injury “arises out of” employment when
a causal connection exists between the employment and the injury.
Thayer v. State, 653 N.W.2d 595, 599 (Iowa 2002). We have said the
injury “arises in the ‘course of employment’ when the injury and the
employment coincide as to time, place, and the circumstances.” Id. at
600.
Notwithstanding, the legislature has contributed its own definition
of the phrase “personal injury arising out of and in the course of the
employment.” Under section 85.61(7), the legislature identified two
components to the definition. First, the phrase includes “injuries to
employees whose services are being performed on, in, or about the
premises” of the employer. Iowa Code § 85.61(7). Second, the phrase
includes “injuries to those who are engaged elsewhere in places where
their employer’s business requires their presence and subjects them to
dangers incident to the business.” Id. Clearly, the legislature
understood that compensable injuries can occur both on and off work
premises. This definition is consistent with our long-standing approach
used to evaluate the “in the course of employment” prong. Generally, an
injury arises “in the course of employment” when an injury is within the
time period of the employment, the space boundaries of the employment,
and in the course of an activity connected to the employment.
Waterhouse Water Conditioning, Inc. v. Waterhouse, 561 N.W.2d 55, 57
(Iowa 1997)); see also 1 Arthur Larson & Lex K. Larson, Larson’s
Workers’ Compensation Law § 12:01, at 12–1 (2010) (“The course of
employment requirement . . . demands that the injury be shown to have
13
arisen within the time and space boundaries of the employment, and in
the course of an activity whose purpose is related to the employment.”).
Under section 85.61(7)(a), however, the legislature has provided a
special, more narrow “course of employment” rule for volunteer
firefighters. Instead of relying on time, place, and circumstances to
determine “course of employment,” section 85.61(7)(a) reduces “course of
employment” to a single factor—time period of employment. It provides
that
[p]ersonal injuries sustained by a volunteer fire fighter arise
in the course of employment if the injuries are sustained at
any time from the time the volunteer fire fighter is
summoned to duty as a volunteer fire fighter until the time
the volunteer fire fighter is discharged from duty by the chief
of the volunteer fire department or the chief’s designee.
Iowa Code § 85.61(7)(a) (emphasis added). Thus, the legislature has
adopted a more arbitrary “course of employment” rule for volunteer
firefighters covering a time period beginning with the summons to duty
and ending with the discharge from duty. Any other factors and further
circumstances are removed from consideration.
It is understandable that the legislature would want to develop a
special “course of employment” rule for volunteer firefighters. Unlike
most employees, the duties of volunteer firefighters are not normally
connected to a particular premise of the employer. Instead, volunteer
firefighters are called to duty at all times of the day and night and at a
variety of locations. The general definition of “arising out of and in the
course of employment” under section 85.61(7) captures volunteer
firefighters once they arrive at the scene of an emergency, but does not
specifically cover their activities between the time they are called to
report to duty and the time they arrive at the scene of an emergency.
Nevertheless, from the instant a volunteer firefighter hears an alarm and
14
proceeds to the scene of an emergency, the volunteer firefighter is
exposed to special risks connected with employment. See Comments on
Recent Cases, 32 Iowa L. Rev. 755, 805 (1947).
As a general rule, workers’ compensation does not cover an injury
sustained by an employee on the way to or from work. Bailey v.
Batchelder, 576 N.W.2d 334, 339 (Iowa 1998). Although somewhat
arbitrary, the rule has its logic. See id. For purposes of workers’
compensation, the hazards encountered going to or returning from the
place of work are not normally incident to employment. Id. When an
employee reaches a job site, however, there is a physical and tangible
connection to the employment environment. Id. Thus, while traveling to
or from work an employee is not ordinarily considered to be “in the
course of employment.” Halstead v. Johnson’s Texaco, 264 N.W.2d 757,
759 (Iowa 1978).
The situation of a volunteer firefighter, however, is unique. A
volunteer firefighter not only has special risks produced by rendering
services at the scene of an emergency, but also in going to and even
returning from the scene of the emergency. For example, the need for
speed in responding to a call is one risk connected with employment as a
volunteer firefighter. See Comments on Recent Cases, 32 Iowa L. Rev. at
804. Thus, section 85.61(7)(a) makes it clear that volunteer firefighters
do not fall within the “going and coming” rule applicable to most other
employees. Instead, the legislature adopted a rule that the course of
employment begins when the volunteer firefighter is “summoned to
duty.”
This context permits us to make certain observations helpful to our
understanding of the intent of the statute. The phrase “summoned to
duty” only exists in the statute to establish the point in time when the
15
“course of employment” begins for volunteer firefighters for the purposes
of workers’ compensation. Additionally, the phrase contemplates that
the summons is preceded by a decision for the period of employment to
begin. Normally, the decision for work to commence rests with the
employer, not the employee, especially where the employer is made
responsible for injuries sustained by employees “arising out of and in the
course of employment.”
Furthermore, the duty that is the subject of the summons under
the statute is the duty “as a volunteer fire fighter.” The statute then
defines a volunteer firefighter as a “member of an organized volunteer fire
department in this state and any other person performing services as a
volunteer fire fighter . . . at the request of the chief or other person in
command of the fire department.” Iowa Code § 85.61(10). The first
portion of the definition reveals volunteer firefighters are members of a
group of volunteer firefighters. Thus, the summons to duty relates to
duty as a member of a group, not as an individual. Moreover, the second
portion of the definition reveals the services of all volunteer firefighters
are performed at the request of a person in command of the group of
volunteer firefighters. See generally Teamsters Local Union No. 421, 706
N.W.2d at 715 (describing and applying the interpretive aid ejusdem
generis by tying the meaning and purpose of general words to the specific
words that precede to help define a class of statutorily described
individuals). We find nothing in the background or context of the statute
to reveal an intent for volunteer firefighters to summon themselves to
duty.
We recognize section 85.61(7)(a) does make it clear that a volunteer
firefighter must be “discharged from duty by the chief of the volunteer
fire department or the chief’s designee,” yet the same qualifying phrase
16
fails to follow the “summoned to duty” component of the statute. A
common intrinsic aid for statutory interpretation provides that referential
and qualifying phrases refer solely to the last antecedent. Statutes and
Statutory Construction § 47:33, at 487. However, this rule applies only
when no contrary intention is apparent. Id. Moreover, while the
qualifying phrase relating to the fire chief or the chief’s designee may be
restricted to the “discharged from duty” component of the statute, the
restriction does not aid in identifying the scope and nature of the
“summoned to duty” component of the statute. For sure, the legislature
may have intended not to use the same qualifying language for the
“summoned to duty” component of the statute because different
communities may have different methods to call or notify volunteer
firefighters of an emergency, especially at the time the statute was
enacted in 1985. Thus, the question that remains is whether the
legislature intended for volunteer firefighters to summon themselves to
duty based on circumstances that they may encounter in the course of
each day. This question is not resolved in any way by the rule of
statutory construction relating to referential and qualifying words.
B. Common Meaning. Undefined words in a statute are usually
construed in accordance with their ordinary and common meanings.
Statutes and Statutory Construction § 47:27, at 443–46; Mason, 653
N.W.2d at 548. However, when a word of common usage has more than
one meaning, the meaning that best conforms to the purpose of the
statute is used to construe the statute. See Auen v. Alcoholic Beverages
Div., 679 N.W.2d 586, 590 (Iowa 2004) (“Absent a statutory definition or
an established meaning in the law, words in the statute are given their
ordinary and common meaning by considering the context within which
they are used.”).
17
The word “summoned” has a variety of meanings. See Webster’s
Third New Int’l Dictionary 2290 (providing five definitions for “summon”).
Most of the meanings of the word relate to a call or command by a third
party. Id. Yet, a secondary meaning allows the word to be used in the
context of an internal call to action, as when a person summons his or
her courage. Id. In the context of the time period of employment for the
purposes of workers’ compensation benefits, the common meaning of
“summoned to duty” as a command from another fits better within the
legislative scheme than internal forces that would summon a Good
Samaritan to respond and render aid after witnessing an accident or
other emergency. There is simply nothing in the statute to indicate the
legislature wanted the forces that motivate a Good Samaritan to render
aid in the face of emergency to commence the course of employment for a
volunteer firefighter who happens to witness an accident and renders
aid. Instead, we believe the intent of the legislature was to employ a
straightforward, easily applied rule that the course of employment for a
volunteer firefighter commences when the volunteer firefighter receives a
call initiated through official communications to report for duty.
Importantly, the legislature adopted a rule that removed any
consideration of the surrounding circumstances relating to the actual
duties of employment. Having specifically removed such circumstances
from the “course of employment” test for volunteer firefighters, the
legislature left no indication of an intention to reopen the rule for such
circumstances to be considered in the event a volunteer firefighter
witnesses an accident or other emergency. The test adopted by the
legislature captures the goal of protecting volunteer firefighters in the
unique circumstances of their employment, and no legislative intent
exists to show the legislature further intended to use the workers’
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compensation statute to broaden the “course of employment” rule to
embrace the principle of a Good Samaritan.
After considering the history and purpose of the statute providing
workers’ compensation benefits to volunteer firefighters, along with the
ordinary and common meaning of “summon” in the context of the
statute, we hold that a volunteer firefighter must be called to duty by a
third party authorized by the fire chief before injuries that arise in efforts
to rescue are covered by workers’ compensation. Additionally, a
summons places a volunteer firefighter in the “course of employment”
once it is communicated to the volunteer firefighter. The relevant inquiry
under the statute is whether Justin was summoned to duty as a
volunteer firefighter by the 911 dispatcher prior to receiving his injuries.
Any other approach would be contrary to the legislative intent expressed
in section 85.61(7)(a).
IV. Receipt of Summons.
The next question that necessarily follows is whether the summons
to duty must be heard or received by the volunteer firefighter. This issue
could arise on remand, as illustrated by the deputy workers’
compensation commissioner’s determination that Justin was in the
course of employment because the page would have reached him prior to
his death.
At this point in the analysis, there are few interpretive aids
available to guide us. Yet, those that exist remain important. We
presume the legislature intended for the statute to yield reasonable
results. W.P. Barber Lumber Co. v. Celania, 674 N.W.2d 62, 67 (Iowa
2003). We therefore give this statute its plain meaning and avoid
creating impractical or absurd results. Heartland Express v. Gardner,
675 N.W.2d 259, 262 (Iowa 2003). We also keep the entire statute in
19
mind in interpreting the particular provision at issue. Iowa Ass’n of Sch.
Bds. v. Iowa Dep’t of Educ., 739 N.W.2d 303, 309 (Iowa 2007). In the
end, we strive to interpret the statute consistent with its purpose. IBP,
Inc. v. Harker, 633 N.W.2d 322, 325 (Iowa 2001).
On one hand, it is conceivable the legislature could have
considered receipt of the summons to be unnecessary for a volunteer
firefighter. Yet, our rules of interpretation do not lead to such a result.
The statute specifically refers to “the time the volunteer fire fighter is
summoned to duty.” Iowa Code § 85.61(7)(a). It does not refer to the
time the chief or the chief’s designee summoned the volunteer firefighter
to duty. See id. The language used by the legislature in enacting the
statute clearly focuses on whether the particular injured volunteer
firefighter was “summoned,” not whether a summons was sent.
Additionally, the statute could produce absurd results if it were
interpreted not to require receipt of the summons. Such an
interpretation would mean an injury sustained by a volunteer firefighter
in the course of an activity unrelated to the duties of a volunteer
firefighter would be an injury that occurs “in the course of employment”
as a volunteer firefighter. For example, if a volunteer firefighter was
injured after being struck by a speeding boat while water skiing on a lake
and it was later discovered that his or her pager left behind on the dock
had activated with a call to duty just prior to the accident, it would be
absurd to conclude the volunteer firefighter was in the course of
employment at the time of the injury under the statute.
The receipt requirement is also consistent with the overall purpose
of the workers’ compensation statute to provide compensation for
injuries that arise out of and in the course of employment. Workers’
compensation was not intended to provide compensation for injuries in
20
the course of activities detached from employment. More specifically,
section 85.61(7)(a) was enacted to provide coverage for volunteer
firefighters while responding to the call to duty. Clearly, a volunteer
firefighter cannot respond to the call of duty until the volunteer
firefighter learns of the call. Thus, the receipt requirement is consistent
with the purpose of the statute.
At the same time, we recognize the statute expresses no
requirement that the official summons be received by the volunteer
firefighter. Instead, to fulfill the purpose of the statute defining “in the
course of employment,” it is only important that the employer send the
summons and the volunteer firefighter acquire knowledge that a
summons to duty has been issued. This approach provides a reasonable
interpretation of the statute, is consistent with the entire statute, and
meets our goal of interpreting workers’ compensation statutes
consistently with the humanitarian objective of providing compensation
for injured workers.
V. Conclusion.
We affirm the decision of the district court. The commissioner
applied an incorrect legal test in rendering his decision. We remand the
case to the district court to further remand the matter to the
commissioner for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. It is
for the commissioner to resolve this dispute between two insurance
companies by applying the statute as interpreted in this opinion to the
facts to decide if Justin’s injuries arose in the course of his employment
as a volunteer firefighter.
DISTRICT COURT JUDGMENT AFFIRMED AND CASE
REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS.
21
All justices concur except Hecht, Wiggins, and Baker, JJ., who
concur specially.
22
#34/08–1628, Andover Vol. Fire Dep’t v. Grinnell Mut. Reins.
HECHT, Justice (concurring specially).
I write separately because, although I agree this case must be
remanded to the commissioner, I cannot agree with one aspect of the
majority’s interpretation of Iowa Code section 85.61(7)(a). The fighting
issue in this case requires a determination whether Justin Faur
sustained a personal injury “at any time from the time [he was]
summoned to duty . . . until the time [he was] discharged from duty by
the chief of the volunteer fire department or the chief’s designee.” Iowa
Code § 85.61(7)(a). The commissioner’s interpretation posited broadly
that a volunteer firefighter can be summoned to duty under the statute
by any circumstances that could lead a reasonable volunteer firefighter
“to act in a manner consistent with the duties a volunteer firefighter
assumes as regards the general public.” Accordingly, under the
commissioner’s interpretation of the statute, the compensability of Faur’s
claim as a volunteer firefighter does not turn on whether the pager
sounded notice of the dispatcher’s call before Faur was injured by the
gas in the atmosphere of the manure pit.
The majority rejects the commissioner’s interpretation.
Repudiating the notion that a volunteer firefighter can be summoned to
duty by mere circumstances, the majority concludes the legislature
intended volunteer firefighters to be without workers’ compensation
protection until “a third party authorized by the fire chief” calls them to
duty. I agree with this portion of the majority’s analysis as I believe the
legislature clearly expressed the boundaries of “the course of
employment.” The course commences on the front end with the issuance
of a call to duty from an authorized person to members of the force (the
act of “summoning”). In this case the summons was issued by a
23
dispatcher sixty-eight seconds after a 911 call was placed at Faur’s
direction. Although one witness testified that Faur could have made the
return trip from the house to the pit in thirty seconds, another opined it
would have taken Faur more than a minute to cover the distance
because he was wearing knee-high “manure” boots and was winded as a
consequence of the trip from the pit to the house. When he arrived back
at the pit, he instructed the victim’s daughter to summon additional
assistance before he began to climb down a piece of machinery into the
nine-foot deep pit. In my view, a reasonable fact finder could on remand
find that Faur sustained an injury after the dispatcher issued the
summons to duty to Faur and the other members of the Andover
Volunteer Fire Department who were available to respond to the
emergency.
I write separately because I believe the majority’s interpretation of
section 85.61(7)(a) adds to the statute language requiring a volunteer
firefighter prove he or she received the department’s call to duty. 6 This
interpretation results in an embellishment of the words chosen by the
legislature and is justified, the majority suggests, by a purpose to avoid
an illogical, impractical, or absurd result. I strongly disagree.
There is nothing illogical, impractical, or absurd about an
interpretation of the statute that commences the course of employment
with an authorized person’s sounding of a call to action to members of a
volunteer fire department who are available for duty. As the majority has
acknowledged, the legislature chose to except these public servants from
the operation of the going-and-coming rule. I view section 85.61(7)(a) as
6This element of the claim is characterized elsewhere in the majority opinion as
proof that the firefighter “acquire[d] knowledge that a summons to duty has been
issued.”
24
unmistakable evidence of a legislative purpose to expand the protection
of the workers’ compensation statute. The majority’s interpretation of
the statute contravenes this clear legislative purpose by adorning the
statute with words (“receive” and “knowledge”) not expressed and, in my
view, not intended by the legislature. This embellishment achieves a
diminution of the zone of protection for volunteer firefighters, a result
inconsistent with the legislative purpose, and I therefore reject it.
An interpretation of the statute that commences a volunteer
firefighter’s course of employment with the employer’s sounding of a call
to service is more faithful to the words chosen by the legislature and the
clear legislative purpose to expand workers’ compensation protection for
volunteers. The clear legislative purpose to expand the protection for
volunteers who risk their lives in the service of others amply explains
why the legislature chose to commence the course of employment in this
context with the employer’s issuance of a call to service. This purpose is
illustrated by the legislature’s omission of a requirement that the
volunteer receive the call as a condition of commencement of the course
of employment, an omission that does not result in such asymmetry as
to produce illogical, impractical, or absurd results. 7 The majority’s
argument to the contrary uses a strained and inapt “straw-man”
hypothetical in which a volunteer who is oblivious to the emergency for
which he is imminently to be called to duty and is clearly unavailable to
respond to the employer’s call to duty because he is not wearing a pager.
I agree with the majority that a proper interpretation of the statute
7The majority finds support for its conclusion that the call to duty is triggered by
a volunteer firefighter’s receipt or knowledge of the call to duty in the phrase “the
volunteer fire fighter is summoned to duty.” As volunteers are not called to duty
individually, but rather jointly by common dispatch, I believe the majority gives the
phrase a significance not intended by the legislature. In my view, the employer’s act of
issuing the summons to available volunteers triggers the course of employment.
25
should not support the skier’s workers’ compensation claim because
there is no basis upon which it could be reasonably concluded that the
skier was responding to the department’s summons or otherwise serving
the interests of the employer when the injury occurred. In sharp
contrast, it was Faur who discovered the need for an emergency response
while wearing his pager, caused the department to be alerted, and
diligently positioned himself in the service of his employer to respond to
the imminent page which sounded a mere sixty-eight seconds after the
911 call was received by the department’s dispatcher. Moreover, Faur
knew the call to duty was imminent from the moment he caused the 911
call to be placed and during the entire time he travelled the 150–200
yards from the house to the pit. We should not attribute to the
legislature the intent to shield Andover from liability for workers’
compensation benefits in the absence of proof that Faur either heard the
pager sound or otherwise came to know it had sounded before he was
injured while responding to the emergency for which the call to duty
issued.
It seems perfectly logical that in furtherance of its purpose to
expand the protection of volunteers, the legislature chose a bright-line
“trigger” to commence the course of employment. The employer’s
issuance of the call to duty to available volunteers is readily verifiable
and therefore serves as a most practical trigger. 8 Further, an
interpretation that commences the course of employment with the
issuance of the summons to duty provides protection for volunteers even
when, sadly, as in Faur’s case, they are unavailable to testify on the
8Pagers were chosen by the Andover Volunteer Fire Department as the means of
summoning its members. I would apply the same reasoning had the department
chosen telephones as its preferred means of communication.
26
question of whether they received the page, or otherwise came to know a
summons was sent, before they were injured while clearly in the service
of the employer.
The majority’s interpretation of the statute should be rejected for
yet another reason. This court has in the past fifty years repeatedly
affirmed that the workers’ compensation statute was enacted to benefit
workers and their dependents and that it should, therefore, be
interpreted “broadly and liberally in keeping with the humanitarian
objective of the statute. We will not defeat the statute’s beneficent
purpose by reading something into it that is not there, or by a narrow or
strained construction.” Holstein Elec. v. Breyfogle, 756 N.W.2d 812, 815–
16 (Iowa 2008); see also Stumpff v. Second Injury Fund, 543 N.W.2d 904,
905 (Iowa 1996); Barton v. Nevada Poultry Co., 253 Iowa 285, 289, 110
N.W.2d 660, 662 (1961). Reference to this long-standing rule is
conspicuously omitted from the majority’s incompatible interpretive
effort. 9
The majority’s concern about extending workers’ compensation
protection to any “Good Samaritan” seems far afield in this case. When
Faur became aware of a victim’s peril, he was wearing his fire
department pager and was therefore available to be summoned to duty at
a location within the department’s coverage territory. His attempt to
rescue the victim commenced only after he went to the nearby house and
caused a 911 call to be placed, alerting his department and putting in
motion the very protocol that culminated with the sounding of the alert
to all available members of the rescue team, sixty-eight seconds later.
9The majority acknowledges the “humanitarian objective of providing
compensation for injured workers,” but fails in my view to liberally construe the statute
as our case law commits us to do.
27
Thus, as Faur travelled the 150–200 yards from the house back to the
pit, he knew the pager summoning him to the rescue would soon sound.
If the pager worn by Faur had not sounded before he arrived at the pit,
he knew it would soon sound. If the pager did not sound as Faur
climbed down into the pit in an effort to effect the rescue, he knew it
would soon sound. That this court would attribute to the legislature an
interpretation of section 85.61(7)(a) authorizing the commissioner to
deny workers’ compensation protection to a volunteer firefighter under
these circumstances absent proof that the volunteer received the paged
call to duty or otherwise knew the summons to duty had issued before he
was injured is completely unfathomable and produces a stunningly
illogical, impractical, and absurd result which the majority opinion
claims to renounce. 10
For all of these reasons I concur with the conclusion that this case
must be remanded to the commissioner but cannot join the majority’s
interpretation of the statute.
Wiggins and Baker, JJ., join this special concurrence.
10Even under the majority’s erroneous interpretation of the statute, I believe this
record engenders a fact question as to whether Faur received the call to duty or had
knowledge of the call to duty before he was injured. The call to duty sounded a mere
sixty-eight seconds after the 911 call was received. As I have noted above, one witness
opined the return trip from the house to the pit would have taken more than a minute.
There is evidence in the record from which a reasonable fact finder could find Faur
paused to give an instruction to Johnson’s daughter before he began to climb down into
the pit. In addition to the reasonable inferences from this direct evidence,
circumstantial evidence could support a finding that additional time passed as Faur
climbed down into the nine-foot deep pit on a piece of machinery to begin the fatal
rescue attempt, thus allowing the summons to duty to issue and be received by Faur
before the injury occurred.