JAMES C. RAINWATER AS EXECUTOR OF THE ESTATE OF DOROTHY EDNA RAINWATER, APPELLANT,
v.
VIKINGS MEN'S HAIRSTYLING AND STATE FARM FIRE & CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 1980-04-23
No. QQ-244
SHIVERS and SHAW, JJ., concur.
382 So. 2d 1313 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1980) Caution
Cited by 2 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

A widow's executor appeals the denial of workers' compensation benefits for the widow's work-related injury, claiming she should be covered as an employee despite being a co-owner. The court reverses, holding that the insurance carrier's issuance of a policy covering the deceased as an employee constitutes a waiver of her exemption from coverage.


Holding

The court held that the acceptance by a carrier of a workers' compensation policy covering an individual as an employee constitutes a waiver of that person's exclusion from the act and operates to bring that person under the employer's coverage. Because the policy listed employment positions that Mrs. Rainwater filled, the carrier's issuance of the policy waived her exemption as a proprietor.


Headnotes

[1] Acceptance by a workers' compensation carrier of a policy covering a claimant as an employee constitutes a waiver of the claimant's exclusion from the act and brings the…

[2] A person not otherwise considered a covered employee, but for whom a contract of workers' compensation insurance has been secured, is subject to the provisions of the Wor…

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Key Quotes

“the acceptance by the carrier of a workmen's compensation policy covering claimant as an employee constitutes a waiver of her exclusion from the act and operates to bring her under the employer's coverage”

States the core holding of the case regarding the effect of policy issuance

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Facts & Procedural History

Dorothy Rainwater worked as a cosmetologist at Vikings Men's Hairstyling, a business she co-owned with her husband James. The business carried a worke…

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Opinion of the Court
ERVIN, Judge.

ERVIN, Judge.

This is an appeal from an order of the judge of industrial claims, denying the late Mrs. Rainwater’s claim for compensation on the ground she was not an employee of Vikings Men’s Hairstyling. We reverse. We conclude that the acceptance by the carrier of a workmen’s compensation policy covering claimant as an employee constitutes a waiver of her exclusion from the act and operates to bring her under the employer’s coverage. See Section 440.04(2), Florida Statutes (1975).

Dorothy Rainwater filed a claim for disability resulting from an accident alleged to have occurred on January 14, 1977, caused by prolonged exposure to toxic chemicals, while employed as a hairdresser with Vikings. The carrier, State Farm, controverted on the basis the claimant was the business’s proprietor and had elected not to be covered. In holding Mrs. Rainwater was not an employee, the judge made the following findings: (1) That James Rainwater, the executor of Dorothy Rainwater’s estate, and co-owner of Vikings Men’s Hairstyling, did not specify his wife’s name as an employee on the annual audit for the year 1976, although he admitted listing other employees; (2) that Mr. and Mrs. Rainwater did not report her income as an employee on their joint income tax return for the year 1976; (3) that the workmen’s compensation policy named the insureds, James C. and Dorothy E. Rainwater, as proprietors of the business, and (4) that Mrs. Rainwater’s commission earnings were lumped together with Mr. Rainwater’s income under Schedule C of the joint return.

Were it not for the fact that a policy of workmen’s compensation insurance was issued covering claimant, we could readily agree that Mrs. Rainwater was not an employee. Although Mrs. Rainwater was not named as an employee in the insurance policy, the policy listed three employment positions: manicurist, barber, and cosmetologist. The evidence was unrefuted that Mrs. Rainwater was employed as the only cosmetologist at the shop on or about the time the policy became effective, July 25, 1975,1 and Mr. Rainwater testified she continued to work as a beautician until March,

1977, when she became ill and was replaced by another employee. In addressing the effect of Section 440.04(3),2 Florida Statutes (1973), our Supreme Court observed:

[A] person not otherwise considered a covered “employee”, or whose services are not included in the definition of “employment”, but for whose benefit a contract of workmen’s compensation insurance has been secured, is subject to the provisions of the Chapter by virtue of the acceptance of the policy by his employer and the writing of the same by the compensation carrier. We think there can be no question that the purpose and effect of Fla.Stat. § 440.04, F.S.A., is to empower an exempt employer to voluntarily as sume the obligations and privileges of the Workmen’s Compensation Act and thereby insulate himself from common law liability pursuant to Fla.Stat. § 440.11, F.S.A. Allen v. Estate of Carman, 281 So. 2d 317, 322 (Fla.1973).

Finding that a contract of workmen’s compensation insurance was secured for Mrs. Rainwater as an employee, we conclude that the employer/carrier has waived its exemption. This cause is remanded to the judge of industrial claims for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

SHIVERS and SHAW, JJ., concur. . Appellees candidly admit in their brief that Mrs. Rainwater was working at Vikings in August, 1975.

. Now Section 440.04(2), Florida Statutes (1979).


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Citator

Cited By

  • Gulfstream Land & Dev. Corp. v. Wilkerson, 420 So. 2d 587 (Fla. 1982)
    …in 1970. See Ch. 70-148, § 4, Laws of Fla. . Id. . Key v. Goley, 402 So. 2d 80 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981); Sielicki v. New York Yankees, 388 So. 2d 25 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980), review denied, 392 So. 2d 1377 (Fla.1981); Rainwater v. Vikings Men’s Hairstyling, 382 So. 2d 1313 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980); Thundereal Corp. v. Sterling, 368 So. 2d 923 (Fla. 1st DCA), cert. denied, 378 So. 2d 350 (Fla.1979).…

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