Minish
Minish v. Hanuman Fellowship
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Rushing, J.
I. Statement of the Case
Plaintiff Diane Marie Minish filed an action against the Hanuman Fellowship (Hanuman), Mount Madonna Institute, and the Mount Madonna Center seeking compensatory and punitive damages for personal injuries and other losses she sustained when she fell off a forklift allegedly due to defendants’ negligence. Defendants answered, and as an affirmative defense alleged that plaintiff was covered by workers’ compensation which provided her exclusive remedy. Defendants later sought summary judgment on that ground, and plaintiff sought summary adjudication that she was not covered by workers’ compensation. The court granted defendants’ motion and denied plaintiff’s motion. The court applied the doctrine of judicial estoppel to bar plaintiff from claiming that she was not covered by workers’ compensation and entered judgment for defendants.
On appeal, plaintiff claims the court erred in applying judicial estoppel and in finding that she was subject to workers’ compensation. She further claims the court erred in overruling her hearsay objection to statements contained in documents that the court had judicially noticed.
We reverse the judgment.