IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 20-0020 Filed May 12, 2021 AUTO-OWNERS INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff-Appellant/Cross-Appellee, vs. RAUL RUIZ ROSAS d/b/a BLUE FLAME FLOORING, Defendant-Appellee/Cross-Appellant. ________________________________________________________________ Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Sarah Crane and Joseph Seidlin (trial), Judges. A workers’ compensation insurance carrier appeals the dismissal of its breach of contract claim seeking more premium payments. A claimant cross- appeals the dismissal of his bad-faith claim. AFFIRMED ON APPEAL; AFFIRMED ON CROSS-APPEAL. CeCelia C. Ibson of Ibson Law Firm, Des Moines, for appellant. Patrick B. White of White Law Office, P.C., Des Moines, for appellee. Considered by Doyle, P.J., and Mullins and Greer, JJ. 2 DOYLE, Presiding Judge. A workers’ compensation insurance carrier, Auto-Owners Insurance Co. (AOIC), filed a breach-of-contract suit against Raul Ruiz Rosas d/b/a Blue Flame Flooring1 seeking over $50,000 in more premium payments allegedly due under two workers’ compensation insurance policies issued to Rosas. Rosas counter- claimed stating that AOIC’s pursuit of additional premiums was in bad faith. The bone of contention is whether the roofers that worked on jobs with Rosas were employees of Rosas or independent contractors. If the workers were employees, additional premium payment obligation was triggered under the policies, potentially putting Rosas on the hook for over $50,000. If the workers were not employees, Rosas needed not pay premiums on top of those already paid. Following a bench trial, the district court found, “All of the reliable evidence showed that not only was Rosas not an employer, but he was one of a group of independent contractors working for themselves.” The court held that “AOIC did not show that Rosas paid remuneration to persons engaged in work that could make AOIC liable to pay workers compensation. It therefore failed to meet its burden to prove the premium owed to it by Rosas.” The court dismissed AOIC’s breach-of-contract action. And finding no basis for a bad-faith claim, the court dismissed Rosas’s counterclaim. 1 Rosas, a sole proprietor, does business as “Blue Flame Roofing.” Rosas’s application for workers’ compensation insurance, insurance policy documents, premium notices, audit reports, notice of cancellation, and correspondence from insurance carriers to Rosas, all reflect the name of Rosas’s business to be “Blue Flame Roofing.” The “Blue Flame Flooring” appellation first shows up as Rosas’s dba in AOIC’s petition at law and has been perpetuated throughout the litigation since. Not wanting to foul up the system, we left the flawed caption as it came to us. 3 On appeal, AOIC makes many arguments that the district court erred in denying its motion for summary judgment and in dismissing its petition. On cross- appeal, Rosas argues the district court erred in dismissing his bad-faith claim. After reviewing the record, we agree with the district court’s decisions. I. Facts and Proceedings. Raul Rosas immigrated to the United States in 1986 and does not speak, read, or write English. Spanish is his native tongue. Rosas is a self-employed roofer and runs his residential roofing business “Blue Flame Roofing” as …
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