Bunkley v. Republic Steel Corp.

278 N.E.2d 920, 30 Ohio Misc. 39, 59 Ohio Op. 2d 287, 1972 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 271
CourtCuyahoga County Common Pleas Court
DecidedFebruary 23, 1972
DocketNo. 858,903
StatusPublished

This text of 278 N.E.2d 920 (Bunkley v. Republic Steel Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bunkley v. Republic Steel Corp., 278 N.E.2d 920, 30 Ohio Misc. 39, 59 Ohio Op. 2d 287, 1972 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 271 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1972).

Opinion

McMonagle, J.

This is an appeal from an order of the Industrial Commission denying the plaintiff the right to participate in the Workmen’s Compensation Fund. The twelve members of the jury unanimously determined the disputed facts in favor of the plaintiff.

Before entering judgment herein the court feels that a discussion of the issues raised herein, and the applicable law — which has not previously been the subject of reported opinions in Ohio — will be helpful to courts that are called upon to try appeals in Workmen’s Compensation cases, tribunals that are designated by law to also hear and determine workmen’s compensation claims, members of the bar, and concerned persons and organizations.

The appellee, The Republic Steel Company, is a self insurer under the Workmen’s Compensation Act of Ohio. It is the claim of the plaintiff that he ruptured himself wheu he, and two other workmen, were lifting, by hand, a heavy article called a ‘‘twyer’’ or “twill” which weighed approximately 175 to 200 pounds and inserting it into an opening in a Republic furnace at an elevation about five feet above the floor level of the defendant’s mill.

Claimant had been employed by Republic as a laborer for over 19 years; his job required his performing heavy manual labor for many years, including the lifting and positioning of the 175 to 200 pound twill.

It is the contention of Republic that claimant is not entitled to have a judgment entered which would have the effect of requiring Republic to pay his surgical and hospital [41]*41expenses incidental to the repairing of his hernia, compensation for temporary, total disability for the period when he was hospitalized for the surgery and subsequent convalescence and for such other allowances as he is entitled to receive as a result of his injury, including an award for attorney fees payable by Bepublic because of the necessity for bringing this lawsuit.

The bases for Bepublic’s contention as to why plaintiff should not be entitled to the benefits of the Workmen’s Compensation Act with reference to his rupture may be summarized as follows:

1. The incident in which claimant contends he was ruptured did not occur. The jury found, upon the basis of adequate testimony, that the incident did in fact occur.

2. The words used by the claimant in his description of the incident were not such as to describe the sustaining of an injury as required by R. C. 4123.01(C), as in effect when the incident occurred in August, 1966.

3. The causal connection between the sustaining of a rupture and the scope of employment may only be established by medical testimony.

There is no validity to any of these contentions of Bepublic.

R. C. 4123.01 provides in part as follows:

“(C) ‘Injury’ includes any injury, whether caused by external accidental means or accidental in character and result, received in the course of, and arising out of the injured employee’s employment.” (128 Ohio Laws 743)
“Accident” is defined as follows:
“An event which takes place without one’s foresight or expectation; or an unusual effect of a known cause and, therefore, not expected; an event which under the circumstances, is unusual and not expected to the person to whom it happens.”

Counsel for the defendant sought to elicit statements [42]*42from the plaintiff to the effect that there was no unexpected, unusual, or fortuitous happening in connection with plaintiff’s injury, other than the occurrence of the injury.

Testimony of such a happening was unnecessary in order to establish plaintiff’s right to recovery even though his testimony did include such evidence.

Plaintiff testified that on the day of his injury, the twill in the furnace had burned out and that it became necessary for himself and two other workmen to replace it; that a twill is inserted into the furnace by lifting it up by hand to a point where there is an opening in the furnace at about his shoulder height — about five feet — ■;

“You can’t put it in straight. You have to put it in sideways in order to get it in and sometimes that quill [sic] will get stuck and you jerk on it and that is when I felt this pain.” “The twill got stuck and you have to maneuver it around, to jack it around to go in and — .” “You just jack it backward and forward until you get it to go in.” “That is when I felt the pain (indicating in the groin area).” “I went over and sat down for awhile and the pain left.” “I went back to work. It wasn’t long before it was time to quit anyway.” “Well, that pain kept coming but it never stayed. It come and go till I notice it begin to swell. I had swelled up. It would swell up and go back down and it starts having pains and that is when I went to this Ur. Oppenheim.” “I went to the dispensary. I was there about two or three days after that happened. I don’t know exactly, and the nurse gave me something for the pain.” He testified he was having the swelling in the same spot where he felt the pain; that he was operated on there; that he had never previously had any swelling over there.

On cross examination the plaintiff testified:

“It got stuck when I was trying to move it around, that was when the pain come,”
[43]*43Q. “You were trying to jerk it around and you felt this pain?”
A. “That’s right.”

It was the contention of Republic that before a workman can participate in the Workmen’s Compensation Fund as a result of an injury sustained while at work and engaged in the advancement of the work of the employer, that an unusual occurrence such as a slip, fall, jerk, jar, external force, unusual strain, pressure, etc., must be described as having brought about the injury, even though it was sustained when a workman was extending himself beyond his physical capabilities in order to further the business of his employer.

Beyond question, the plaintiff’s description of the occurrence, even though in less than artful words, if believed by the jury, sufficiently complied with the constitutional and statutory requirements that are brought into question herein by Republic.

The description of an unusual occurrence or happening of the nature just mentioned is not always a necessary predicate to the right of a workman to participate in the Workmen’s Compensation Fund of Ohio although such contentions have been made by persons contesting the claims of workmen practically since the Ohio Constitution authorized the Workmen’s Compensation laws. Various Supreme Court decisions based upon the wordage of previously existing statutes even upheld such contentions. In the words of Judge Zimmerman (173 Ohio St. at p. 225) a majority of the Supreme Court had been “persistently misinterpretating the definition of the term ‘injury’ as it had been defined in 1937 and thereafter. * * *” He contended that the term “injury” should have always been defined as including “any injury, whether caused by external accidental means or accidental in character and result.”

“It is the writer’s position, which he has maintained [44]*44and expressed for a long- time, that the provision above quoted meant exactly what it said, so that any injury

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
278 N.E.2d 920, 30 Ohio Misc. 39, 59 Ohio Op. 2d 287, 1972 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 271, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bunkley-v-republic-steel-corp-ohctcomplcuyaho-1972.