Carroll v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board

750 A.2d 938, 2000 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 215
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 26, 2000
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 750 A.2d 938 (Carroll v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carroll v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board, 750 A.2d 938, 2000 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 215 (Pa. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

JIULIANTE, Senior Judge.

Claimant Russell Carroll petitions for review of the May 25, 1999 order of the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Board) that reversed a decision of the workers’ compensation judge (WCJ) granting Claimant’s claim petition and awarding him specific loss benefits for loss of his left eye. Claimant contends that the Board erred in articulating the burden of proof necessary to support an award of benefits in a claim petition proceeding for specific loss benefits; Claimant also contends that the Board erred in concluding that there was no substantial evidence to show that Claimant’s retinal detachment, which resulted from his suppression of a sneeze during a business meeting, was caused by the condition of Employer’s premises. We reverse.

The WCJ found the following facts. On July 10,1995, Claimant, while employed by the University of Pennsylvania (Employer) as Director of the Administrative Computer Center, was attending a meeting with Carl Abrahamson, his boss, and five other directors. The meeting started at about 9:00 a.m. and at about 9:30 a.m., while he was sitting at a table with five or six other people, Claimant felt a sneeze coming on. Not wanting to spread any germs, Claimant tried to suppress the sneeze but failed. After the sneeze took place, Claimant felt pressure in his head and within 30 seconds to a minute, felt a pain like a rubber band had struck his left eye.

Claimant went home and noticed that something had happened to his eye. After going to work the next morning, Claimant covered his right eye, looked at someone, and could only see that person from the waist down. Everything in the upper part was black. Claimant gave proper notice of his injury to Abrahamson, his supervisor, and sought medical treatment.

[940]*940On January 9, 1996, Claimant filed a claim petition seeking specific loss benefits for loss of his left eye as a result of his work injury, which he described as a detached left retina. Employer filed an answer denying Claimant’s allegation that his injury was work-related.

A hearing was held at which both parties presented evidence, including medical evidence. The WCJ found Claimant to be credible witness. The WCJ further found the testimony of Claimant’s treating physicians, Dr. Michael Maizel and Dr. Michael Colucciello, to be more credible than the testimony of Employer’s medical witness, Dr. Thomas R. Hedges, Jr.

On July 7, 1995, three days prior to Claimant’s injury, Dr. Maizel had examined Claimant and at that time, everything dealing with Claimant’s eye was fíne. On July 11, 1995, the day after the meeting, Dr. Maizel noted that Claimant had two retinal tears in the interior portion of his left eye. Based on his July 11,1995 examination, Dr. Maizel diagnosed Claimant with a retinal tear/retinal detachment.

Dr. Colucciello, an eye surgeon, al$o examined Claimant on July 11, 1995. The doctor diagnosed Claimant with a rhegma-togenous retinal detachment. On July 13, August 28, and September 12, 1995, Dr. Colucciello performed eye surgery on Claimant.

Dr. Colucciello testified that Claimant’s visual acuity for his left eye has been at a light-perception level only. The doctor concluded that Claimant’s current condition is the direct result of his suppression of a sneeze on July 10, 1995. Dr. Coluc-ciello further testified that he found no other conditions that would predispose Claimant to a retinal tear.

Based on Claimant’s medical evidence, the WCJ determined that Claimant had permanently lost the use of his left eye for all practical intents and purposes and, therefore, that he sustained a compensable specific loss eye injury in the course of his employment. Consequently, the WCJ granted Claimant’s claim petition and awarded him 275 weeks of specific loss benefits for the loss of his left eye.

The Board, however, reversed the WCJ’s order. In its decision, the Board reasoned that although Claimant was on Employer’s premises, as required, when the injury occurred, Claimant offered no evidence to prove that his suppression of the sneeze was caused by a condition of Employer’s premises.

Claimant appealed to this Court.1 On review, this Court is limited to a determination of whether the necessary findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence, whether errors of law have been committed or whether constitutional rights have been violated. Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Lear), 707 A.2d 618 (Pa.Cmwlth.1998).

Claimant’s first argument is that the Board erred by failing to articulate the burden of proof necessary to support an award in a claim petition proceeding. In its decision, the Board, citing Section 301(c)(1) of the Workers’ Compensation Act (Act), Act of June 2, 1915, P.L. 736, as amended, 77 P.S. § 411(1), and the Superior Court’s decision in Gertz v. Temple University-Commonwealth Sys. of Higher Educ., 443 Pa.Super. 177, 661 A.2d 13 (1995), stated: “A compensable injury occurs when an employee: 1) is on the employer’s premises, 2) is required to be present on the premises by the nature of his employment, and 3) sustains an injury caused by a condition on the premises.” Board’s Decision at 5; R.R. 144a.

The Court believes that the Board misinterpreted the language in Section 301(c)(1) of the Act and the rationale in Gertz. In Gertz, the Superior Court found that at the time Gertz was injured, she was not in the furtherance of her employer’s affairs.

[941]*941To the contrary, in the instant case, Claimant testified that, as a part of his job, he attended meetings and planned the installation of computer hardware and software. Finding of Fact No. 2; N.T. 5; R.R. 12a. On July 10, 1995, Claimant was attending a meeting with his boss and five other directors when the injury occurred. Finding of Fact No. 4; N.T. 5-6; R.R. 12-13a. The meeting started about 9:00 a.m. and the sneezing incident occurred about 9:30 a.m., while Claimant was seated at a table with five or six people. Claimant attempted to hold his sneeze so he would not spread his germs to the other people at the meeting. Finding of Fact No. 5; N.T. 8-9; R.R. 15-16a.

Section 301(c)(1) of the Act provides in part that the “terms ‘injury’ and ‘personal injury’ as used in this act, shall be construed to mean an injury to an employe, regardless of his previous physical condition, arising in the course of his employment and related thereto.... ” 77 P.S. § 411(1). The Supreme Court has recognized the existence of a rebuttable presumption that a claimant’s injury is considered work-related when it occurs on the employer’s premises. Kohler v. McCrory Stores, 532 Pa. 130, 615 A.2d 27 (1992).

Moreover, in Stanner v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (Westinghouse Elec. Co.), 146 Pa.Cmwlth. 92, 604 A.2d 1167, 1170 (1992), this Court recognized:

Under the definitions of “injury” and “injury arising in the course of his [or her] employment” set forth in Section 301(c)(1) of the Act, injuries may be sustained in the course of employment in two distinct situations: (1)

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750 A.2d 938, 2000 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 215, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carroll-v-workers-compensation-appeal-board-pacommwct-2000.