Crucible Steel Co. of America v. Skwarko

306 A.2d 395, 9 Pa. Commw. 269, 1973 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 618
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 19, 1973
DocketAppeal, No. 1228 C.D. 1972
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 306 A.2d 395 (Crucible Steel Co. of America v. Skwarko) 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
Crucible Steel Co. of America v. Skwarko, 306 A.2d 395, 9 Pa. Commw. 269, 1973 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 618 (Pa. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge Kramer,

This is an appeal by Crucible Steel Company of America (Crucible) from an adjudication of the Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (Board) awarding to Steve Skwarko (Skwarko) workmen’s compensation benefits from March 1, 1968 and for an indefinite period, until such time as Skwarko’s total disability ceases to exist.

The pertinent facts are that on March 28, 1963, Skwarko sustained an injury to his back in the regular course of his employment with Crucible. As a result of this accident, Skwarko and Crucible entered into a compensation agreement dated September 6,1963. This agreement was designated “Department Accident and Agreement No. 7,605,496.” The agreement provides a description of the nature of the injury as: “Wrenched back while handling heavy steel.” It also noted that Skwarko received his full wages during the period of disability and, therefore, the compensation rate of $47.50 per week was included in the $96.46, weekly wages, he was paid.

On March 31, 1964, the parties entered into a supplemental agreement, bearing the same departmental number noted above, whereby it was agreed that the disability of Skwarko changed on August 5, 1963, on which date he returned to work for Crucible. This first supplemental agreement provided that further compensation payment to Skwarko was “supended.” There [271]*271was no mention in this first supplemental agreement of any termination of compensation rights. It was filed and approved by the “Bureau of Workmen’s Compensation.”

The Board found, and the record adequately supports, that Skwarko returned to his full-time physical, manual labor whereby Skwarko was called upon to move, shift, lift and manipulate very heavy pieces of equipment and material. The condition of Skwarko’s back following the 1963 injury so improved that sometime during the year 1965 he even discarded a back brace, and thereafter continued in his regular course of employment until February 8, 1968, on which date he reinjured his back.1 On that date, Skwarko was assigned (along with another employe) the duty of moving “titanium electrodes” weighing between 500 and 800 pounds each from a forklift onto a flat bed truck. Skwarko’s description of what transpired is perhaps the best description. It reads on the record as follows: “From the forklift to the truck bed. I had gotten this end and moved it and walked over to the other end to lift it up and sort of give it a twist, and it just felt like somebody was ripping me apart inside. And I just collapsed.” He immediately reported his injury to the general office secretary of Crucible, who together with other agents of Crucible directed him to a Mr. Foster, who in turn directed Skwarko to Dr. Temeles, a company physician. Dr. Temeles examined Skwarko on March 9, 1968.

As a result of these developments, a second supplemental agreement was entered into between the parties [272]*272also bearing the same departmental number. It is dated March 11, 1988. This agreement stated that Skwarko’s status of disability changed on March 1, 1968 as follows : “Employe is again disabled due to accident 3/20/63.” It was agreed that Skwarko was entitled to compensation benefits at the rate of $47.50 per week from March 1,1968. Crucible commenced paying these benefits under this second supplemental agreement.

It should be noted here that in both supplemental agreements there is a provision that the agreed benefits should “continue at said raté until terminated by further .supplemental agreement, order of the Workmen’s Compensation Board or referee, or by final receipt.”

The record conclusively supports the Board findings that Skwarko became totally disabled as of at least March 1, 1968, and that said disability existed through the time of the hearings in this matter. The record shows that Skwarko underwent a surgical operation known as a laminectomy L4-5 with discectomy, under a diagnosis of a herniated nucleus polposis L4-5. Crucible paid all of Skwarko’s medical, hospital and surgical bills.

On October 27, 1989, Crucible filed a petition for termination of its compensation agreement (still bearing the same departmental number), based upon the allegation that Skwarko was no longer totally or partly disabled, and based upon a report of another physician retained by Crucible that Skwarko’s injury to his back had completely healed. Although Crucible’s petition refers to the injury occurring on “March 28, 1963,” it must be presumed that the petition addresses itself to the second supplemental agreement dated March 11, 1968, wherein the date of the accident was noted as “3/20/63.” The careless manner with which both parties describe the dates on which the two injuries occurred makes this case difficult for this Court, as it [273]*273did for the Board. A careful reading of the record, however, does disclose that the dates chosen by the Board in its findings and conclusions are substantially correct. Skwarko filed an answer to the petition to terminate denying that his disability had ceased, and alleging that his total disability still persisted.

The complications in the procedural aspects of this ease do not end here, however. On February 12, 1970, just eight days after the first hearing in this matter, Crucible through its counsel, sent a letter to the referee making a motion to amend its petition to terminate so as to include a petition to set aside the agreement. There was no explanation given for the basis for such amendment. Later, at the fourth set of hearings held October 26, 1971, counsel for Skwarko sought to amend the second supplemental agreement so as to include the second injury to Skwarko’s back on February 8, 1968.2

As stated hereinbefore, the referee granted an award to Skwarko for total disability beginning March 1,1968, at the rate of $60.00 per week. The amount was obviously increased because of the mandatory provision found in Section 306(a) of the Pennsylvania Workmen’s Compensation Act, Act of June 2, 1915, P. L. 736, as amended, 77 P.S. §511. In his adjudication, the referee did not discuss his ruling on Skwarko’s motion to amend the second supplemental agreement so as to reflect the disability caused by the second injury which occurred in 1968. It is obvious, as the Board noted, that the referee in fact did grant that motion by virtue of the wording of his adjudication. On appeal to the Board, the Board affirmed the adjudication of the referee although it did correct the finding of the referee so as to reflect the February 8, 1968 date as disclosed [274]*274by the record.3 The Board also properly corrected an error in the award of the referee concerning a $60.00 medical bill of Skwarko’s expert medical witness for the reason that the record did not disclose any support whatsoever for such a bill. The Board concluded that Crucible had failed to prove that Skwarko’s disability had ceased, decreased or changed, and that therefore, Crucible was not entitled to the termination of the second supplemental agreement.

Crucible contends in this appeal that the Board’s awarding of compensation for the injury sustained in 1968 is illegal, because Skwarko could not assert a new compensation claim for a new injury under a supplemental agreement arising out of a prior injury. Crucible also attempts to argue that the second injury did not result from an accident in the course of Skwarko’s employment.

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Bluebook (online)
306 A.2d 395, 9 Pa. Commw. 269, 1973 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 618, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crucible-steel-co-of-america-v-skwarko-pacommwct-1973.