Jordan v. Ternstedt Division General Motors Corp.

140 N.E.2d 343, 74 Ohio Law. Abs. 207, 1956 Ohio App. LEXIS 896
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 16, 1956
DocketNo. 5345
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 140 N.E.2d 343 (Jordan v. Ternstedt Division General Motors Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jordan v. Ternstedt Division General Motors Corp., 140 N.E.2d 343, 74 Ohio Law. Abs. 207, 1956 Ohio App. LEXIS 896 (Ohio Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

OPINION

By HORNBECK, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment for the plaintiff on a special verdict returned by a jury after which both parties had moved for a judgment in their favor.

Plaintiff claimed to have sustained an injury while in the employ of defendant company, a self-insurer. Application for compensation was made to the Industrial Commission which upon hearing and rehearing denied the claim holding that it did not appear that the claimant’s disability was due to injury sustained in the course of and arising out of [208]*208her employment. Appeal was prosecuted to the Common Pleas Court where at the conclusion of the trial, defendant requested a special verdict. Several forms of verdicts were submitted to the jury and it returned the following:

“We find that Frances Jordan was employed as a packer and inspector for the Ternstedt Division of General Motors on or about March 28, 1952. She had been employed there since 1949. On that date she was taking wind hoses out of an oven. She had done this work before. It was heavy work. As she turned to place the wind hoses on a rack she felt a crack in her back. The portion of her back where she felt the crack became painful and has caused her to be disabled in excess of seven (7) days.”

Four errors are assigned, all of which are predicated upon the claim that, as a matter of law, the special verdict did not set forth facts essential to support the judgment in behalf of the plaintiff.

We are favored with the opinion of the trial judge wherein he reviews extensively the cases defining a compensable injury under the Workmen’s Compensation Act. Near the conclusion of the opinion extensive quotation is made from the opinion in Malone v. Industrial Commission, 140 Oh St 292, and the trial judge concludes:

“There is no longer any requirement that the injury be ‘accidental in origin and cause.’ The special verdict now being considered does not cover ‘accidental in origin and cause,’ but the Supreme Court says it is not necessary where an accidental result ensues.”

Although there is much logic in the opinion of the trial judge, we are constrained to say that the conclusion reached is not supported by the adjudications in this Court or in the Supreme Court, nor does the Malone case in the language quoted justify the holding that there is no longer any requirement that a compensable injury be accidental in origin and cause.

If the question presented here was one of first impression, we would be disposed to support the judgment upon the proposition that neither the Constitution nor the statutes formerly or now, §§4123.01, 4123.54 R. C., require that a compensable injury to an employee protected by Workmen’s Compensation Law should be more than “any injury received in the course of and arising out of, the injured employee’s employment.”

The Amendment to the Ohio Constitution, Article II, Par. 35, effective January 1, 1924, defining the purpose of providing compensation to workmen and their dependents states that it was to be “for death, injuries or occupational disease occasioned in the course of such workmen’s employment, * * (Emphasis ours.) The early legislation, 102 O. L. 524, §1465-61 GC, when the fund was administered by the State Liability Board of Awards, in defining who shall share in the fund, provided:

“But where a personal injury is suffered by an employee, or when death results to an employee from personal injuries while in the employ of an employer in the course of employment, * *

The last amendment affecting §§1465-60, 1465-61 and 1465-68 GC, now §4123.01 R. C., 117 O. L. 109, effective July 10, 1937, provides:

“(C) Injury includes any injury received in the course of, and arising out of, the injured employee’s employment.”

[209]*209Although the Constitution and the statutes prior to the amendment speaking of a compensable injury used the word “injury” without more, the Supreme Court qualified it by the adjective “accidental” and then defined:

“The term ‘injury’ as used in the Workmen’s Compensation Law of Ohio comprehends only such injuries as are accidental in their origin and cause.” 2nd syllabus, Industrial Commission v. Franken, 126 Oh St 299.

The opinion of Judge Matthias recites the facts, incomplete as we recall them, and discusses their application, at page 300:

“The record discloses that Franken had been in the employ of The Ohio State Stove Company for nineteen years as a ‘pressman’; his particular task being to handle dies, which weighed from 25 to 400 pounds, an apparatus being provided and used to handle those which were too heavy to be lifted otherwise. No accident occurred, as that term is ordinarily understood and applied. Sometime during the day above mentioned, Franken made some complaint about not feeling well and quit work and went home. He died 25 days later, his trouble being diagnosed as heart failure. * * * The record discloses that upon arriving home he had pains through his chest, and the doctor later stated that he was suffering from an acute dilation of the heart. There is no evidence whatever of any extraordinary or unusual happening in and about Franken’s work preceding his illness.” (Emphasis ours.)

The missing fact is, that it appeared from evidence, which we held to be competent, that the fly-wheel with which Franken was working was so stiff that when he would pull on it, it would feel like he was tearing loose through his chest; that while he was in the act of raising two dies, each weighing 150 pounds, by means of the pulley, as he pulled down on the fly-wheel, he suddenly felt like he was tearing loose in the chest. Mark the similarity between these facts and those appearing in the special verdict. It further appeared in the Franken case that up to the date of the occurrence under consideration he was in good health, and that upon the doctor’s examination of Franken a few hours after the occurrence in which he claimed to have been injured “he was in extremis and almost ready to die.” The diagnosis was that the condition of Franken’s heart was caused from some severe muscular exertion. Judge Matthias concluded:

“There is no evidence whatever of any extraordinary or unusual happening in and about Franken’s work preceding his illness. There is some evidence that on the day in question he had handled a die weighing 300 pounds, but it does not appear that handling a die of that weight with the apparatus provided was any more strenuous than a die weighing 35 or 40 pounds.”

The opinion concludes with the proposition carried into the syllabus which we have quoted and then this language:

“If the scope of cases compensable is to be extended, it should be done by unambiguous legislative enactment.”

The Franken case was decided in 1933 and the definition of the term “injury,” as found in the amendment to which we have heretpfore referred, was carried into the statute in 1937,

[210]*210The first case succeeding the foregoing amendment and considering the term “injury” therein defined, was Malone v. Industrial Commission, supra. Judge Hart, in the opinion of this case at page 297 says:

“This court has heretofore defined the term ‘compensable injury’ as used - in the Workmen’s Compensation Act many times.

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Related

Cartwright v. General Motors Corp. Ternstedt Division
153 N.E.2d 172 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1958)
White v. Industrial Commission
149 N.E.2d 40 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1957)

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140 N.E.2d 343, 74 Ohio Law. Abs. 207, 1956 Ohio App. LEXIS 896, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jordan-v-ternstedt-division-general-motors-corp-ohioctapp-1956.