Orrs Estate v. St. Joseph Hospital

2 Pa. D. & C.4th 145, 1988 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 30
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Berks County
DecidedNovember 2, 1988
Docketno. 192 April 1983
StatusPublished

This text of 2 Pa. D. & C.4th 145 (Orrs Estate v. St. Joseph Hospital) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Berks County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Orrs Estate v. St. Joseph Hospital, 2 Pa. D. & C.4th 145, 1988 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 30 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1988).

Opinion

ESHELMAN, T. J., J.,

The matter now before us is defendant’s motion for reconsideration of this court’s denial of defendant’s motion for summary judgment.

. This case arises out of the murder of Charla L. Orrs on July 25, 1982. Ms. Orrs, an employee of St. Joseph Hospital, was murdered on Walnut Street in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania, outside of the hospital at about 3:00 a:m. by an-intruder, Michael Breidenstein, who apparently forced her to leave the medical records office of the hospital where she had been working on the night shift.

Breidenstein was apprehended on the scene and later convicted of first degree murder, burglary and attempted rape. Commonwealth v. Breidenstein, Crim. no. 82127501 (Berks County, January 21, 1983), aff'd., 343 Pa. Super. 604, 494 A.2d 476 (1985). Appeal denied, no. 395 E.D. Alloc. Dkt. 1985 (Pa., September 30, 1985). The hospital paid the statutory death benefits under the Workmen’s Compensation Act.

Defendant filed a motion for summary judgment dated November 7, 1985. The parties then agreed to take further discovery relating to the issues raised by the motion for summary judgment. The motion for summary judgment was then argued on May 5, 1986, and each side filed a supplemental brief.

On September 18, 1986, this court entered an order denying the hospital’s motion for summary judgment. The hospital requested that the order be amended to certify the question for interlocutory appeal, but the estate opposed certification. Following argument on that motion, the hospital filed the present motion for reconsideration of order denying summary judgment on December 19, 1986, relying on its prior briefs. The estate filed its answer on [147]*147February 23, 1987, and the hospital filed a supplemental brief on March 2, 1987.

On December 4, 1987, the court entered an order directing defendant to list its motion for reconsideration for argument after January 31, 1988. Argument was held on March 7, 1988.

As an initial matter, it must be remembered that pursuant to rule 1035(b) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure a trial court may render summary judgment “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file . . . show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” PaR.C.P. 1035(b). Bollinger v. Palmerton Area Communities Endeavor Inc., 241 Pa. Super. 341, 361 A.2d 676 (1976).

In ruling upon a motion for summary judgment, the court must view the record in the light most favorable to the non-moving party and must give the non-moving party the benefit of all reasonable inferences which can be drawn from the record. Bollinger, supra; Just v. Sons of Italy Hall, 240 Pa. Super. 416, 368 A.2d 308 (1976).

Furthermore, the court is not to decide any issue of fact, but is to determine only whether there exists a genuine issue of material fact and whether the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and the court is required to resolve all doubts in this regard against the moving party. Tom Morello Construction Company Inc. v. Bridgeport Federal Savings and Loan Association, 280 Pa. Super. 239, 421 A.2d 747 (1980); Bollinger, supra; Schacter v. Albert, 212 Pa. Super. 58, 239 A.2d 841 (1968).

A review of the record reveals that there is no genuine, issue as to any fact material to the legal question of coverage under the Workmen’s Com[148]*148pensation Act for Ms. Orrs’ death. There is no dispute at all as to any of the following facts:

(1) Charla Orrs was an employee of St. Joseph Hospital.

(2) Charla Orrs was at her job and performing her duties during the early morning hours of July 25, 1982.

(3) At approximately 3:00 a.m. on July 25, 1982, while she was on the job, Charla Orrs was attacked and murdered by an assailant.

(4) Her assailant was Michael Breidenstein, who was subsequently convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison.

The parties have each admitted these facta in their pleadings or have conceded them for the purpose of adjudication of the summary judgment motion; nor is there any dispute regarding the assailant’s sexual motivation for attacking Charla Orrs:

(5) Michael Breidenstein was a rapist, and his attack was sexual in motivation.

The evidence for Breidenstein’s sexual motivation is: (a) the criminal trial testimony of Officer Rudy that Charla Orrs was found with her dress up and her panty hose ripped down; and (b) the criminal trial testimony of David Strohecker, another prisoner, who related that Breidenstein had confessed to Ms. Orrs’ murder by telling him that he didn’t want to kill her, just to have sex with her.

The only other matter of fact that could possibly be material to the legal issue here is whether Breidenstein knew Charla Orrs and attacked her because of some animus directed against her in particular.

The Pennsylvania Workmen’s Compensation is intended to provide broad coverage for workers who sustain injuries “while the employee is actually [149]*149engaged in the furtherance of the business or affairs of the employer . . 77 P.S. §411(1). When applicability of the act is challenged, the presumption favors coverage, and any party seeking to avoid coverage must rebut the presumption. Dolan v. Linton’s Lunch, 397 Pa. 114, 125, 152 A.2d 887, 893 (1959). In the present case, it is the plaintiff’s estate which seeks to avoid coverage under the Woikmen’s Compensation Act.

The only injuries arising in the course of employment that are not covered under the Workmen’s Compensation Act are injuries “caused by an act of a third person intended to injure the employee because of reasons personal to him, not directed against him as an employee or because of his employment. . .” 77 P.S. §411(1).

This court can find no evidence that Ms. Orrs and Michael Breidenstein ever knew each other. Breidenstein testified at his criminal trial and has been deposed by counsel for the estate in this case. His testimony offers no evidence of any acquaintance with Ms. Orrs prior to their encounter the night of her death. The only evidence that the estate has ever adduced with any possible bearing on this issue is testimony that: (a) Breidenstein had sometimes entered the hospital; (b) Breidenstein knew the hospital’s general layout and that some women employees worked near the Birch Street exit where the Medical Records Office was located; (c) early in the morning of July 25, 1982, Breidenstein was expelled from the hospital via that Birch Street exit after walking past the Medical Records Office; and (d) testimony of Linda Kalbach that Ms. Orrs had told her that “somebody was hassling her or something” at work. Ms. Orrs made that statement in one [150]*150hurried conversation about two weeks before her death. Ms. Kalbach did not connect this to Breidenstein at all.

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Related

Dolan v. Linton's Lunch
152 A.2d 887 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1959)
Brooks v. Marriott Corp.
522 A.2d 618 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1987)
Schacter v. Albert
239 A.2d 841 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1968)
Taynton v. Dersham
516 A.2d 1241 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1986)
Bollinger v. Palmerton Area Communities Endeavor, Inc.
361 A.2d 676 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1976)
Commonwealth v. Maxwell
421 A.2d 699 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1980)
Tom Morello Construction Co. v. Bridgeport Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n
421 A.2d 747 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1980)
O'Rourke v. O'Rourke
122 A. 172 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1923)
Just v. Sons of Italy Hall
368 A.2d 308 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1976)
Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board v. Borough of Plum & Bituminous Casualty Corp.
340 A.2d 637 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1975)
Boone v. Commonwealth
402 A.2d 569 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1979)
D'Agata National Inc. v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board
479 A.2d 98 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1984)

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Bluebook (online)
2 Pa. D. & C.4th 145, 1988 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 30, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/orrs-estate-v-st-joseph-hospital-pactcomplberks-1988.