Ricci v. UNITED STATES RUBBER COMPANY

143 A.2d 691, 88 R.I. 149, 1958 R.I. LEXIS 102
CourtSupreme Court of Rhode Island
DecidedJuly 16, 1958
DocketM. P. No. 1234
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 143 A.2d 691 (Ricci v. UNITED STATES RUBBER COMPANY) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ricci v. UNITED STATES RUBBER COMPANY, 143 A.2d 691, 88 R.I. 149, 1958 R.I. LEXIS 102 (R.I. 1958).

Opinions

[150]*150Roberts, J.

This is a petition for certiorari to quash certain decrees entered by the workmen’s compensation commission in the case of William Paul Ricci v. United States Rubber Company, W.C.C. No. 4679. Pursuant to the writ the commission has certified the records in the case to this court. Upon filing the instant petition for certiorari the respondent moved this court that the operation of the decree of December 11, 1957 be stayed pending a decision on the merits of this petition. This motion was granted.

[151]*151It appears from the record that the employee filed an original petition for compensation on September 10, 1954, in which he alleged that he had been injured while in the employ of respondent on the “25th day of May” 1954. This .became case W.C.C. No. 527 in the files of the commission. The case was heard by a single commissioner during November and December 1954.

At the hearing it was not disputed that the employee had a small lump on his lower back which one of the medical witnesses described as being “about the size of a marble just to the right of the spine, the third lumbar vertebra -» * * ” The nature and cause of this lump were the subject of conflicting medical testimony. Two doctors testifying on behalf of respondent stated that the lump was a cyst or tumor and was not causally connected with the injury. Two other medical witnesses testifying on behalf of the employee stated that the lump was a muscle herniation and was causally connected with the accident.

In his decision the trial commissioner discussed the nature and cause of this lump and the conflict in the medical testimony relating thereto. He then stated that he found as a fact that the injury had been sustained in the course of the employee’s employment and that the injury in part consisted of a muscle herniation. In the decree of the trial commissioner entered on January 7, 1955 the finding as to the injury was set out as follows: “That said injury was a .sprain in the lumbo area with a question of ruptured inter-vertebral disk; also muscle herniation through the sheath of the erector spinae muscles on the right side at the lumbar spine level * * The commissioner further found in said decree that the employee had failed to establish a diminution of his earning capacity by reason of the injury and that therefore he was not entitled to any disability compensation.

However, in the said decree the trial commissioner entered an order which reads as follows: “That in the event [152]*152petitioner is hospitalized for an operation to correct the muscle herniation or for the purpose of myelography, Respondent shall pay compensation for total disability during such periods of hospitalization and reasonable convalescence, and for reasonable medical and hospital expenses, including surgery for operation to correct the muscle herniation in accordance with the Workmen’s Compensation Act.”

The respondent appealed from the decree of the trial commissioner, dated January 7, 1955, to the full commission, and on March 14, 1955 a final decree was entered in which the full commission stated: “The findings of fact and the orders contained in a Decree of this Commission entered on January 7, 1955 be, and they hereby are, affirmed.”

On January 22, 1955 the employee entered a hospital and submitted to surgery which was performed by Dr. Raymond H. Trott who, as a medical witness testifying on behalf of the employee in W.C.C. No. 527, stated that the lump on the employee’s back was a muscle herniation. Thereafter on October 31, 1956 the employee filed with the commission a petition to review, which has- become identified as case W.C.C. No. 4679. In that petition the employee alleged his hospitalization and surgery, set out the finding of muscle herniation contained in the decree of January 7, 1955, and said that such finding had been based on the testimony of Dr. Raymond H. Trott.

In the petition it was also alleged:

“3. That it now appears that instead of a muscle herniation, etc., the petitioner was actually suffering from ‘Fibrolipoma of the back showing fibroblastic reaction. The histology suggests a lipoma, showing reaction to injury.’
4. That the said condition flows from the injury sustained on May 27, 1954.”

Among other things, the petition prayed that “The said Decree be reviewed by this Commission. That a further Decree be entered containing a finding' of fact that the lump [153]*153on petitioner’s back was caused by the injury sustained on May 27, 1954.”

At the opening of the hearing on the petition to review, the employer moved that the petition be dismissed on several grounds. The trial commissioner denied the motion and proceeded to take testimony in the case. At the hearing Dr. Trott testified that when he operated on the employee’s back he “found a soft tissue tumor there.” He also testified that in his opinion “the tumor was there before the injury, but became symptomatic and painful as a result of injury — aggravated, by injury.” Doctor Trott further testified that the lipoma which he had removed was the lump which he had previously described as a muscle herniation. Doctor Herbert Fanger, a pathologist attached to the hospital staff, testified that he had examined the lipoma removed from the employee’s back; that lipoma is a fatty tumor; and that “The histology suggests a lipoma showing reaction to injury.”

On June 24, 1957 the trial commissioner entered a decree in which he found as follows: “The injury sustained by the petitioner on May 27, 1954, namely, a sprain in the lumbosacral area, aggravated a pre-existing condition, namely, a lipoma, and caused the lipoma to become symptomatic.” The decree also' ordered the employer to pay for the medical and hospital expenses of the employee incurred by him between January 22 and April 17, 1955; to pay compensation for total disability from January 22 to February 23, 1955; and to pay compensation for partial disability from February 23 to April 17, 1955.

The employer appealed from this decree of the trial commissioner to the full commission. After a hearing thereon the full commission on December 11, 1957 entered a decree in which it found as follows:

“The petitioner has proved by a fair preponderance of the evidence that he was totally incapacitated from performing his regular work on account of the conse[154]*154quences of the injuries he sustained on May 27, 1954 for the following periods of time: total incapacity from January 22, 1955 to February 22, 1955 and partial incapacity from February 23, 1955 to April 17, 1955.”

Thereafter on December 18, 1957 the employer filed in this court its petition for the instant writ of certiorari and also its motion to stay the operation of the decree of the full commission.

The employer argues at great length concerning what it alleges are defects in the proceedings of the commission on the petition presented to it and with respect to the errors which it charges the commission made in passing on the issues raised. It argues in substance that the petition filed by the employee is not a petition to review incapacity but is in fact a petition to the commission to redecide an issue raised in a prior hearing.

We have held that compliance with the provisions of general laws 1956, §28-35-45, is necessary to confer upon the commission jurisdiction to review incapacity. E. Turgeon Construction Co. v.

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Related

Kleistone Rubber Co. v. Audette
251 A.2d 525 (Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 1969)
Ricci v. UNITED STATES RUBBER COMPANY
143 A.2d 691 (Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 1958)

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Bluebook (online)
143 A.2d 691, 88 R.I. 149, 1958 R.I. LEXIS 102, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ricci-v-united-states-rubber-company-ri-1958.