Sabatini v. Affiliated Food Distributors, Inc.

295 A.2d 845, 6 Pa. Commw. 470, 1972 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 409
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 20, 1972
DocketAppeal, No. 446 C.D. 1972
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 295 A.2d 845 (Sabatini v. Affiliated Food Distributors, Inc.) 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
Sabatini v. Affiliated Food Distributors, Inc., 295 A.2d 845, 6 Pa. Commw. 470, 1972 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 409 (Pa. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge Kramer,

This is an appeal filed by Affiliated Food Distributors, Inc. (Affiliated), from an Order of the Workmen’s Compensation Board (Board), dismissing Affiliated’s appeal to it from an Award granted by an adjudication of a Referee of the Board to Stella Sabatini (Sabatini), widow of Stephen Sabatini (decedent). The Referee’s Award granted to Sabatini benefits for both (1) that period prior to her husband’s death on April 8,1969, together with all hospital and medical expenses incurred prior to that date, and in addition (2) workmen’s compensation death benefits after his death.

For approximately two years prior to February 19, 1968, the decedent was employed by Affiliated as a warehouseman. The decedent’s work entailed the lifting and moving of boxes and crates and other materials in his employer’s warehouse. On that date, February 19, 1968, while at work on a platform near an open door, the decedent who had “sweated up — a little overheated due to the work,” became exposed to a draft of very cold air (the outside temperature being near zero degrees Fahrenheit) from the opened door. Decedent stated that the cold air struck him in the face, and later, that same day, at about 9:00 P.M. as he was eating his supper, he noticed that he was developing a paralysis and numbness about his face, which became progressively worse. Decedent continued his work until February 27, 1968, at which time he consulted his family physician who informed him that he had contracted “Bell’s palsy.” The record indicates that the decedent had been in apparent good health prior to the above described incident.

As a result of this incident, a workmen’s compensation agreement was executed between the decedent and Affiliated on March 28, 1968, under which Affiliated acknowledged that the decedent had experienced a com[473]*473pons able accident, resulting in Bell’s palsy to the left side of his face. Affiliated agreed to pay decedent compensation at the rate of $52.50 per week, beginning March 5, 1968, and in addition agreed to pay all medical and hospital expenses “subject to the limits of time and amounts provided by the Pennsylvania Workmen’s Compensation Act and subject to modification or termination by Supplemental Agreement, order of the Workmen’s Compensation Board or Final Receipt.” Decedent received payment under this agreement from March 5, 1968, to September 4, 1968, after which later date decedent returned to work. Because of his continuous deteriorating condition decedent again was forced to leave his employment; and on September 20, 1968, decedent and Affiliated entered into a supplemental agreement, under which it was further agreed “that on and after 9-12-68 compensation shall be payable to the said employee at the rate of $52.50 per week for indefinite weeks; or if the future period of disability is uncertain, then to continue at said rate until terminated by further supplemental agreement, order of the Workmen’s Compensation Board or Referee, or by final receipt.” Affiliated voluntarily stopped payment to decedent on December 23, 1968.

Decedent’s physical condition continued to deteriorate and after examination by several doctors and two confinements in a hospital, decedent’s disability was finally determined to be a cerebral vascular accident with hypertension. The record is quite clear that the decedent suffered two or more strokes between February 19, 1968, and his death on April 8, 1969.

Based on the record made before him, the Referee found that the decedent died as a result of the injuries he experienced on February 19, 1968. In affirming the Referee, the Board reached an additional conclusion stating that because of the two agreements between Af[474]*474filiated and decedent, there was a “formal admission” by Affiliated and its insurance carrier of the happening of the accident to the decedent on February 19, 1968, and the total disability, together with the nature of the injury resulting from that accident.

Affiliated, in this appeal, contends that the execution of the compensation agreement with the deceased did not bar it from contesting the Fatal Claim Petition of the widow of the deceased; and, secondly, that the finding by the Referee and the Board of a causal connection between the accident and the decedent’s death is not supported by substantial evidence.

The scope of review of this Court has been recently set forth by the Legislature in the Act of February 8, 1972, P. L. (Act No. 12), where in Section 427 it is stated: “In any appeal to the Commonwealth Court, the scope of review shall be as provided in section 44, act of June 4,1945 (P. L. 1388), known as the Administrative Agency Law.” (71 P.S. §1710.44). That section in pertinent part states: “The court to which the appeal is taken shall hear the appeal without a jury on the record certified by the agency. After hearing, the court shall affirm the adjudication unless it shall find that the same is in violation of the constitutional rights of the appellant, or is not in accordance with law, . . . or that any finding of fact made by the agency and necessary to support its adjudication is not supported by substantial evidence.”

In recent cases before this Court we have held that where the Board has made an award in favor of the claimant we must look to determine if there is substantial evidence to support the findings of the Board, giving to the claimant, who has the award, the benefit of the most favorable inferences deducible from the testimony. See Bambrick v. Asten Hill Manufacturing Co., 5 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 664, 291 A. 2d 354 (1972) [475]*475and Stump v. Follmer Trucking Co., 4 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 110, 286 A. 2d 1 (1972). Furthermore, we recently stated that substantial evidence should be construed to confer finality upon an administrative decision on the facts when, upon an examination of the entire record, the evidence, including the inferences therefrom, is found to be such that a reasonable man, acting reasonably, might have reached the decision; but on the other hand, if a reasonable man, acting reasonably, could not have reached the decision from the evidence and its inferences, then the decision is not supported by substantial evidence and is to be set aside. See A. P. Weaver and Sons v. Sanitary Water Board, 3 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 499, 284 A. 2d 515 (1971).

The record in this case clearly shows that the decedent’s family doctor made a “misdiagnosis,” for all four of the doctors who testified in this case (one doctor testified for the claimant and three testified for Affiliated) agreed that the decedent suffered from general arteriosclerosis, and that the decedent died of a cerebral thrombosis due to a thrombus of the right carotid artery. All three of Affiliated’s doctor witnesses agreed that the decedent’s symptoms would lead a medical expert to believe that decedent had Bell’s palsy.

In any event Affiliated, with full knowledge of all the then available facts, entered into a compensation agreement with the decedent, and later into a supplemental agreement with him, whereby Affiliated agreed to pay the benefits set forth in those agreements. Although Affiliated, at sometime prior to decedent’s death, petitioned the Board for the termination of the agreement, that petition was withdrawn before decedent’s death.

Our courts have passed upon the legal effect of a compensation agreement. In the case of Fehr v. Y.M.C.A. Pottsville, 201 Pa. Superior Ct. 107, 192 A. [476]*4762d 143

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
295 A.2d 845, 6 Pa. Commw. 470, 1972 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 409, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sabatini-v-affiliated-food-distributors-inc-pacommwct-1972.