Wolf v. WCAC GEN. MOTORS CORP.

683 N.W.2d 714
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 21, 2004
Docket247809
StatusPublished

This text of 683 N.W.2d 714 (Wolf v. WCAC GEN. MOTORS CORP.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wolf v. WCAC GEN. MOTORS CORP., 683 N.W.2d 714 (Mich. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

683 N.W.2d 714 (2004)
262 Mich.App. 1

Raymond A. WOLF Jr., Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
WCAC GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellant.

Docket No. 247809.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted April 7, 2004, at Detroit.
Decided May 11, 2004, at 9:00 a.m.
Released for Publication July 21, 2004.

*715 Law Offices of Charles W. Palmer, P.C. (by Charles W. Palmer), Taylor, for the plaintiff.

Conklin, Benham, Ducey, Listman & Chuhran, P.C. (by Martin L. Critchell), Detroit, for the defendant.

Before: TALBOT, P.J., and NEFF and DONOFRIO, JJ.

DONOFRIO, J.

Defendant General Motors Corporation appeals, by leave granted, the Worker's Compensation Appellate Commission's (WCAC) order affirming a magistrate's award of benefits for a mental disability. The order was entered following a remand from the Supreme Court. Because plaintiff's *716 perception of the employment events were reasonably grounded in fact or reality, we affirm.

Plaintiff was a management supervisor for defendant. Plaintiff supervised between thirty-five and thirty-nine production employees. According to plaintiff, the stress and pressure associated with the position caused him to suffer from disabling depression.

Plaintiff filed a petition for, and was granted, an open award of benefits for a mental disability. On appeal, the award was affirmed by the WCAC. This Court denied defendant's application for leave to appeal in an unpublished order, entered April 18, 2001 (Docket No. 230444). Subsequently, our Supreme Court, in lieu of granting leave to appeal, remanded this matter to the magistrate for consideration in light of Robertson v. DaimlerChrysler Corp., 465 Mich. 732, 641 N.W.2d 567 (2002). 466 Mich. 871, 645 N.W.2d 666 (2002).

Robertson reversed prior precedent, Gardner v. Van Buren Pub. Schools, 445 Mich. 23, 517 N.W.2d 1 (1994), and set forth a new analysis for determining entitlement to benefits for mental disabilities. Essentially, Robertson held that Gardner was inconsistent with the plain language of MCL 418.301(2), which states that mental disabilities are compensable only when "arising out of actual events of employment, not unfounded perceptions thereof." Gardner had held that where a claimant seeks benefits for a mental disability, the focus is on whether an actual employment event occurred, and the claimant's perception of that event, even if misconstrued, was of no consequence. Robertson reversed this holding, concluding that, under the plain language of MCL 418.301(2), an analysis of the claimant's perception of events is required, and that benefits are appropriate only where, under an objective standard, the claimant's perception is grounded in fact or reality, not delusion.

On remand, the magistrate concluded that Robertson does not change the outcome of this case. The magistrate, finding plaintiff's account of events credible, determined that plaintiff's job involved stress at all levels, from subordinates to superiors, and that the stressors encountered by plaintiff were real events that reasonably translated into depression.

Defendant appealed the magistrate's decision to the WCAC, where, in a 2-1 decision, the magistrate's decision was affirmed. The WCAC majority concluded that the magistrate's analysis "precisely" fulfilled the requirements imposed by Robertson. However, the dissenting commissioner opined that the magistrate failed to engage in the type of objective analysis of plaintiff's employment situation that is required by Robertson.

This Court granted defendant's application for leave to appeal the WCAC's decision. The WCAC must review the magistrate's decision under the "substantial evidence" standard, while this Court reviews the WCAC's decision under the "any evidence" standard. Mudel v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., 462 Mich. 691, 701, 614 N.W.2d 607 (2000). Review by this Court begins with the WCAC's decision, not the magistrate's Id. If there is any evidence supporting the WCAC's factual findings, and if the WCAC did not misapprehend its administrative appellate role in reviewing the magistrate's decision, this Court should treat the WCAC's factual findings as conclusive. Id. at 709-710, 614 N.W.2d 607. This Court reviews de novo questions of law in any WCAC order. DiBenedetto v. West Shore Hosp., 461 Mich. 394, 401, 605 N.W.2d 300 (2000). A decision of the WCAC is subject to reversal if it is based on erroneous legal reasoning *717 or the wrong legal framework. Id. at 401-402, 605 N.W.2d 300.

The issue presented in this case is one of law. Defendant does not challenge the facts as found below, but, instead, argues that the magistrate and the WCAC did not properly apply the law to those facts. In particular, defendant contends that, under the facts of this case, Robertson, mandates a denial of benefits. We do not find that the WCAC misapplied the law.

Here, plaintiff sought benefits for a mental disability. His entitlement to such benefits is governed by MCL 418.301(2), which states:

Mental disabilities and conditions of the aging process, including but not limited to heart and cardiovascular conditions, shall be compensable if contributed to or aggravated or accelerated by the employment in a significant manner. Mental disabilities shall be compensable when arising out of actual events of employment, not unfounded perceptions thereof.

The first case to address MCL 418.301(2) was Gardner, supra. Gardner considered, in particular, the second sentence of the statute and expressed an inability to harmonize the phrases "actual events of employment" and "unfounded perceptions thereof." Gardner, supra at 43, 517 N.W.2d 1. The Court stated that, because, to some degree, many, if not all, mental disabilities are based on "unfounded perceptions" of "actual events," the statute "makes little sense." Id. at 43-44, 517 N.W.2d 1. The Court went on:

Where the first part of the provision states that certain work-related mental disabilities shall be compensable, the last part excludes the vast majority of all mental disabilities, those based on unfounded perceptions of actual events. What the legislative right hand gives, the left takes. [Id. at 44, 517 N.W.2d 1. (emphasis in original).]

Gardner ultimately concluded, "The statute, by excluding `unfounded perceptions' of the actual events of employment, excludes situations in which the claimed events never occurred (i.e., where they are imagined, hallucinatory or delusional)." Id.

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Related

Robertson v. DaimlerChrysler Corp.
641 N.W.2d 567 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2002)
Gardner v. Van Buren Public Schools
517 N.W.2d 1 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1994)
DiBenedetto v. West Shore Hospital
605 N.W.2d 300 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2000)
Mudel v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.
614 N.W.2d 607 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2000)
Wolf v. General Motors Corp.
683 N.W.2d 714 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2004)

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683 N.W.2d 714, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wolf-v-wcac-gen-motors-corp-michctapp-2004.