Armstrong v. John R. Jurgensen Co.

• Decision Date: 04 June 2013
• Docket Number: No. 2012–0244.,2012–0244.
• Citation: 136 Ohio St.3d 58,990 N.E.2d 568
• Parties: ARMSTRONG, Appellant, v. JOHN R. JURGENSEN COMPANY et al., Appellees.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

136 Ohio St.3d 58

990 N.E.2d 568

ARMSTRONG, Appellant,

v.JOHN R. JURGENSEN COMPANY et al., Appellees.

No. 2012–0244.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted Jan. 23, 2013.

Decided June 4, 2013.

Harris & Burgin, L.P.A., and Jeffrey Harris, Cincinnati, for appellant.

Ice Miller L.L.P., Corey V. Crognale, Columbus, and Meghan M. Majernik, Cleveland, for appellee John R. Jurgensen Co.

Michael DeWine, Attorney General, and Colleen C. Erdman, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee Administrator, Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

Philip J. Fulton Law Office, Philip J. Fulton, and Chelsea J. Fulton, Columbus, urging reversal on behalf of amicus curiae Ohio Association for Justice.

FRENCH, J.

[Ohio St.3d 58]{¶ 1} In this appeal, we consider whether, for a mental condition to be compensable under the Ohio workers' compensation system, a compensable physical injury sustained by the claimant must cause the mental condition. We hold that it must.

Facts and Procedural History

{¶ 2} On August 27, 2009, appellant, Shaun Armstrong, was involved in a motor-vehicle accident while operating a one-ton dump truck within the course of [Ohio St.3d 59]his employment by appellee John R. Jurgensen Company. While stopped at a yield sign on an access ramp to I–70 east, Armstrong observed a vehicle approaching from behind with increasing speed. Armstrong braced for a collision, afraid he was going to be seriously injured. The approaching vehicle struck the dump truck from behind, pushed it forward, and came to rest “basically underneath” the dump truck.

{¶ 3} After the collision, Armstrong was in shock and did not know the extent of his injuries. Looking in his mirror, Armstrong saw the other driver with his head down and observed fluid leaking from the vehicles. Armstrong exited the dump truck, afraid the vehicles would catch fire, and called 9–1–1. Armstrong then noticed that the other driver was not moving and that blood was coming from his nose; he suspected the driver was dead. After being transported to the emergency room, Armstrong was treated for physical injuries and released. He was distressed to learn, while in the emergency room, that the other driver had, in fact, died.

{¶ 4} Armstrong filed a workers' compensation claim for his physical injuries, and his claim was allowed for cervical strain, thoracic strain, and lumbar strain. He subsequently requested an additional allowance for posttraumatic-stress disorder (“PTSD”). An Industrial Commission staff hearing officer allowed Armstrong's additional claim, finding his PTSD compensable because it was causally related to his industrial injury and his previously recognized conditions. Jurgensen appealed to the Industrial Commission, which refused the administrative appeal.

{¶ 5} After the Industrial Commission refused Jurgensen's administrative appeal, Jurgensen appealed to the Clark County Court of Common Pleas pursuant to R.C. 4123.512. The parties stipulated that Armstrong suffers from PTSD, and the trial court conducted a bench trial to determine Armstrong's right to workers' compensation benefits for that condition.

{¶ 6} Both Armstrong and Jurgensen presented expert testimony regarding the cause of Armstrong's PTSD. Armstrong presented the videotaped deposition testimony of Jennifer J. Stoeckel, Ph.D., who evaluated Armstrong and diagnosed his PTSD. Dr. Stoeckel testified that Armstrong developed PTSD as a result of the accident and that his physical injuries contributed to and were causal factors in his development of PTSD. Jurgensen, on the other hand, presented the testimony of William L. Howard, Ph.D., who agreed with Dr. Stoeckel that Armstrong suffered from PTSD as a result of the accident, but opined that Armstrong's physical injuries did not cause his PTSD. Dr. Howard testified that the PTSD was caused by witnessing the accident and “the mental observation of the severity of the injury, the fatality, [and] the fact that it could have been life-threatening [Ohio St.3d 60]to him at some point.” Dr. Howard believed that Armstrong would have developed PTSD even without his physical injuries.

{¶ 7} The trial court held that Armstrong's PTSD was not compensable, because it did not arise from his physical injuries. The Second District Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the applicable statutory definition of “injury” includes psychiatric conditions only when they arise from a compensable physical injury. The court of appeals further determined that competent, credible evidence supported the trial court's factual finding that Armstrong's PTSD did not arise from his physical injuries. 2011-Ohio-6708, 2011 WL 6884238, ¶ 39 (2d Dist.).

Question Presented

{¶ 8} The question before us is whether R.C. 4123.01(C)(1) limits workers' compensation coverage for psychiatric conditions to those conditions caused by the claimant's compensable physical injury.

Analysis

{¶ 9} The Ohio Constitution, Article II, Section 35 vests in the General Assembly the right to establish a workers' compensation system for the purpose of providing workers and their dependents compensation for death, injuries, and occupational disease occasioned in the course of employment. Article II, Section 35 “gives the General Assembly the sole authority to determine [workers' compensation] coverage and to define which occupational injuries will be covered.” McCrone v. Bank One Corp., 107 Ohio St.3d 272, 2005-Ohio-6505, 839 N.E.2d 1, ¶ 34, citing Rambaldo v. Accurate Die Casting, 65 Ohio St.3d 281, 288, 603 N.E.2d 975 (1992).

{¶ 10} Aside from certain statutory exceptions, R.C. 4123.54(A) provides that every employee who is injured or contracts an occupational disease is entitled to receive compensation for loss sustained on account of the injury or occupational disease. R.C. 4123.01(C) defines “injury” for purposes of workers' compensation: “ ‘Injury’ includes any injury, whether caused by external accidental means or accidental in character and result, received in the course of, and arising out of, the injured employee's employment.” Psychiatric conditions are excluded from the general definition of “injury,” “except where the claimant's psychiatric conditions have arisen from an injury or occupational disease sustained by that claimant.” R.C. 4123.01(C)(1).

{¶ 11} This case presents an issue of statutory construction, centering on whether Armstrong's PTSD qualifies as an “injury” under R.C. 4123.01(C)(1). Specifically,we must determine what nexus is required between a psychiatric condition and a compensable physical injury for the psychiatric condition to qualify as a compensable injury. Jurgensen maintains that R.C. 4123.01(C)(1)[Ohio St.3d 61]requires a direct and proximate causal relationship between the physical injury and the mental condition, but Armstrong maintains that Ohio courts have always allowed compensation for mental conditions that arise contemporaneously with physical injury, regardless of a causal relationship between the two. The Ohio Association for Justice (“OAJ”), as amicus curiae, has filed a brief in support of Armstrong's position.

{¶ 12} A court's paramount concern in construing a statute is legislative intent. State ex rel. Dispatch Printing Co. v. Johnson, 106 Ohio St.3d 160, 2005-Ohio-4384, 833 N.E.2d 274, ¶ 21, citing State ex rel. Steele v. Morrissey, 103 Ohio St.3d 355, 2004-Ohio-4960, 815 N.E.2d 1107, ¶ 21. To discern legislative intent, we first consider the statutory language, reading the words and phrases in context, according to rules of grammar and common usage. R.C. 1.42; State ex rel. Choices for South–Western City Schools v. Anthony, 108 Ohio St.3d 1, 2005-Ohio-5362, 840 N.E.2d 582, ¶ 40. The court may not delete or insert words, but must give effect to the words the General Assembly has chosen. Bailey v. Republic Engineered Steels, Inc., 91 Ohio St.3d 38, 39–40, 741 N.E.2d 121 (2001). When a statute is unambiguous, a court must apply it as written. Id. at 40, 741 N.E.2d 121.

{¶ 13} R.C. 4123.95 prescribes that the provisions of R.C. Chapter 4123 “shall be liberally construed in favor of employees.” R.C. 4123.95 does not, however, license alteration of unambiguous statutory language. Kilgore v. Chrysler Corp., 92 Ohio St.3d 184, 189, 749 N.E.2d 267 (2001) (Moyer, C.J., dissenting) (“R.C. 4123.95 does not authorize this court to effectively rewrite the statutory system in favor of claimants and their lawyers to assure them favorable results”); Gleich v. J.C. Penney Co., Inc., 10th Dist. No. 85AP–276, 1985 WL 10104, *2 (Aug. 8, 1985). The language of R.C. 4123.01(C) is unambiguous, and we must apply it as written. We will not rewrite the statute under the guise of liberal construction.

{¶ 14} Pursuant to the plain language of R.C. 4123.01(C)(1), a claimant must sustain physical injury or occupational disease as a prerequisite to recovering workers' compensation benefits for a mental condition. A psychiatric condition is not a workers' compensation injury except when the condition has “arisen from an injury or occupational disease sustained by that claimant.” R.C. 4123.01(C)(1). R.C. 4123.01(C)(1) “explicitly codified that ‘mental-mental’ claims—psychiatric conditions arising solely from job-related emotional stress—were not compensable under the system.” Bailey at 44, 741 N.E.2d 121 (Cook, J., dissenting); see also Rambaldo, 65 Ohio St.3d at 283, 603 N.E.2d 975 (“No Ohio appellate court has ever recognized a workers' compensation claim for mental injury or mental disease caused solely by job-related stress which is unaccompanied by physical injury or occupational disease”).

[Ohio St.3d 62]{¶ 15} Armstrong and OAJ urge this court to adopt a reading of the term “injury” that embraces the entire episode or accident giving rise to a claimant's physical injuries. We decline to do so. R.C. 4123.01(C), in its entirety, sets forth a comprehensive definition of “injury” for purposes of workers' compensation. We must read the term “injury” in the R.C. 4123.01(C)(1) exc...