Belanger v. Weaving Corp. of America
| Decision Date | 23 June 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 76-223-A,76-223-A |
| Citation | 387 A.2d 692,120 R.I. 348 |
| Parties | Evelyn BELANGER v. WEAVING CORPORATION OF AMERICA. ppeal. |
| Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
This is a petitioner's appeal from a decree of the full Workers' Compensation Commission (the commission) affirming the trial commissioner's finding that the petitioner's right to benefits for total incapacity resulting from a work-related injury commenced on January 12, 1975, rather than October 10, 1974.
The petitioner, Evelyn Belanger, sustained an injury to her back during the course of her employment with respondent, Weaving Corporation of America, on October 24, 1973. This injury was diagnosed as a herniated disc. On October 9, 1974, the parties entered into a preliminary agreement for partial disability benefits retroactive to June 10, 1974, and continuing for the duration of petitioner's partial incapacity. The agreement was approved by the Director of Labor on October 31, 1974. The petitioner filed a petition to review this agreement on April 21, 1975, in which she alleged an increase in disability from partial to total beginning April 24, 1974, and requested certain dependency benefits and permission for surgery.
Subsequently, a hearing was held before a trial commissioner on the petition to review. At the hearing, petitioner attempted to introduce testimony of her doctor relating to her physical condition prior to October 9, 1974, the date of the preliminary agreement for partial incapacity benefits. The trial commissioner ruled that that testimony was inadmissible, but permitted the doctor to testify that he had examined petitioner on January 12, 1975, and found her to be totally incapacitated at that time. Thereafter, the trial commissioner entered a decree awarding petitioner benefits for total incapacity commencing on January 12, 1975. On petitioner's appeal to the full commission, the decision of the trial commissioner was affirmed.
The petitioner argues before this court that the full commission erred in affirming the trial commissioner's exclusion of her physician's testimony concerning her condition prior to October 9, 1974. She contends that the purpose behind the presentation of that evidence was not to alter the effect of the preliminary agreement for partial disability, but to show that petitioner was entitled to total disability benefits as of October 10, 1974. Therefore, petitioner asserts that the testimony was properly admissible.
It is well settled that upon approval by the Director of Labor, an agreement between parties for workers' compensation benefits has the full force and effect of a decree, and, in the absence of fraud or coercion, the doctrine of res judicata applies to the extent of the facts agreed upon in the document. See Trudeau v. United States Rubber Co., 92 R.I. 328, 168 A.2d 460 (1961); Ottone v. Franklin Process Co., 76 R.I. 431, 71 A.2d 780 (1950); Airedale Worsted Mills, Inc. v. Cote, 75 R.I. 361, 66 A.2d 802 (1949). The petitioner does not disagree with this principle, but argues that the provisions in the workers' compensation statute for petitions to review decrees, orders, or agreements, G.L. 1956 (1968 Reenactment) § 28-35-45, limit the effect of res judicata. This right to further litigation between the parties necessitates a curbing of the doctrine which normally precludes evidence on all issues which could have been raised and litigated during the initial proceedings. See Di Vona v. Haverhill Shoe Novelty Co., 85 R.I. 122, 127 A.2d 503 (1956). Therefore, petitioner states that res judicata should apply only to the particular issues resolved in the agreement, and not to the...
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Russo v. Baxter Healthcare Corp.
...921 F.2d 8, 10 (1st Cir.1990), cert. denied, 501 U.S. 1223, 111 S.Ct. 2840, 115 L.Ed.2d 1008 (1991); Belanger v. Weaving Corp. of America, 120 R.I. 348, 387 A.2d 692, 693 (1978). Therefore, the question before this Court is whether the prior case involved the same claim and issues as the cu......
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D'Amario v. Butler Hosp.
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