Claim of Ottomanelli

• Decision Date: 12 February 1981
• Parties: In the Matter of the Claim of Frank C. OTTOMANELLI, Respondent. OTTOMANELLI BROS. et al., Appellants, v. WORKERS' COMPENSATION BOARD, Respondent.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Page 442

436 N.Y.S.2d 442

80 A.D.2d 688

In the Matter of the Claim of Frank C. OTTOMANELLI, Respondent OTTOMANELLI BROS. et al., Appellants, v. WORKERS' COMPENSATION BOARD, Respondent.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department.

Feb. 12, 1981.

Peter M. Pryor, New York City (Joseph F. Manes, New York City, of counsel), for appellants.

Robert Abrams, Atty. Gen. (Howard B. Friedland, Asst. Atty. Gen., of counsel), for respondent Workers' Compensation Bd.

Before MAHONEY, P. J., SWEENEY, KANE, CASEY and MIKOLL, JJ.

MEMORANDUM DECISION.

Appeal from a decision of the Workers' Compensation Board, filed February 27, 1980, which found that claimant's disability was causally related to an industrial accident.

That claimant's work activities as a butcher involving five twelve-hour work days per week and myriad other duties caused him to suffer acute anxiety and disabling depression is not contested on this appeal. The sole issue is whether the pressure of work-related activities was causative of claimant's psychiatric disability. The board, in overruling the referee's conclusion of "no causal relationship" stated:

Upon review of the record, the Board Panel finds based on the testimony of Dr. Kiev and the claimant, that the claimant sustained an accident within the meaning of the Workers' Compensation Law, and that the claimant's resulting disability is causally relative thereto.

We agree. The board was free to credit the testimony of claimant's doctor that the traumas experienced by claimant were industrial accidents related to job pressures. It is well settled that depressive reactions triggered by a claimant's work and environment can constitute an accident arising out of and in the course of employment (Matter of Wolfe v. Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Co., 36 N.Y.2d 505, 369 N.Y.S.2d 637, 330 N.E.2d 603). Next, an accident can occur either as the initial trauma leading to an ultimate disability or, as here, as the result of prolonged, unusual circumstances (Matter of Greensmith v. Franklin Nat. Bank, 21 A.D.2d 576, 251 N.Y.S.2d 875, affd. 16 N.Y.2d 973, 265 N.Y.S.2d 288, 212 N.E.2d 774). The question of whether a causal relationship exists between any particular work activity and an ensuing disability is an issue of fact for resolution by the board (Matter of Currie v. Town of Davenport, 37 N.Y.2d 472, 373 N.Y.S.2d 107, 335 N.E.2d 323). The decision of the board is supported by substantive evidence.

Decision affirmed, with costs to the Workers'...