Davis v. Forman School

• Decision Date: 14 September 1999
• Docket Number: (AC 18068)
• Citation: 738 A.2d 697,54 Conn. App. 841
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals
• Parties: LOUELLA DAVIS v. FORMAN SCHOOL ET AL.

54 Conn. App. 841

738 A.2d 697

LOUELLA DAVIS v. FORMAN SCHOOL ET AL.

(AC 18068)

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued March 1, 1999.

Officially released September 14, 1999.

O'Connell, C. J., and Hennessy and Healey, Js.

Lawrence R. Pellett, for the appellants (defendants).

George B. Simoncelli, Jr., for the appellee (plaintiff). Richard Blumenthal, attorney general, and William J. McCullough and Philip M. Schulz, assistant attorneys general, filed a brief as amicus curiae.

Opinion

HEALEY, J.

This appeal arises from the decision of the workers' compensation review board (board) affirming an award to the plaintiff, Louella Davis, pursuant to General Statutes § 31-303,¹ together with a penalty of 20 percent of such award against the defendants, Royal Insurance Company (Royal) and Forman School, of sums due Davis under a stipulation for an award by agreement. On appeal, the defendants claim that the board acted improperly in (1) determining that the penalty provision of § 31-303 was applicable to settlements by stipulation, (2) determining that the penalty sought by Davis was not barred by the express terms of the stipulation and (3) applying the penalty provision of § 31-303 retroactively.² We affirm the decision of the board.

The following facts and procedural history are relevant to the resolution of this appeal. Davis filed a notice of claim for workers' compensation benefits, dated June 18, 1991, claiming injuries arising from and in the course of her employment with Forman School. Davis' claim before the commissioner was defended against by both Royal and Fireman's Fund Insurance Company (Fireman's Fund). After numerous informal hearings, the parties executed a stipulation dated April 15, 1994.³ On April 20, 1994, the commissioner approved this stipulation. Royal did not comply with the stipulation in a timely manner, failing to issue its check until May 3, 1994. It did not make payment until May 6, 1994, when the check was delivered to Davis' counsel. At the request of Davis' counsel, the commissioner scheduled a formal hearing to address the issues of payment, late payment and whether a penalty should be assessed. Thereafter, he ordered Royal to pay a 20 percent penalty pursuant to General Statutes (Rev. to 1993) § 31-303, as amended by Public Acts 1993, No. 93-228, § 14.

Both Royal and Forman School appealed to the board, which affirmed the commissioner in a split decision. The board's majority concluded that (1) the penalty imposed was not "barred" by the language of the stipulation, (2) the 1993 amendment did not apply only to injuries sustained after July 1, 1993, the effective date of the amendment, because it was procedural, not substantive, and, therefore, retroactive application was not improper, and (3) the 1993 amendment applied to "stipulations" as that term is included within the meaning of the term "voluntary agreement" in § 31-303. This appeal by the defendants followed.

I

The defendants first claim that the board improperly determined that § 31-303, as amended, applies to workers' compensation cases that are resolved by stipulation.⁴ In support of their position, the defendants discuss the legislative intent of the statute. They also attempt to distinguish between the terms "stipulation" and "voluntary agreement." We are not persuaded.

"`In construing any statute, we seek to ascertain and give effect to the apparent intent of the legislature.' United Illuminating Co. v. Groppo, 220 Conn. 749, 755, 601 A.2d 1005 (1992). `[W]hen the language of a statute is plain and unambiguous, we need look no further than the words themselves because we assume that the language expresses the legislature's intent.' American Universal Ins. Co. v. DelGreco, 205 Conn. 178, 193, 530 A.2d 171 (1987)." Weinberg v. ARA Vending Co., 223 Conn. 336, 340-41, 612 A.2d 1203 (1992). "In order to determine the meaning of a statute, [the court] must consider the statute as a whole when reconciling its separate parts in order to render a reasonable overall interpretation." Willow Springs Condominium Assn., Inc. v. Seventh BRT Development Corp., 245 Conn. 1, 26-27, 717 A.2d 77 (1998); Butler v. Hartford Technical Institute, Inc., 243 Conn. 454, 461, 704 A.2d 222 (1997). "We have acknowledged, however, in the context of workers' compensation legislation, that [s]uch guidance is often of little help ... since words seldom have precise and unvarying meanings. Jacques v. H. O. Penn Machinery Co., 166 Conn. 352, 359 n.3, 349 A.2d 847 (1974)." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Weinberg v. ARA Vending Co., supra, 341; see Vaillancourt v. New Britain Machine/Litton, 224 Conn. 382, 390-91, 618 A.2d 1340 (1993). Our Supreme Court, nevertheless, often has acknowledged that "the Workers' Compensation Act [General Statutes § 31-275 et seq. (act)] is remedial and must be interpreted liberally to achieve its humanitarian purposes.... `Because the [act] is a remedial statute, this court should not impose limitations on the benefits provided for a disabled worker that the statute itself does not clearly specify.' Misenti v. International Silver Co., 215 Conn. 206, 210, 575 A.2d 690 (1990)." (Citations omitted.) Gil v. Courthouse One, 239 Conn. 676, 682-83, 687 A.2d 146 (1997). Moreover, in construing the act, our Supreme Court "`makes every part operative and harmonious with every other part insofar as is possible ....' Bahre v. Hogbloom, 162 Conn. 549, 554, 295 A.2d 547 (1972)." Mingachos v. CBS, Inc., 196 Conn. 91, 103-104, 491 A.2d 368 (1985). "In applying these principles we are mindful that the legislature is presumed to have intended a just and rational result." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Dos Santos v. F. D. Rich Construction Co., 233 Conn. 14, 21, 658 A.2d 83 (1995); Vaillancourt v. New Britain Machine/ Litton, supra, 391. We also recognize that "[i]t is the province of the legislative department to define rights and prescribe remedies; of the judicial to construe legislative enactments, determine the rights secured thereby, and apply the remedies prescribed." Atwood v. Buckingham, 78 Conn. 423, 428, 62 A. 616 (1905); see Wilson v. Security Ins. Group, 199 Conn. 618, 628, 509 A.2d 467 (1986); Second Injury Fund v. Lupachino, 45 Conn. App. 324, 341-42, 695 A.2d 1072 (1997).

In addressing the defendants' claim that the penalty provision of § 31-303 is not applicable to stipulations, we begin with their concession that the language of Public Act 93-228, § 14, "is plain and unambiguous and, accordingly, there is no need to look further than its words themselves to construe the legislature's intent." The defendants go on to argue that "[s]imply stated, stipulations for settlement are not included in the language of [Public Act] 93-228, § 14, because it was not intended that they be subject to it." We do not agree with this argument.

It is presumed that the legislature is mindful of judicial construction relevant to legislation it has enacted. Iacomacci v. Trumbull, 209 Conn. 219, 222, 550 A.2d 640 (1988); DeAlmeida v. M.C.M. Stamping Corp., 29 Conn. App. 441, 451, 615 A.2d 1066 (1992). "It is further presumed that when the legislature subsequently acts with respect to a statute, it does so with full awareness of relevant judicial interpretations. Rodriguez v. United States, 480 U.S. 522, 525, 107 S. Ct. 1391, 94 L. Ed. 2d 533 (1987)." Charles v. Charles, 243 Conn. 255, 263, 701 A.2d 650 (1997), cert. denied, 523 U.S. 1136, 118 S. Ct. 1838, 140 L. Ed. 2d 1089 (1998). Indeed, in the context of a workers' compensation case, our Supreme Court has stated that "[a] stipulation is a compromise and release type of settlement similar to settlements in civil personal injury cases where a claim is settled with a lump sum payment accompanied by a release of the adverse party from further liability. J. Asselin, Connecticut Workers' Compensation Practice Manual (1985) pp. 207-208." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Muldoon v. Homestead Insulation Co., 231 Conn. 469, 479-80, 650 A.2d 1240 (1994); Dunn v. United Technologies Corp., 239 Conn. 19, 30-31, 682 A.2d 99 (1996). Our Supreme Court has, on a number of occasions, also stated that the term "stipulation" is included within the term "voluntary agreement" in the act.⁵ See Muldoon v. Homestead Insulation Co., supra, 479-80, citing Sugrue v. Champion, 128 Conn. 574, 578-79, 24 A.2d 890 (1942); see also Welch v. Arthur A. Fogarty, Inc., 157 Conn. 538, 255 A.2d 627 (1969); Wallace v. Lux Clock Co., 120 Conn. 280, 284, 180 A. 466 (1935). It is interesting to note that in Wallace, the court, in discussing the precursor to General Statutes § 31-296, which governs voluntary agreements in workers' compensation cases, stated that the statute was broad enough not only to include the circumstance when a compensable injury is admitted, "but also where there is a dispute as to the existence of such a claim. An agreement such as the latter is as much within the beneficent purpose of the [act] as the former." Wallace v. Lux Clock Co., supra, 284.⁶

Recently, in Muldoon v. Homestead Insulation Co., supra, 231 Conn. 480, our Supreme Court stated that it has "consistently upheld the ability to compromise a compensation claim as inherent in the power to make a voluntary agreement regarding compensation. Sugrue v. Champion, [supra, 128 Conn. 578-79]." When the legislature enacted Public Act 93-228, § 14, Sugrue, Wallace and Welch already had been decided. Thus, when § 31-303 was amended by Public Act 93-228 to include the 20 percent penalty language, our courts already had construed the term "voluntary agreement" to include the term "stipulation." Moreover, Public Act 93-228, of which § 14 was one section, was titled "An Act Reforming the Workers' Compensation System" and, as such, the legislature revisited the act as it then was constituted. In so doing, the legislature did not change the language of § 31-303 except to add what is now the last sentence of that section containing the...