Grady v. St. Mary's Hospital

• Decision Date: 19 February 1980
• Citation: 179 Conn. 662,427 A.2d 842
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: Mary Anne GRADY v. ST. MARY'S HOSPITAL et al.

Page 842

427 A.2d 842

179 Conn. 662

Mary Anne GRADY v. ST. MARY'S HOSPITAL et al.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued Dec. 12, 1979.

Decided Feb. 19, 1980.

Anthony M. Fitzgerald, Waterbury, with whom, on brief, was John C. Bullock, Cheshire, for appellants (defendants).

Thomas V. Riley, Waterbury, with whom, on brief, was Francis J. Grady, Waterbury, for appellee (plaintiff).

Before COTTER, C. J., and LOISELLE, BOGDANSKI, PETERS and HEALEY, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

The defendants appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court vacating the dismissal of the plaintiff employee's claim by the commissioner of workmen's compensation. The defendants' appeal challenges the court's decision to strike the findings made by the commissioner and to substitute findings of fact and a contrary conclusion of its own, the court's holding that an employee is entitled to workmen's compensation benefits for a disease which is neither an occupational disease nor a disease resulting from an accident, and the court's decision to set aside the commissioner's conclusion that the plaintiff had not proven that her disease arose out of her employment.

The plaintiff Mary Anne Grady filed a claim for workmen's compensation benefits for a case of pulmonary tuberculosis which she alleged arose out of her employment as an x-ray technician at St. Mary's Hospital in Waterbury. The workmen's compensation commissioner entered a finding and award in favor of the defendants St. Mary's Hospital and Travelers Insurance Company on July 10, 1975, and dismissed the claim. The commissioner concluded that the claimant failed to sustain the burden of proof that her pulmonary tuberculosis was caused by any particular accident which could be definitely located as to the time when and the place where the accident occurred or that her condition was causally connected to the employment as a direct result of repetitive trauma and repetitive acts incident to such employment. The commissioner also concluded that the claimant had failed to sustain the burden of proof that pulmonary tuberculosis is a disease peculiar to the occupation of x-ray technician in a general hospital, regardless of whether she may have contracted the disease due to contagion in excess of the ordinary hazards of employment as such. The commissioner's finding therefore eliminated the three types of compensable conditions included in the definition of the terms "personal injury" or "injury" which are interchangeable terms under the act. General Statutes § 31-275. ¹ The commissioner also concluded that even if pulmonary tuberculosis were to be considered an occupational disease in this case, ² the claimant had failed to sustain the burden of proof that the pulmonary tuberculosis from which she suffered arose out of and in the course of her employment at St. Mary's Hospital. ³

The claimant appealed pursuant to General Statutes § 31-301 ⁴ from the decision of the commissioner denying compensation. The claimant also moved to have the commissioner correct his finding of fact based on a review of the transcript and hearing record pursuant to Practice Book, 1978, § 515. Upon the commissioner's denial of the motion, the claimant filed a second appeal under § 31-301.

The Superior Court acted solely on the claimant's appeal from the commissioner's denial of compensation. The court denied relief on the second appeal from the commissioner's refusal to correct the findings, despite the plaintiff's motion requesting that it do so. Instead the court ordered stricken a substantial portion of the commissioner's finding, substituted a finding of its own, and concluded that the plaintiff had proven by a preponderance of the evidence that her disability arose out of her employment as a radiology technician conducting special procedures at St. Mary's Hospital. The court held the claim proven and remanded the action to the commissioner to effect the judgment.

The defendants assign as error the trial court's decision to make a complete finding, contrary to that of the commissioner, upon an independent review of the transcript. In Adzima v. UAC/Norden Division, 177 Conn. 117-18, 411 A.2d 924 (1979) we said: "(T)he power and duty of determining the facts rests on the commissioner, the trier of facts.... Moreover, on review of the commissioner's findings, the trial court does not retry the facts nor hear evidence. It considers no evidence other than that certified to it by the commissioner, and then for the limited purpose of determining whether or not the finding should be corrected, or whether there was any evidence to support in law the conclusions reached. It cannot review the conclusions of the commissioner when these depend upon the weight of the evidence and the credibility of witnesses. Its power in the correction of the finding of the commissioner is analogous to, and its method of correcting the finding similar to, the power and method of the Supreme Court in correcting the findings of the trial court." (Citations omitted.) These limitations on the scope of review of the Superior Court on an appeal from the finding of a workmen's compensation commissioner are well-established principles of Connecticut law; Wheat v. Red Star Express Lines, 156 Conn. 245, 248-49, 240 A.2d 859 (1968); Powers v. Hotel Bond Co., 89 Conn. 143, 147-51, 93 A. 245 (1915); which have been embodied in Practice Book, 1978, § 519. ⁵ Although the Superior Court acknowledged these principles restricting the scope of review, it appears that the court was of the opinion that the case law, as well as § 519, authorized the substitution of an independent contradictory finding by the words: "When it appears necessary to protect substantial rights of a party, the court may order a transcript of the evidence and make such findings therefrom and render such judgment therein as it deems the law requires." ⁶ In Lanyon v. Administrator, 139 Conn. 20, 30, 89 A.2d 558 (1952), we said of this sentence in § 519: "Whatever may have prompted the adoption and retention of (this) rule, the fact remains that it has never been construed to extend the power of the court to make additions to the finding other than those which are admitted or undisputed." (Citations omitted.) The Superior Court erred in failing to limit its scope of review within the confines of the law.

The defendants also assign as error the court's conclusion that an employee is entitled to workmen's compensation benefits for a "disability, whatever its nature, which was sustained in the course of and arose out of the claimant's employment." The defendants contend that a compensable claim under the act is one which entails a "personal injury" as defined by one of the three categories in General Statutes § 31-275. ⁷ In view of the case history, ⁸ we agree with the defendants' assertion that the act's definition of three categories of compensable personal injury is exclusive. In its substituted finding, the court did not find that the claimant had sustained her burden of proving either of the two types of compensable injuries on which her claim was based. The court's memorandum states that proof of the first and third types of compensable personal injuries was not required, only "proof by a fair preponderance of the evidence that the disability, whatever its nature, was sustained in the course of and arose out of the claimant's employment." The court's conclusion is in error because it is contrary to the legislature's definition of personal injury.

The defendant's third assignment of error attacks the trial court's order setting aside the commissioner's conclusion that the plaintiff had not sustained her burden of proving that the disease arose out of her employment. "The conclusions drawn by (the...