Kulis v. Moll

Decision Date14 December 1976
CourtConnecticut Supreme Court
PartiesStephen KULIS v. James MOLL.

Emanuel Margolis, Stamford, with whom, on the brief, was John J. Graubard, Stamford, for appellant (defendant).

Vincent R. Falcone, West Haven, with whom, on the brief, was William J. Cousins, New Haven, for appellee (plaintiff).

Before HOUSE, C. J., and BOGDANSKI, LONGO, BARBER and MacDONALD, JJ.

MacDONALD, Associate Justice.

This is an appeal by an employer from a judgment of the Court of Common Pleas reversing a decision of the compensation commissioner for the seventh district which dismissed for lack of jurisdiction an employee's claim for compensation. The sole issue presented is whether the commissioner was correct in dismissing the claim on the ground that the mere transportation of the plaintiff to the hospital by his employer, the defendant herein, did not constitute the furnishing of medical or surgical care within the meaning of § 31-294 of the General Statutes and, accordingly, that the notice of claim, made over one year after the date of injury, was untimely, requiring dismissal of the claim for want of jurisdiction. It is desirable to have in mind the relevant portions of § 31-294 which are set forth in some detail in the footnote 1 while considering the facts as hereinafter summarized from the commissioner's finding and as printed in the briefs.

The plaintiff, Stephen Kulis, who had been engaged by the defendant, James Moll, to clean the outside of a house, was found lying on the ground at the foot of a ladder by Moll, who, at Kulis' request, drove him to the Stamford Hospital, where Moll requested hospital attendants to remove Kulis from Moll's automobile to the emergency room. Moll gave no information to the attendants, did not see Kulis at the hospital after his removal from the automobile, and there was no evidence that Moll made any payment for medical treatment rendered to Kulis. No written notice of claim was given to Moll until more than fifteen months after the date of injury.

Following a hearing before the commissioner limited to the preliminary issue of jurisdiction, the commissioner granted the motion of the defendant to dismiss the claim for want of jurisdiction after expressly finding that the transportation of the plaintiff to the hospital by the defendant did not constitute furnishing the plaintiff with "medical or surgical care" so as to qualify as an exception to the statutory requirement of giving written notice of the claim within one year of the injury. On appeal by the plaintiff, the Court of Common Pleas reached the opposite conclusion and, without in any way correcting the commissioner's finding of facts, reversed the decision appealed from by concluding that the defendant's act of driving the plaintiff to the hospital constituted an act of providing medical care and thus "brings the case within the jurisdictional requirements of . . . (General Statutes s) 31-294."

In his appeal, it is the basic claim of the defendant that his mere driving of the plaintiff to the hospital did not constitute the furnishing of medical or surgical care within the meaning of § 31-294 and he points to what he considers the all-important phrase "as hereafter provided in this section" which immediately follows the words "medical or surgical care" in the statute. He argues, in other words, that it is not simply the providing by the employer of any kind of medical or surgical care, but only of such medical or surgical care as is specifically outlined and described in the statute itself. An examination of the detailed provisions of § 31-294, as set forth in footnote 1, gives support to this argument. It requires, for example, that the employer "shall provide a competent physician or surgeon to attend the injured employee and, in addition, shall furnish such medical and surgical aid or hospital or nursing service as such physician or surgeon deems reasonable or necessary." It further requires that the physician or surgeon provided by the employer "shall be selected by the employee from an approved list of physicians and surgeons prepared by the commissioners" but that "if such employee is unable to make the selection, the employer shall do so, subject to ratification by the employee or his next of kin." The statute contains additional directives applying to the availability of a full-time staff physician or physician available on call by the employer to furnish immediate initial treatment, followed thereafter by the selection by the employee of his own physician "without prior approval by the commissioner."

It is apparent from the foregoing provisions, as well as from others disclosed by a reading of the entire statute, that the legislature intended to define and limit, with some degree of specificity, the acts of furnishing medical or surgical care by the employer which would relieve the employee of the statutory requirement to give written notice of his claim for compensation within one year from the date of the accident.

It is the contention of the plaintiff that the intent of the various exceptions listed in the statute is "to provide an injured employee with a remedy where formal written notice was not given but his employer had actual notice of the circumstances of his injury." He relies heavily upon the case of Gesmundo v. Bush, 133 Conn. 607, 53 A.2d 392, calling attention particularly to that portion of the opinion (p. 612, 53 A.2d p. 394) wherein this court stated: "The purpose of the notice is to inform the employer that an injury has been suffered upon which a claim for compensation will or may be founded. . . . The exception is, no doubt, based upon the fact that if the employer furnishes medical treatment he must know that an injury has been suffered which at least may be the basis of such a claim." But the language immediately following the sentences quoted by the plaintiff clearly shows the difference between Gesmundo and the case under consideration when the court points out (p. 612, 53 A.2d p. 394): "The injury in this case (Gesmundo ) was reported to the defendant's superintendent, and he sent the plaintiff to a doctor who attended injured employees of the defendant. . . . The examination by the doctor and the giving of instructions to the plaintiff constituted 'medical treatment' as those words are used in the statute. To 'furnish' means to 'provide' or 'supply.' Webster's New International Dictionary (2d Ed.). That the plaintiff saw fit to pay the doctor does not alter the situation; it is the fact that the defendant, through its superintendent, made provision for medical treatment that makes unnecessary the formal notice." Thus, the decision in Gesmundo was based upon the narrow ground that it was not necessary for the employer to pay for the treatment furnished by a physician selected by him in order to be held to have "furnished" such treatment within the meaning of the statute.

It is true, as argued by the plaintiff, that "(t)he Workmen's Compensation Act is liberally construed in favor of the employee . . . and it is to be interpreted with sufficient liberality to carry into effect the...

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    • United States
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