Mehan v. City of Stamford

• Citation: 15 A.3d 1122,127 Conn.App. 619
• Decision Date: 05 April 2011
• Docket Number: No. 31648.,31648.
• Court: Appellate Court of Connecticut
• Parties: Edward MEHANv.CITY OF STAMFORD et al.

127 Conn.App. 619

15 A.3d 1122

Edward MEHAN

v.CITY OF STAMFORD et al.

No. 31648.

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued Dec. 9, 2010.Decided April 5, 2011.

Maribeth M. McGloin, with whom, on the brief, was Scott Wilson Williams, Fairfield, for the appellants (defendants).Daniel A. Benjamin, with whom, on the brief, was Derek Mello, Stamford, for the appellee (plaintiff).DiPENTIMA, C.J., and BEACH and PELLEGRINO, Js.BEACH, J.

The defendant city of Stamford ¹ appeals from the decision of the workers' compensation review board (board) affirming the decision of the workers' compensation commissioner for the seventh district (commissioner) awarding workers' compensation benefits to the plaintiff, Edward Mehan. On appeal, the defendant claims that the board erred in affirming the commissioner's decision (1) granting the plaintiff's motion to preclude, (2) denying the defendant's motion for reconsideration and (3) finding that the plaintiff sustained a compensable work-related injury. We affirm the decision of the board.

The following facts, as found by the commissioner and accepted by the board, are relevant to this appeal. The plaintiff had been a firefighter with the defendant since 1959. On February 10, 2001, he suffered chest pains while fighting a fire and subsequently was taken to Stamford Hospital for treatment and to undergo a medical examination. The results of his medical examination showed that he did not suffer a myocardial infarction.² The plaintiff continued to suffer chest pains and, in March, 2001, underwent a cardiac catheterization by Robert L. Labarre,³ his treating physician. Following his catheterization, the plaintiff was informed that he had preexisting coronary artery disease.

Shortly after the February 10, 2001 incident, the plaintiff reported it to his supervisor, who so informed the defendant's third party administrator for workers' compensation claims. On April 9, 2001, the plaintiff filled out a form 30C,⁴ in which he entered his personal information but did not fill out the “injury section” or sign the form. The plaintiff gave the partially completed form 30C to assistant fire chief Peter Brown and explained to him the nature of the injury that he sustained on February 10, 2001. Brown then filled out the “injury section” of the form, describing the nature of the plaintiff's injury, and signed the form on the plaintiff's behalf as his representative. The plaintiff's form 30C, however, apparently never was delivered to the defendant's human resources department, which is where Brown normally sent such forms.

In October, 2002, the plaintiff was found to be physically unfit for active duty as a firefighter. In May and December, 2003, he had stents ⁵ inserted into his coronary arteries. Having undergone these procedures and having been deemed physically unfit to work, the plaintiff retired in late 2003. On September 26, 2005, Labarre described the injury suffered by the plaintiff on February 10, 2001, as an “acute coronary syndrome.” He described the syndrome as an “insufficient blood flow via the coronary arteries to the heart” and opined that “[i]t is reasonably likely that [the plaintiff's] heart exertion while firefighting on [February 10, 2001] precipitated his acute coronary syndrome.”

The plaintiff initiated proceedings against the defendant, and a hearing was held on November 20, 2006, to determine whether the commissioner had subject matter jurisdiction to hear the case. On July 25, 2007, the commissioner determined that she had subject matter jurisdiction to hear the case. On January 28, 2008, the plaintiff's case proceeded to a formal hearing on the merits before the commissioner. The hearing did not conclude on that date and was continued. In March, 2008, our Supreme Court issued its decision in Harpaz v. Laidlaw Transit, Inc., 286 Conn. 102, 942 A.2d 396 (2008), and the plaintiff filed a motion to preclude the defendant from contesting liability on March 14, 2008. In support of his motion to preclude, the plaintiff relied on Harpaz and the fact that the defendant did not timely file a form 43.⁶

The hearing on the merits resumed on April 7, 2008, and the record closed on June 25, 2008. On October 2, 2008, the commissioner denied the plaintiff's motion to preclude. The plaintiff filed a motion to correct and for reconsideration on October 3, 2008. On October 10, 2008, the commissioner granted the plaintiff's motion for reconsideration and issued, sua sponte, a decision vacating the October 2, 2008 order. Concluding that the plaintiff properly filed his form 30C and that the defendant did not timely file a form 43, the commissioner granted the plaintiff's motion to preclude on October 13, 2008. On October 16, 2008, the commissioner issued a decision concluding that the plaintiff's acute coronary syndrome, suffered as a result of the February 10, 2001 incident, was a compensable work-related injury that aggravated his preexisting coronary artery disease. The commissioner further concluded that the defendant was entitled to workers' compensation benefits, including those for a 25 percent permanent partial disability rating to his heart.

On October 30, 2008, the defendant filed a motion for reconsideration regarding the commissioner's October 16, 2008 decision, and also filed an appeal from the commissioner's decision with the board. The commissioner denied the motion on January 28, 2009. The board then affirmed the decision of the commissioner on October 14, 2009, and this appeal followed. Additional facts will be set forth as necessary.

I

The defendant first claims that the board erred in affirming the commissioner's granting of the plaintiff's motion to preclude. Specifically, the defendant argues that the form 30C that the plaintiff delivered to Brown on April 9, 2001, was insufficient to trigger its obligation to file a form 43. ⁷ We disagree.

The following additional facts are relevant to our resolution of this claim. The commissioner made findings regarding the execution and delivery of the plaintiff's form 30C. Brown was an administrative chief with the defendant's fire department, and it was his job to represent the department and its employees with matters involving the defendant's human resources department. It was Brown's obligation to deliver forms 30C to the human resources department, and in the ordinary course of business he would have delivered the plaintiff's form there. Historically, the defendant accepted forms 30C for processing from the human resources department, the town clerk's office and the law department, thus establishing flexibility in the defendant's service procedures. When the plaintiff handed his form 30C to Brown, Brown was an administrative agent of the defendant with apparent authority to act on the defendant's behalf when dealing with the processing of workers' compensation claims. Therefore, the timely notice of the plaintiff's claim to Brown constituted timely notice of the claim to the defendant, and any deficiency on Brown's part in processing the plaintiff's form 30C did not deprive the defendant of timely notice of the plaintiff's claim. On the basis of these findings, the commissioner concluded that the plaintiff sufficiently complied with his obligation in presenting a form 30C, such that the defendant was put on notice of the plaintiff's claim, and thus triggered the defendant's obligation to file a form 43, if it intended to contest liability. The board adopted the findings and affirmed the commissioner's decision, holding that the commissioner properly granted the plaintiff's motion to preclude.

We begin by setting forth our standard of review governing workers' compensation appeals. “The conclusions drawn by [the commissioner] from the facts found must stand unless they result from an incorrect application of the law to the subordinate facts or from an inference illegally or unreasonably drawn from them.... Neither the ... board nor this court has the power to retry facts. It is well established that [a]lthough not dispositive, we accord great weight to the construction given to the workers' compensation statutes by the commissioner and [the] board.... The commissioner has the power and duty, as the trier of fact, to determine the facts.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Cervero v. Mory's Assn., Inc., 122 Conn.App. 82, 90, 996 A.2d 1247, cert. denied, 298 Conn. 908, 3 A.3d 68 (2010).

General Statutes § 31–294c governs notice of claims for workers' compensation benefits. Section 31–294c (a) provides in relevant part: “No proceedings for compensation under the provisions of this chapter shall be maintained unless a written notice of claim for compensation is given within one year from the date of the accident.... Notice of a claim for compensation may be given to the employer or any commissioner and shall state, in simple language, the date and place of the accident and the nature of the injury resulting from the accident ... and the name and address of the employee and of the person in whose interest compensation is claimed....” The workers' compensation commission created the form 30C for use in complying with § 31–294c (a). See Tardy v. Abington Constructors, Inc., 71 Conn.App. 140, 150, 801 A.2d 804 (2002).

Regarding the manner of serving a notice of claim for workers' compensation benefits, General Statutes § 31–321 provides in relevant part: “Unless otherwise specifically provided, or unless the circumstances of the case or the rules of the commission direct otherwise, any notice required under this chapter to be served upon an employer, employee or commissioner shall be by written or printed notice, service personally or by registered or certified mail....” Regarding any defects in notice, § 31–294c (c) provides in relevant part that “[n]o defect or inaccuracy of notice of claim shall bar maintenance of proceedings unless the employer shows that he was ignorant of the facts...