Svec v. Westfield Motor Sales Co.

• Court: New Jersey Superior Court – Appellate Division
• Citation: 265 A.2d 157,110 N.J.Super. 225
• Decision Date: 29 April 1970
• Parties: Paul SVEC, Petitioner-Respondent, v. WESTFIELD MOTOR SALES CO., Inc., Respondent-Appellant.

Page 225

110 N.J.Super. 225 265 A.2d 157 Paul SVEC, Petitioner-Respondent,
v.
WESTFIELD MOTOR SALES CO., Inc., Respondent-Appellant. Superior Court of New Jersey,
Appellate Division. Argued Feb. 9, 1970.
Decided April 29, 1970.

Page 227

[265 A.2d 159] Roland Vreeland, Livingston, for appellant (Isidor Kalisch, Newark, attorney).

Otto C. Staubach, Elizabeth, for respondent (Weiner, Weiner & Glennon, Elizabeth, attorneys).

Before Judges CONFORD, COLLESTER and KOLOVSKY.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

CONFORD, P.J.A.D.

The nature of this litigation is indicated in the opinion of the Union County Court, reported at 105 N.J.Super. 226, 251 A.2d 492 (1969).

The principal ground of appeal is that the judge of compensation was without 'jurisdiction' to ignore the finding of fact by the 'referee, formal hearings' in the earlier section 22 proceeding (N.J.S.A. 34:15--22) that there was no causal connection between the accident and any impairment of the eye itself, as distinguished from the injury to the eyebrow or forehead. The contention is that the stated earlier finding was Res judicata and therefore precluded the later finding, even though made in a section 27 proceeding (N.J.S.A. 34:15--27), that the claimed injury to the eye was causally related to the same accident, and the consequent conclusion that petitioner's disability from the accident had increased since the first award.

Page 228

We are in essential agreement with the reasons given by Judge Di Buono in the County Court for rejecting respondent's argument. We add the following. The fact that a different bodily unit or function is implicated in the increased overall disability from that involved in the earlier award does not derogate from the appropriateness of section 27 relief. See Yeomans v. Jersey City, 27 N.J. 496, 509, 143 A.2d 174 (1958). Moreover, the fact that the judge of compensation in the later proceeding did not articulate his conclusions in terms of degree of increase of disability, as strictly as he should have, is not material since the substance of his determination amounted to such a finding, and the County Court placed its affirmance on that basis. See the County Court opinion, 105 N.J.Super., at 232--233, 251 A.2d 492.

On this appeal respondent raises for the first time the contention that it should have been credited in the final judgment for the $673.75 initially awarded against it for the injury to the right eyebrow. We could well ignore the belated argument. Baginsky v. American Smelting & Refining Co., 88 N.J.Super. 69, 83, 210 A.2d 782 (App.Div.1965), certif. den. 45 N.J. 588, 214 A.2d 27 (1965). It will suffice to say we have considered and find no merit in the contention.

Respondent also argues that the compensation court erred in allowing $40 per week for the scheduled 200 weeks for loss of sight of the eye contrary to the rate of $35 per week fixed by the statute as it stood as of the date of the accident. N.J.S.A. 34:15--12(c). ¹ This point was raised in the County Court by simple assertion in the respondent's brief but was not dealt with in the opinion of that court, probably because not supported by argument. We deal with it because the question is important, has not been ruled upon before, and should be settled.

Page 229

In allowing petitioner $40 per week against respondent for the scheduled 200 weeks of loss of sight of the eye the judge of compensation said:

* * * the rate being determined by the fact that his visual disability is a significant and necessary part of his total disability; and that being totally disabled as a result of this accident in [265 A.2d 160] conjunction with other pre-existing but non-aggravated disabilities--namely heart and nephritis--he should be paid at the rate applicable for total disability at the time of his accident.

The allusion to the heart and nephritis conditions is related to the fact that after filing his petition for increased disability petitioner had also filed a petition for Fund (formerly known as the One Percent Fund) benefits pursuant to N.J.S.A. 34:15--95 based on the allegation that the combined effect of his employment-connected injury and other previous nonconnected...