Tallini v. Martino & Son

• Decision Date: 30 March 1983
• Citation: 461 N.Y.S.2d 754,448 N.E.2d 421,58 N.Y.2d 392
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: , 448 N.E.2d 421 In the Matter of Peter TALLINI, Respondent, v. MARTINO & SON et al., Appellants, Workers' Compensation Board, Appellant.

Page 754

461 N.Y.S.2d 754

58 N.Y.2d 392, 448 N.E.2d 421

In the Matter of Peter TALLINI, Respondent, v. MARTINO & SON et al., Appellants Workers' Compensation Board, Appellant.

Court of Appeals of New York.

March 30, 1983.

Alan Rothstein, New York City, and Henry Shemin, Flushing, for Martino & Son and another, appellants.

Robert Abrams, Atty. Gen. (Howard Friedland, Peter H. Schiff, Henriette B. Frieder and Morris N. Lissauer, Asst. Attys. Gen., of counsel), for Workers' Compensation Bd., appellant.

Irwin B. Silverman, New York City, for respondent.

OPINION OF THE COURT

COOKE, Chief Judge.

This case presents the question whether a claimant, suffering from a prior work-related permanent partial disability, is entitled to continue receiving workers' compensation benefits during the period he or she is confined to a psychiatric ward for the criminally insane. This court holds that such confinement should not preclude claimant from receiving those benefits.

On May 5, 1959, claimant injured his back while employed in New York State. The Workers' Compensation Board subsequently determined that claimant had suffered a permanent partial disability and awarded him benefits. Some time later, claimant moved back to his native Italy. On May 3, 1976, he was arrested in Torrice, Italy, for fatally shooting two persons and wounding a third. After claimant had undergone psychiatric examination, an Italian court declared him "acquitted of the crime of which is accused * * * inasmuch as the person involved was not responsible due to total insanity at the time he committed the acts." The court ordered him "committed to a hospital for the criminally insane for a minimum of ten years."

Claimant's former employer and its insurance carrier applied to the Workers' Compensation Board for permission to suspend paying compensation to claimant during his confinement. The board held that claimant's benefits should be suspended for the duration of his commitment. The Appellate Division, 88 A.D.2d 1090, 453 N.Y.S.2d 74, by a divided court, reversed and held that claimant was entitled to continued benefits. This court now affirms.

The Workers' Compensation Law in general was enacted "as a means of protecting workingmen and their dependents from want in case of injury" on the job (Matter of Post v. Burger & Gohlke, 216 N.Y. 544, 553, 111 N.E. 351), and should "be interpreted with fair liberality, to the end of securing the benefits which it was intended to accomplish" (Matter of Petrie, 215 N.Y. 335, 338, 109 N.E. 549). Under certain circumstances, however, a worker who has suffered an impairment of wage-earning ability through a permanent work-related disability may lose the right to further workers' compensation benefits.

It has been held that a claimant is not entitled to workers' compensation benefits while incarcerated after conviction of a crime (see Matter of Bilello v. Eckert Co., 43 A.D.2d 192, 350 N.Y.S.2d 815; Matter of Packard v. Sperry & Sons, 39 A.D.2d 622, 331 N.Y.S.2d 126). Not all confinements that remove a claimant from the labor market, however, deprive the claimant of the right to receive compensation for a prior work-related injury. A claimant who is in jail awaiting a criminal trial is entitled to benefits so long as the work-related disability continues (see Matter of Bilello v. Eckert Co., 43 A.D.2d 192, 194, 350 N.Y.S.2d 815, supra ).

Likewise, a claimant who is voluntarily committed to a mental institution should not be deprived of continued compensation for his work-related permanent partial disability (see Matter of Papkoff v. Feldman, 26 A.D.2d 140, 271 N.Y.S.2d 812, affd. no...