Gallagher v. Good Samaritan Hosp., Unpublished Decision (9-9-2005)
Gallagher v. Good Samaritan Hosp., Unpublished Decision (9-9-2005)
Opinion of the Court
{¶ 2} Appellee, Kelley Gallagher, was employed by Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton as a nurse. On November 16, 2001, she slipped and fell to the floor of an operating room, injuring her left hip. She followed a recommended course of therapy and continued working. On February 1, 2002, Gallagher tripped at her physical therapist's office, fracturing her left hip. Two surgeries were required to replace the injured joint.
{¶ 3} Gallagher filed a claim for Workers' Compensation benefits on November 24, 2002. The notice she filed identifies November 16, 2001, as the date of her injury. The injury is described as a "hip injury." The claim was assigned BWC Claim Number 01-884651.
{¶ 4} Gallagher's claim was heard by a District Hearing Officer, who on March 1, 2003, denied the claim. The officer found that Gallagher had suffered no injury on November 16, 2001, basing that finding on the lack of medical evidence in the form of a physician's report.
{¶ 5} Gallagher appealed from the District Hearing Officer's decision to a Staff Hearing Officer, who on May 8, 2003, affirmed the order of the District Hearing Officer. The Staff Hearing Officer's conclusion was based on the same finding, a lack of medical evidence with respect to the November 16, 2001 injury alleged. However, the Staff Hearing Officer's decision notes that "on 02/01/2002, the injured worker sustained an injury, a slip and fall, which resulted in a diagnosis of LEFT HIP FRACTURE, requiring surgery and time off work."
{¶ 6} Gallagher appealed from the Staff Hearing Officer's order to the Industrial Commission, which on June 18, 2003, refused the appeal pursuant to R.C.
{¶ 7} On August 15, 2003, Gallagher filed a notice of appeal to the court of common pleas from the order of the Staff Hearing Officer pursuant to R.C.
{¶ 8} The matter proceeded to trial, in which the jury heard the testimony of the physician who performed the surgeries following Gallagher's February 1, 2002 injury. He testified that she had suffered a stress fracture on November 16, 2001 that became worse, and eventually caused her hip to fail when she tripped on February 1, 2002.
{¶ 9} At the conclusion of the evidence, the court indicated that it would instruct the jury that if it found Gallagher's November 16, 2001 injury was suffered in the course of employment, the jury should go on to consider whether her February 1, 2002 injury proximately resulted from her prior fall. Defendant, Good Samaritan Hospital, objected that the February 1, 2002 injury was an intervening injury that had never been made a part of Gallagher's workers' compensation claim, and therefore the jury should not be allowed to consider it. The court overruled the objection.
{¶ 10} The jury returned a verdict finding that Gallagher is entitled to participate in the workers' compensation fund for the condition of an occult displaced fracture of her left hip occurring on November 16, 2001. On October 13, 2003, the court journalized its judgment that Gallagher is entitled to participate in the Fund for the displaced fracture of her left hip that occurred on November 16, 2001, and for the displaced fracture of her left hip that occurred on February 1, 2002, as a direct and proximate result of the November 16, 2001 injury, both arising out of and in the course of her employment by Good Samaritan Hospital.
{¶ 11} Good Samaritan Hospital filed a timely notice of appeal to this court. It presents an issue presented for review which we shall reform as its single assignment of error:
{¶ 12} "IF AN EMPLOYEE FILED A WORKERS' COMPENSATION CLAIM, ALLEGING A SPECIFIC DATE OF ACCIDENT, AND PURSUES ONLY THAT CLAIM THROUGHOUT THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS, THE EMPLOYEE (DOES NOT) HAVE A RIGHT TO RAISE AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT ACCIDENT IN COMMON PLEAS COURT, AN ISSUE WHICH HAS NOT BEEN ADMINISTRATIVELY ADDRESSED BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION."
{¶ 13} Notice of the body part or parts injured in the course of and arising out of the claimant's employment must be given within two years after the injury occurs. R.C.
{¶ 14} R.C.
{¶ 15} It is undisputed that the claims for benefits that Gallagher filed on November 24, 2001, constitutes notice of the injury to her hip that Gallagher allegedly suffered on November 16, 2001. That claim constitutes a notice conferring continuing jurisdiction on the Commission to determine additional and residual conditions arising from the same injury. The Commission denied the claim Gallagher had filed.
{¶ 16} The Industrial Commission's decision denying Gallagher's claim permitted Gallagher to file an R.C.
{¶ 17} Gallagher argues that because her February 1, 2002 injury was a "flow-through" injury, she was entitled by the claims she filed with the Commission to seek compensation in her R.C.
{¶ 18} Except for the reference to it in the Staff Hearing Officer's decision, no mention of Gallagher's alleged injury of February 1, 2002 appears in the proceedings before the Commission. The Staff Hearing Officer's reference is not a denial of coverage for the injury Gallagher claims she suffered on that date, but appears in its context to reject evidence of that injury as proof of the injury she claims she suffered on November 16, 2001. Further, no proof was offered that Gallagher gave notice of her February 1, 2002 injury, or that the Commission ever considered a claim for coverage and rejected it.
{¶ 19} The continuing jurisdiction of the Commission to consider her additional or residual claim notwithstanding, absent having filed such a claim or motion with the Commission, Gallagher could not ask the court to find that she is entitled to participate in the Workers' Compensation Fund for her injury. Ward v. Kroger Company. The trial court therefore erred when it entered a judgment granting Gallagher the right to participate in the Workers' Compensation Fund for the injury she suffered on February 1, 2002. We also note that the judgment was in that respect inconsistent with the terms of the jury's verdict, which was confined to the November 16, 2001 injury.
{¶ 20} The assignment of error is sustained. The judgment from which the appeal is taken will be reversed, in part, and affirmed as modified.
Brogan, P.J. And Donovan, J., concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Kelley Gallagher v. Good Samaritan Hosp.
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Unpublished