Case Title: Arroyo v. Crown Hotel

Citation: 275 So. 2d 226

Docket Number: 

State: florida

Court: Florida Supreme Court

Date: 1973-03-14T00:00:00Z

Document:
275 So. 2d 226 (1973)
Angelo ARROYO, Petitioner,
v.
CROWN HOTEL et al., Respondents.
No. 42844.

Supreme Court of Florida.
March 14, 1973.
Rehearing Denied April 16, 1973.
*227 Donald Feldman of Feldman & Abramson, Miami, for petitioner.
John G. Tomlinson, Jr. of Williams & Tomlinson, Coral Gables, and Kenneth H. Hart, Jr., Tallahassee, Fla. Industrial Relations Comm., for respondents.
ERVIN, Justice.
Petition for a writ of certiorari to review an order of reversal of the Industrial Relations Commission.
In 1965 claimant Angelo Arroyo was injured while acting as busboy in the respondent Crown Hotel. He sustained a sprain of the cervical and lumbar region, sprain of the left shoulder, and a contusion of the abdomen. As a result he was awarded 8% permanent partial disability of the body as a whole. Later he returned to work for Crown Hotel, serving as a room service waiter. This was a "light duty position and the claimant limited himself to working only the breakfast and lunch table." He later requested transfer back to his busboy duties in the dining room.
According to the Judge of Industrial Claims in his order in the instant cause:
Because of his March 1 injuries, claimant filed a claim for modification of the 1965 order, and in the alternative, filed a separate claim alleging a new accident. The JIC found:
The Judge concluded claimant "suffered a new and separate accident on March 1, *228 1969," as well as "suffered a marked change in condition ..." He based his conclusions primarily on the testimony of claimant's treating physician but additionally on the testimony of a psychiatrist and internal medicine specialist. Claimant was awarded 40% permanent partial disability of the body as a whole.
The IRC reversed and dismissed the cause. The Commission said (1) that there was no "accident" within the meaning of Chapter 440 because claimant suffered a "mental" or "nervous" injury rather than a "physical" injury; and (2) that:
Petitioner/claimant contends that even if the March 1, 1969 injuries were not the result of a new "accident," the evidence clearly supports the JIC's finding that on that date he suffered a change in condition. The IRC did not state that the record lacked competent substantial evidence to support such a modification, but rather found fault with the form of the JIC's Order. Claimant contends the form was sufficient to support a finding of change in condition under our holdings in Moncrief v. Hollywood Heights Service Station, Fla. 1972, 259 So. 2d 713; Arnold v. Stroud, Fla. 1969, 221 So. 2d 729. Furthermore, claimant says that even if the form were not proper, the cause should have been remanded for entry of a new order rather than dismissed, citing Brown v. Griffin, Fla. 1964, 229 So. 2d 225.
Respondents contend the JIC found claimant suffered a new accident and rejected his alternative claim for modification. Therefore, they contend that since there was no new accident, recovery was impossible and the claim was properly dismissed. They ignore, however, the fact that the JIC's order indicates he based his award on the alternative grounds of new accident and change in condition. See, for example, the following quoted from the JIC's order:
Therefore, aside from any question concerning whether there was a new accident, the findings of the JIC based upon competent substantial medical evidence indicate that claimant's preceding industrial injury disability or condition was worsened by a conversion reaction brought on by stress and excitement occurring on the job. The fact that the JIC also found claimant suffered a new accident in the same circumstances is immaterial. It is no basis for a denial of the claim predicated on a changed or worsened condition.
The order of the Industrial Relations Commission is reversed with directions to remand to the Judge of Industrial Claims for entry of an order consistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
ROBERTS, Acting C.J., and ADKINS, BOYD and DEKLE, JJ., concur