Source: https://wcc.state.ct.us/crb/2002/4461crb.htm
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 20:38:43+00:00

Document:
The claimant was represented by Edward T. Dodd, Jr., Esq. Law Offices of Dodd, Lessack, Ranando & Dalton, 700 West Johnson Avenue, Cheshire, CT 06410.
This Petition for Review from the November 8, 2001 Memorandum of Decision of the Commissioner acting for the Fifth District was heard May 31, 2002 before a Compensation Review Board panel consisting of Chairman John A. Mastropietro, and Commissioners Amado J. Vargas and Jesse M. Frankl.
JOHN A. MASTROPIETRO, CHAIRMAN. The claimant in the instant matter appeals from the Commissioner acting for the Fifth District’s November 8, 2001 Memorandum of Decision. In that Memorandum of Decision the trial commissioner concluded that the claimant’s receipt of a State of Connecticut Disability Retirement benefit in the amount of $275.00 per week made her ineligible for benefits pursuant to § 31-308a.
The instant matter was decided on the basis of a Stipulation of Facts submitted to the trial commissioner.1 The underlying facts in this matter as stipulated to by the parties are as follows. The claimant sustained a compensable back injury on August 8, 1987. At the time of her injury, the claimant’s average weekly was $297.00 and her compensation rate was $198.57. As a result of the August 8, 1987 injury, the claimant sustained a 25% permanent partial disability of her back. The claimant was unable to return to her prior position and in 1999 she was awarded a Disability Retirement pension which pays her $275.00 per week. Prior to February 7, 1999 the claimant was paid 165 weeks of benefits pursuant to § 31-308a.
The claimant-appellant asks this panel to consider whether the trial commissioner erred in considering the claimant’s receipt of State Disability Retirement Benefits in the determination of claimant’s eligibility for § 31-308a benefits. The issue presented is a question of law. It is also a question previously considered by this tribunal in Iannarone v. State, 4138 CRB-7-99-10 (June 15, 2001)2. We believe Iannarone is sufficiently analogous, and thus, provides binding precedent for the decision we reach today. We appreciate that the claimant would have us use the instant matter as an opportunity to revisit our holding in Iannarone. However, we cannot ignore the principle of stare decisis. “The doctrine of stare decisis counsels that ‘a court should not overrule its earlier decisions unless the most cogent reasons and inescapable logic require it.’” Hall v. Gilbert & Bennett Mfg. Co., 241 Conn. 282, 296 (1997), Jolly, Inc. v. Zoning Board of Appeals, 237 Conn. 184, 196, 676 A.2d 831 (1996).
In fixing the amount of any compensation under this chapter, due allowance shall be made for any sum which the employer has paid to any injured employee or to his dependents on account of the injury, except such sums as the employer has expended or directed to be expended for medical, surgical or hospital service.
In Iannarone, supra, the Compensation Review Board provided its policy analysis as to why a claimant’s receipt of retirement disability payments should be factored into consideration of the claimant’s entitlement to benefits under § 31-308a. However, even if we were to construe § 31-308a as suggested by the claimant i.e., the sum received by the claimant as part of her disability retirement cannot be considered as earnings, § 31-314 permits the employer to take a credit for any sums paid on account of injury.
We think the language in § 31-314 is unambiguous. We find no merit to claimant’s argument on appeal that as § 31-314 is captioned “advance payments” such payments cannot be applied to sums owed or awarded pursuant to § 31-308a. The meaning to be given a statute is found in its language. Reference to the caption heading maybe useful where the language of a statute is ambiguous.
[T]he heading of a subdivision is not an element proper for consideration in the interpretation of a statute unless the provision under review is of doubtful meaning. Further, a subdivision heading does not restrict the scope of an explicitly worded statute to the body of the subdivision to which the heading is a prefix. Mad River Co. v. Wolcott, 137 Conn. 680, 688, 81 A.2d 119; note, 37 A.L.R. 927, 1086; 50 Am.Jur., Statutes, § 315.
Algonquin Gas Transmission Co. v. Zoning Board of Appeals, 162 Conn. 50, 55 (1971).
We think the language in § 31-314 is unambiguous and thus, we need look no more deeply into its intended meaning than its actual language. Application of § 31-314 is thus, not limited to instances where payments are made as an advance against a benefit to which the claimant may be entitled, although that is certainly one instance where the statute may be put into play.
We also think application of § 31-314 in instances like the one at hand is consistent with our courts’ general rule against permitting “double recovery” in damages. Nichols v. Lighthouse Restaurant, Inc., 246 Conn. 156, 164 (1998); Pokorny v. Getta’s Garage, 219 Conn. 439, 454 (1991); Gurliacci v. Mayer, 218 Conn. 531, 570 (1991).
For all the above reasons and as we find the instant matter factually indistinguishable from those in Iannarone, supra, we are compelled to reach the same result. We therefore affirm the Commissioner acting for the Fifth District’s November 8, 2001 Memorandum of Decision dismissing the claimant’s claim for benefits pursuant to § 31-308a.
Commissioners Amado J. Vargas and Jesse M. Frankl concur.
1. Agreement dated April 23, 2002 in which counsel for both parties aver that the attached documents represent the file for the above named claimant.
2. June 16, 1998 308a Order of Comm. Donald H. Doyle, Jr., Fifth District.
3. April 16, 1998 Order of Comm. Linda B. Johnson, Fifth District.
4. February 25, 1998 Order of Comm. John A. Mastropietro, Fifth District.
5. June 18, 1996 308a Order of Donald H. Doyle, Jr., Fifth District.
6. Voluntary Agreement approved Nov. 2, 1990, Fifth District.
7. Patrick R. Duffy, M.D.’s Patient’s Progress Report dated May 25, 1990.
8. Voluntary Agreement approved Feb. 17, 1989.
9. Brief of the Respondent State of Connecticut dated March 11, 2002.
10. Claimant Appellant’s Brief dated March 11, 2002.
11. November 8, 2001 Memorandum of Decision Comm. Darius J. Spain 5th District.
12. Claimant’s Brief dated August 2, 2001.
13. December 3, 2001 Notice of Appeal.
14. Petition for Review dated and received November 16, 2001 filed by Claimant’s counsel, Atty. Edward T. Dodd, Jr.

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