Title: McCullough v. Xerox Corp.
Citation: 399 Pa. Super. 135, 581 A.2d 961
Docket Number: N/A
State: Pennsylvania
Issuer: Pennsylvania Supreme Court
Date: October 23, 1990

399 Pa. Superior Ct. 135 (1990) 581 A.2d 961 Cynthia L. McCULLOUGH, an Individual, and Michael McCullough, her Husband, Appellants, v. XEROX CORPORATION, a Corporation. Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Argued September 18, 1990. Filed October 23, 1990. *136 John D. Hendricks, Pittsburgh, for appellants. Eric Falk, Pittsburgh, for appellee. Before CIRILLO, President Judge, and TAMILIA and HOFFMAN, JJ. *137 PER CURIAM: Appellants Cynthia McCullough and Michael McCullough, her husband, filed a complaint in trespass on January 10, 1983 against appellee Xerox Corporation ("Xerox"). As stated by the trial court: (Slip Op., Musmanno, J., 3/2/90, pp. 2-3.) Xerox filed preliminary objections to the complaint and appellant filed preliminary objections to Xerox's preliminary objections. By Order dated April 6, 1983, all preliminary objections were withdrawn and Xerox was ordered to file an answer to appellants' complaint. However, because of a pending workmen's compensation claim, the April 6, 1983 Order also stayed the civil action pending final disposition of the workmen's compensation claim. Appellant/wife's claim for workmen's compensation benefits was dismissed by Order dated March 2, 1983. The decision of the referee was affirmed on appeal to the Worker's Compensation Appeal Board, and the board's decision was affirmed on appeal to the Commonwealth Court. The Supreme Court denied appellants' petition for allowance *138 of appeal on August 31, 1987 (285 W.D. Allocatur Dkt. 1986). Appellants then petitioned to have the stay of proceeding removed, which petition was granted by Order dated July 26, 1989. Subsequently, Xerox filed a motion for summary judgment, which was granted by Order dated December 19, 1989, and appellants' complaint was dismissed with prejudice. Appellants' motion for reconsideration was also denied, and this appeal followed. On appeal, appellants argue they may pursue a cause of action at common law since there has been a determination by workmen's compensation authorities that appellant/wife's injuries are not recognized as compensable injuries under the Workmen's Compensation Act ("Act"), 77 P.S. § 1 et seq. There is no dispute the Act was enacted to provide the sole and exclusive means of recovery for all injuries arising out of accidents occurring within the course of employment. Taynton v. Dersham, 358 Pa.Super. 178, 516 A.2d 1241 (1986). The exclusive liability provision of the Act has obliterated the common law cause of action against the employer and foreclosed the adjudication of liability on the part of the employer. Id. In recent years, our Supreme Court has considered at length the exclusivity provisions of the Act and a like provision in the related Occupational Disease Act, 77 P.S. § 1201 et seq. Analyzing the exclusivity provisions of both Acts, the Court stated: Barber v. Pittsburgh Corning Corp., 521 Pa. 29, 35, 555 A.2d 766, 769 (1989). Barber and Poyser, then, merely state clearly a fundamental corollary of the law of workmen's compensation: a common law tort action by an employee against his employer for any work-related injury is barred by the exclusivity provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act. Appellant, however, contends the Act has no applicability where appellant pursued a workmen's compensation claim under the occupational disease section of the Act and that injury did not meet the technical and narrow definition of "occupational disease" as defined in the Act, and thereby appellant suffered a harm which cannot be compensated under the Act. Greer v. United States Steel Corp., 475 Pa. 448, 380 A.2d 1221 (1977). We do not find this contention supported by either the relevant case law or the facts of this case. Section 108 of the Act sets forth myriad defined diseases as occupational diseases within the meaning of the Act, of which sarcoidosis is not a defined occupational disease. Not wishing to delimit occupational diseases to those defined explicitly, section 27.1 also encompasses: 77 P.S. § 27.1(n). The workmen's compensation referee made the following pertinent findings of fact: Referee's Decision, 3/2/83, pp. 11-12. Thus, the referee made an adjudication that appellant had not satisfied the requirements to establish her sarcoidosis as an occupational disease under section 27.1(n), but, moreover, the referee determined appellant had failed to carry her burden of proof in establishing that her sarcoidosis was in fact work-related. In essence, appellant suffered not from a statutory limitation, but from an evidentiary *141 failure. We agree with appellee that failure to meet the definition of occupational disease does not exclude a claimant from compensation under the workmen's compensation system. See generally Pawlosky v. WCAB, 514 Pa. 450, 525 A.2d 1204 (1987). Such definitions are merely procedural means of creating a non-conclusive presumption that an injury was work-related. Failure to establish the presumption is not dispositive; the claimant may still go forward in making out a case for workmen's compensation absent the presumption. For the above reasons, we find appellants' argument without merit and continue to find the workmen's compensation system the exclusive remedy of injured employees, and we find appellants' reliance on Greer, supra, misplaced. We also cite with approval a portion of the trial court's Opinion distinguishing Greer from the case at bar. (Slip Op. at 4-6.) The trial court found appellants were precluded from reasserting their cause of action at common law by virtue of the principles of collateral estoppel. We agree. Collateral estoppel principles apply to judgments from workmen's compensation boards in subsequent common law *143 tort actions. Frederick v. American Hardware Supply, 384 Pa.Super. 72, 557 A.2d 779 (1989). "The doctrine of collateral estoppel is a broader concept than res judicata. It operates to prevent a question of law or an issue of fact which has once been litigated and adjudicated finally in a court of competent jurisdiction from being relitigated in a subsequent suit." Muhammad v. Strassburger, 374 Pa.Super. 613, 618, 543 A.2d 1138, 1140 (1988) (quoting Day v. Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft, 318 Pa.Super. 225, 236, 464 A.2d 1313, 1318 (1983)), allocatur granted, 520 Pa. 618, 554 A.2d 510 (1989). A plea of collateral estoppel is valid if: 1) the issue decided in the prior adjudication was identical to the one presented in the later action; 2) there was a final judgment on the merits; 3) the party against whom the plea is asserted was a party or in privity with a party to the prior adjudication; and 4) the party against whom it is asserted has had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue in question in a prior action. Sanders v. Sanders, 384 Pa.Super. 311, 558 A.2d 556 (1989). This Court's examination of the record persuades us the referee's decision, subsequently affirmed on appeal by the WCAB and by Commonwealth Court, has estoppel effect in this case. It is undisputed the litigant parties are identical. Appellant argues, however, the issue presented to and decided by the referee was a narrowly defined statutory one, i.e., had appellant suffered an occupational disease injury. In light of our previous discussion, though, this argument is without basis. As we stated, the referee found unequivocally appellant's injury was not work-related, and appellant had failed to sustain her burden of proof. This failure was grounded not in appellant's inability to establish her sarcoidosis as an occupational disease injury, for her claim proceeded without that determination, but rather, in appellant's inability to prove the causation of her injury was aggravated, accelerated or related in any way to her work for Xerox. This was the central issue in appellant's workmen's compensation claim, just as it is instantly, *144 and appellant was afforded a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue before the referee. As that judgment is now final, appellants are estopped from pursuing the identical issue in a common law tort action. To find otherwise would be to undermine the concept of workmen's commpensation which has served the workers and economic structure of our society so well. Order affirmed.