Title: Long v. Morganton Dyeing & Finishing Co.
Citation: 321 N.C. 82, 361 S.E.2d 575
Docket Number: 168PA87
State: north-carolina
Issuer: north-carolina Supreme Court
Date: November 5, 1987

361 S.E.2d 575 (1987)
321 N.C. 82
Roger LONG, Employee/Plaintiff;
v.
MORGANTON DYEING &amp; FINISHING CO., Employer and
Old Republic Insurance Company, Carrier, Defendants.
No. 168PA87.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.
November 5, 1987.
*576 McMurray &amp; McMurray by Martha McMurray-Russ, Morganton, for plaintiff-appellant.
Patton, Starnes, Thompson, Aycock &amp; Teele, P.A. by Thomas M. Starnes, Morganton, for defendant-appellees.
WHICHARD, Justice.
The issue is whether the pain that must accompany an injury resulting in a hernia to render the injury compensable under N.C.G.S. § 97-2(18)(c) must occur simultaneously with the sustaining of the injury. We answer in the negative.
The Hearing Commissioner made, and the full Industrial Commission adopted, the following findings of fact:
These findings are not excepted to and thus are binding on appeal. Pratt v. Upholstery Co., 252 N.C. 716, 719, 115 S.E.2d 27, 31 (1960); see also Mabe v. Granite Corp., 15 N.C.App. 253, 255, 189 S.E.2d 804, 806 (1972). They are conclusive for the further reason that they are supported by competent evidence. Hansel v. Sherman Textiles, 304 N.C. 44, 49, 283 S.E.2d 101, 104 (1981).
The Commissioner made, and the Commission adopted, the following additional "finding of fact":
The Commissioner then entered, and the full Commission adopted, the following conclusion of law:
On the basis of the foregoing findings and conclusion, the Hearing Commissioner denied plaintiff's claim for workers' compensation. The full Commission adopted the opinion and award of the Hearing Commissioner, thus also denying compensation.
On plaintiff's appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed. Plaintiff was entitled to appeal to this Court by virtue of Judge Johnson's dissent, N.C.G.S. § 7A-30(2), but he failed to timely perfect the appeal. On 2 June 1987 we allowed certiorari. We now reverse.
N.C.G.S. § 97-2(18) provides that in all claims for compensation for hernia resulting from an injury by accident the claimant must prove to the satisfaction of the Commission:
As stated by the Court of Appeals: "To recover compensation, a plaintiff must prove the existence of each of the above five elements. Hensley v. Cooperative, 246 N.C. 274, 98 S.E.2d 289 (1957). The absence of any one of them will result in the denial of compensation. Lutes v. Tobacco Co., 19 N.C.App. 380, 198 S.E.2d 746 (1973)." Long v. Morganton Dyeing &amp; Finishing Co., 84 N.C.App. 81, 83, 351 S.E.2d 767, 769 (1987).
That plaintiff has proven four of the five elements is undisputed. The element at issue is the requirement that the injury must be "accompanied by pain." N.C.G.S. § 97-2(18)(c). The Deputy Commissioner made, and the Commission adopted, a "finding" that "[p]laintiff has failed to prove that the hernia ... was accompanied by any pain." The Court of Appeals concluded that this "finding" was supported by competent evidence and thus was binding. Long v. Morganton Dyeing &amp; Finishing Co., 84 N.C.App. at 82-83, 351 S.E.2d  at 769. This "finding" is more properly denominated a conclusion of law, however, since it states the legal basis for denial of plaintiff's claim. Coble v. Coble, 300 N.C. 708, 713, 268 S.E.2d 185, 189 (1980). "Conclusions of law, even if stated as factual conclusions, are reviewable." Realty Co. v. Spiegel, 246 N.C. 458, 465, 98 S.E.2d 871, 876 (1957).
As Commissioner Clay noted in his dissent in the Industrial Commission, the conclusion denominated as finding seven is contradictory to findings five and six. The *578 latter findings establish that plaintiff experienced pain from his hernia, albeit approximately six weeks following the date of injury. Unless N.C.G.S. § 97-2(18)(c) is interpreted to require simultaneity between the onset of the hernia and pain therefrom, findings five and six entitle plaintiff to compensation. The statute does not, in express terms, contain a simultaneity requirement. The superimposition of such a requirement by the courts would be contrary to the long-established principle that the Workers' Compensation Act "should be liberally construed to the end that the benefits thereof should not be denied upon technical, narrow and strict interpretation." Johnson v. Hosiery Company, 199 N.C. 38, 40, 153 S.E. 591, 593 (1930). We thus conclude that plaintiff has met the requirements of N.C.G.S. § 97-2(18)(c) and is entitled to compensation.
Recently ratified legislation further informs our interpretation of the provision before us. Effective 5 August 1987, the General Assembly has removed the requirement that a hernia must be accompanied by pain to be compensable. 1987 N.C. Sess.Laws ch. 729. While the amendment does not apply here, we believe it reflects both a response to medical evidence that hernias are not universally accompanied by pain[1] and an indication by the legislature that it never intended that the "accompanied by pain" provision of N.C.G.S. § 97-2(18)(c) be interpreted to deny compensation to workers such as plaintiff here who, without question, have sustained injuries "by accident arising out of and in the course of the employment." N.C.G.S. § 97-2(6).
Accordingly, the decision of the Court of Appeals is reversed. The case is remanded to that court for further remand to the Industrial Commission for entry of an award to plaintiff.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
WEBB, Justice, dissenting.
I dissent. I believe the majority has rewritten the statute in order to provide a recovery for the plaintiff. I believe the only way to read N.C.G.S. § 97-2(18) properly is that "accompanied by pain" means that when the hernia or rupture appears suddenly there is pain. I vote to affirm the Court of Appeals.
MEYER, J., joins in this dissenting opinion.
[1]  There was medical testimony here that "some people havepain with hernias and some don't, some of them don't notice it, doesn't bother them...."