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Karavolos v. Brown Derby12/19/1994
FORD, Presiding Judge.
The appellant, John Karavolos, appeals the entry of summary judgment in favor of appellee, Brown Derby, Inc., by the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas.
On February 1, 1987, appellant, an assistant manager at one of appellee's restaurants, sustained an injury to his back in the course and scope of his employment. The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation ("BWC") allowed appellant's claim for a contusion to his lower back and tailbone and a closed sacrum fracture. Appellant's claim was subsequently allowed for a fractured sacrum, herniated disc L5-S1 on the left, aggravation of a benign tumor on the right side of appellant's back, and a fractured coccyx.
On July 31, 1987, appellant slipped and fell at work and sustained further injury to his back. Appellee paid appellant's medical expenses and lost wages which arose from that claim.
On October 31, 1987, appellant allegedly sustained another injury to his back as a result of an altercation with an employee of appellee whom he was in the process of discharging. Appellee refused to pay on this claim.
A review of the appellant's deposition testimony reveals that sometime after appellant was informed of appellee's refusal to accept his claim based on this third incident, he became depressed. Soon thereafter, appellant attended a party, where he ingested some cocaine and he subsequently developed an addiction to the drug.
On April 3, 1989, appellant filed a motion with the BWC, requesting an amendment of the claim to include severe depression, post-traumatic neurosis, and secondary drug abuse.
On October 24, 1989, the district hearing officer granted appellant's motion, recognizing the additional claims of dysthymic and cocaine delusional disorder. Appellee appealed this decision, but the order was affirmed by the Canton Regional Board of Review and two staff hearing officers. Appellee then appealed the decision to the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas.
After discovery, appellee filed its motion for summary judgment, arguing that appellant's conditions of dysthymia and cocaine delusional disorder did not qualify for compensation under Ohio's workers' compensation statute. The trial court granted appellee's motion, and this appeal followed.
Appellant advances the following as error:
"1. Ohio Revised Code Section 4123.54(B), as relied upon by the trial court, is inapplicable to the underlying facts in the case at bar and will not support a motion for summary judgment.
"2. The trial court erred in granting defendant-appellee's motion for summary judgment for the reason that genuine issues of material fact remain to be litigated, whereby defendant-appellees were not entitled to judgment as a matter of law."
In his first assignment, appellant contends that the trial court erroneously concluded that R.C. 4123.54(B) was "a bar to [appellant's] recovery as a matter of law." (Emphasis added.) Reviewing the applicable statutes, we do not share the view espoused by the trial court and hold that appellant is not, as a matter of law, precluded from presenting his claim.
R.C. 4123.54 provides:
"Every employee, who is injured or who contracts an occupational disease, * * * in the course of employment * * * provided the same were not:
"(A) Purposely self-inflicted; or
"(B) Caused by the employee being intoxicated or under the influence of a controlled substance not prescribed by a physician where the intoxication or being under the influence of the controlled substance not prescribed by a physician was the pro
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