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Kelly v. Baltimore County1/31/2005
e of the accident.
Moreover, Kelly is not prohibited from presenting additional medical evidence at trial to bolster the Commission's decision. It is well settled that at an essential trial de novo review of a decision of the Commission, the "testimony is not confined to that taken before the Commission, but each side has the right to call witnesses to support its case." Miller v. James McGraw Co., 184 Md. 529, 542-43 (1945). Accordingly, a medical expert would be permitted to testify as to the results of an additional examination made by the expert between the date of the Commission's award and the de novo trial of the case in the circuit court. Id. at 543.
We conclude, therefore, that, because the County bore the burden of establishing a prima facie case of non-causation, and because Kelly enjoyed the presumption of correctness of the Commission's decision, there was legally sufficient evidence in this case to generate a genuine dispute as to a material fact.
In the instant case, as in Fenwick, supra, 258 Md. at 140 and Eqypt Farms, supra, 49 Md. App. at 182, the circuit court's error was in resolving the disparate inferences as a matter of law on summary judgment. "In doing so, it acted as a trier of fact, which was not its function at that point." Id. Accordingly, summary judgment should not have been granted in the County's favor.
It is as important "to note what we are not holding as to note what we are holding." American Airlines, 120 Md. App. at 359. We do not hold that summary judgment can never be granted in an appeal from a decision of the Commission. We have previously stated: "If the requirements of Md. Rule 2-501 are met, summary judgment may be invoked to prevent an unnecessary trial in a worker 's compensation appeal, just as in any other action." Dawson's Charter Service v. Chin, 68 Md. App. 433, 440 (1986). See also Dunstan v. Bethlehem Steel Co., 187 Md. 571, 577-78 (1947) (Court of Appeals affirmed a directed verdict entered against a claimant who prevailed before the Commission, because the undisputed facts established that the claim was barred by the statute of limitations); and Albright v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 183 Md. 421, 435 (1944) (Court of Appeals affirmed trial court's grant of a J.N.O.V. against a claimant who prevailed before the Commission, because the uncontradicted evidence established that the Commission was without jurisdiction in the matter). Our holding in S.B. Thomas makes clear, however, that if the claimant was the prevailing party before the Commission, and the employer has requested a jury trial de novo, the presumption of correctness of the Commission's ruling precludes the circuit court from ruling as a matter of law, upon a motion for summary judgment, that the claimant's evidence of a prima facie case will be insufficient. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the circuit court.
JUDGMENT REVERSED. CASE REMANDED TO THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR BALTIMORE COUNTY FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS NOT INCONSISTENT WITH THIS OPINION.
COSTS TO BE PAID BY APPELLEE.
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