15 Conn. App. 356 | Conn. App. Ct. | 1988
The defendants
The facts relevant to this appeal are undisputed. On September 11, 1981, the plaintiff, while employed by the named defendant, sustained a compensable injury to her neck which was diagnosed as a cervical disc injury. On January 5,1983, the plaintiff underwent an anterior C4-C5 discectomy and fusion. The fusion required that a piece of bone from her hip be removed and grafted on the indicated vertebral bodies. The cervical fusion surgery and bone graft left surgical scars on the claimant’s hip and on the front portion of her neck.
The plaintiff sought an award under General Statutes § 31-308 (d) for both scars. The commissioner determined that neither scar was compensable. The compensation review division reversed that decision, concluding that the “spinal surgery” exclusion of § 31-308 (d) precludes compensation only for “scars resulting directly from an incision on the back” and that “[njeither of the scars here . . . derived from an incision on the back.” This appeal followed.
The defendants argue that the decision of the review division is contrary to the clear language of General Statutes § 31-308 (d), which provides that “no compensation shall be awarded ... for any scar resulting from . . . any spinal surgery.’’Claiming that this language is unambiguous, the respondents urge us to rely upon that well established principle of statutory inter
“ ‘The objective of statutory construction is to give effect to the intended purpose of the legislature.’ State v. Delafose, 185 Conn. 517, 521, 441 A.2d 158 (1981). Although it is axiomatic that, where the statutory language is clear and unambiguous, construction of the statute by reference to its history and purpose is unnecessary; Manchester v. Manchester Police Union, 3 Conn. App. 1, 6, 484 A.2d 455 (1984); that axiom only applies in full force ‘[wjhere . . . the language of a statute is . . . absolutely clear’ on its face and where no ambiguity is disclosed by reference to its background. (Emphasis in original.) Anderson v. Ludgin, 175 Conn. 545, 552-54, 400 A.2d 712 (1978). Where such absolute clarity is lacking and such an ambiguity is disclosed, the court must look to the language of the statute, its history, purpose, objective and underlying policy. Id. What appears to be clear statutory language should not be read to arrive at an ‘ambiguous or unreasonable result’ or to ‘defeat a legislative intent which becomes evident when the statute is read in the light of its history and purpose.’ State v. Delafose, supra, 522.” Shelby Mutual Ins. Co. v. Della Ghelfa, 3 Conn. App. 432, 437-38, 489 A.2d 398 (1985), aff'd, 200 Conn. 630, 513 A.2d 52 (1986).
The background to the disfigurement provisions of General Statutes § 31-308 (d) discloses ambiguity in the “spinal surgery” exclusion. “The portion of the statute authorizing an award for disfigurement had its origin in the enactment of § 1328e of the 1939 Cumulative
Further ambiguity in the “spinal surgery” exclusion, as it applies to a scar on the front of the neck from spinal fusion surgery, is evident in light of changing medical practice. Anterior incisions on the neck for cervical disc surgery were not generally known in 1967. Only recently has the frontal approach been widely utilized. IB R. Gray & L. Gordy, Attorneys’ Textbook of Medicine (3rd Ed.) Para. 10A.75 (2), p. 10A-68. Thus, in 1967, when the legislature excluded “any scar resulting from . . . any spinal surgery,” it did not contemplate that its exclusion would have any impact on a claimant seeking compensation for scarring on the front of her neck.
Reference to the background of § 31-308 (d), therefore, discloses that the “spinal surgery” exception requires judicial construction in order not to “ ‘defeat a legislative intent which becomes evident when the
There is no error.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
The named defendant is the plaintiff’s employer. The defendant Continental National American Group is the employer’s workers’ compensation insurer.
General Statutes § 31-308 (d) provides in relevant part: “In addition to compensation for total or partial incapacity or for a specific loss of a member or use of the function of a member of the body, the commissioner may award such compensation as he deems just ... for any permanent significant disfigurement of, or permanent significant scar on, any part of the
Public Acts 1967, No. 67-842 also amended § 31-308 by, inter alia, deleting the requirement that the disfigurement be “serious.”
An “inguinal hernia” is a hernia, or a protrusion of an internal bodily organ outside the confines of its body cavity, which consists of a rupture in the inguinal canal, a passage in the region of the groin. 4A R. Gray & L. Gordy, Attorneys’ Textbook of Medicine (3rd Ed.) Paras. 222.01, 222.11 (1), 222.11 (2), 222.30, 222.40. “The most common hernias are the abdominal hernias and of these the most common is known as the indirect inguinal hernia . . . .” Id., Para. 222.01, p. 222-4.
Public Acts 1979, No. 79-376 inter alia, divided General Statutes § 31-308 into subsections, placing the disfigurement provision into subsec