Opinion
Argued October 3, 1983
April 13, 1984.
Workmen's compensation — Occupational disease — Cause of death — Statutory construction.
1. Under provisions of The Pennsylvania Workmen's Compensation Act, Act of June 2, 1915, P.L. 736, death benefits are payable when an employe suffering from an occupational disease dies if it is established that the disease was a substantial contributing factor to his death. [565]
2. An interpretation of a statute by a court is deemed to have been the law since the enactment date of the statute, and the latest interpretation of the statute is therefore applicable to a case whose appeal has not yet been decided. [566]
Argued October 3, 1983, Before President Judge CRUMLISH, JR., and Judges BARRY and BARBIERI, sitting as a panel of three.
Appeal, No. 1846 C.D. 1982, from the Order of the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board in case of Margaret Gill, Widow of Gaufor Gill v. Lady Jane Collieries, Inc., No. A-81630.
Petition to the Department of Labor and Industry for workmen's compensation death benefits. Benefits awarded. Employer appealed to the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board. Award affirmed. Employer and insurer appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Held: Reversed and remanded.
Paul E. Sutter, Hisch, Weise Tillman, for petitioners.
Cynthia Soult, Belin, Belin Naddeo, for respondents.
Lady Jane Collieries, Inc., and its insurance carrier, Old Republic Companies, appeal a Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board order which affirmed a referee's grant of benefits. We reverse and remand.
During his lifetime, Gill was awarded benefits for total disability due to pneumoconiosis. Gill's widow filed a claim petition to recover statutory expenses, alleging that her husband died as a result of anthracosilicosis. His death certificate stated that the cause of death was cardiac arrest due to myocardial infarction due to arteriosclerotic heart disease and severe emphysema. The Board affirmed the referee's finding that Gill's underlying pre-existing pneumoconiosis was "a cause" of his death.
Section 301(c)(2) of The Pennsylvania Workmen's Compensation Act sets forth requirements a claimant must satisfy in order to receive death benefits. The referee and the Board interpreted this section as allowing benefits where the occupational disease was "a cause" of death. However, in McCloskey v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board, 501 Pa. 93, 460 A.2d 237 (1983), our Supreme Court determined that, when an occupational disease results in death, Section 301(c)(2) requires that the occupational disease be a "substantial contributing factor" of death. McCloskey was decided while the present case was on appeal before this Court. The Supreme Court, in Kuchinic v. McCrory, 422 Pa. 620, 625, 222 A.2d 897, 900 (1966), stated that "a court's interpretation of a statute is considered to have been the law from its enactment date, despite contrary intervening holdings . . . . In such circumstances, the latest interpretation is applicable to a case whose appeal has not yet been decided."
Act of June 2, 1915, P.L. 736, as amended, 77 P. S. § 411(2).
Section 301(c)(2) provides in pertinent part:
The terms "injury" "personal injury," and "injury arising in the course of his employment" as used in this act, shall include, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, occupational disease as defined in section 108 of this act: Provided, That whenever occupational disease is the basis for compensation, for disability or death under this act, it shall apply only to disability or death resulting from such disease . . . .
McCloskey was decided on May 19, 1983, while this case was on appeal to this Court.
We therefore reverse the Board and remand for a determination of whether Gill's pneumoconiosis was a "substantial contributing factor" of death.
Reversed and remanded.
ORDER
The order of the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board, No. A-81630 dated July 8, 1982, is hereby reversed and remanded.
Jurisdiction relinquished.