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Daneker v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board8/3/2000
Whiteside, which is most applicable to the present case.
The determination of whether a claimant's workers' compensation claim is classified as a mental/mental injury or a mental/physical injury has been the source of extensive litigation in this Court. The reasoning has been important, as the classification determined what the claimant had to prove to obtain benefits. If a claim was classified as mental/mental, a claimant had to prove that the mental injury was caused by abnormal working conditions; a standard that, at best, was difficult to overcome. In a mental/physical case, however, because of the objectivity of a physical injury, a claimant has not been saddled with the heightened burden of proving an abnormal working condition. And, where the classification of the claim is at issue, the claim had to be analyzed in order to determine whether the claimant was required to prove an abnormal working condition. Martin v. Ketchum, Inc., 523 Pa. 509, 568 A.2d 159 (1990).
In Pennsylvania we have recognized three discrete areas of law involving a psychological element. In Volterano v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board, 536 Pa. 335, 345, 639 A.2d 453, 457-458 (1994), the Supreme Court stated:
Disabilities caused by psychological/mental elements may be considered to be injuries under the Act and therefore compensable if the other elements needed to establish a claim are met. The influence of the psychological or mental element can be broken down into three discrete areas: (1) psychological stimulus causing physical injury (the mental/physical association), ... (2) physical stimulus causing psychic injury (the physical/mental association); and (3) psychological stimulus causing psychic injury (the mental/mental association). ... (Citations omitted.)
Thereafter, this Court decided two salient cases, one of which involved the mental/mental classification and the other the mental/physical classification, together with the corresponding burden of proof required in each case. In Old Republic, we ruled that the claimant's claim was mental/mental in nature, and, therefore, the claimant was required to prove that her mental injury was caused by abnormal working conditions. In Whiteside, we ruled that the claimant's claim was mental/physical in nature. As a result, we held that the claimant was not required to prove abnormal working conditions.
In analyzing a mental/physical claim, two common elements must be present: "(1) a psychological stimulus which causes a physical injury which continues after the psychological stimulus is removed; and (2) a disability, i.e., loss of earning power, caused by the physical condition...." Old Republic at 449. A mental/mental claim, however, explains a situation where a claimant is exposed to a psychological stimulus and subsequently develops a psychological injury. Id.
Traditionally, the above mental/mental versus mental/physical analysis would have been germane to the result in this case. Recently, however, our Supreme Court in Davis v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Swarthmore Borough), ___ Pa. ___, 751 A.2d 168, 170 (2000), held "that where a psychic injury is claimed, regardless of whether it is manifested through psychic symptoms alone or physical symptoms as well, the claimant must establish that the injury arose from abnormal working conditions in order to recover benefits." (Emphasis added.) Thus, we need not decide whether Claimant's claim is mental/mental or mental/physical in nature, since, regardless of whether the psychological stimuli to which she was exposed resulted in physical and psychic, or merely psychic manifestations, the burden of proof, i.e., the requirement to prove abnormal working condit
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