MARY L. VENTETUOLO
v.
LIFESPAN CORPORATION
W.C.C. No. 2018-06903
Rhode Island Worker Compensation
State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations Providence, SC
February 12, 2020
FINAL
DECREE OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
This
matter came on to be heard by the Appellate Division upon the
claim of appeal of the respondent/employer and upon
consideration thereof, the employer's appeal is denied
and dismissed, and it is hereby
ORDERED,
ADJUDGED, AND DECREED;
1. That
the findings of fact and orders contained in a decree of this
Court entered on June 20, 2019 be, and they hereby are,
affirmed.
2. That
the employer shall pay a counsel fee in the amount of Two
Thousand Five Hundred and 00/100 ($2,500.00) Dollars to
Stephen M. Rappoport, Esq., for the successful defense of the
employer's appeal.
PER
ORDER:
Nicholas
DiFilippo, Administrator
DECISION
OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
OLSSON, J.
This
matter is before the Appellate Division on the employer's
claim of appeal from the trial judge's decision and
decree granting the employee's original petition. The
employee alleged that she sustained a left humerus fracture
and left ankle fracture on October 22, 2018, when she fell
down in the employer's parking lot while walking to her
car at the end of her shift. The trial judge initially denied
the petition at the pretrial conference, but after trial, she
found that the employee's injuries were compensable and
awarded weekly benefits for total incapacity from October 23,
2018 through March 4, 2019, after which time the employee
returned to work. After a comprehensive review of the record
and consideration of the arguments of both parties, we deny
the employer's appeal and affirm the decision and decree
of the trial judge.
Mary
Ventetuolo (the employee) testified that she worked for
Lifespan Corporation (Lifespan or the employer) at Rhode
Island Hospital for thirty-nine (39) years. For thirty-seven
(37) of those years, she worked as a unit secretary. Every
workday, for thirty-nine (39) years, the employee drove
herself to work and parked in the same parking lot, Employee
Lot #7 (E-7). Lifespan instructed her to park in that lot and
provided her with a badge that permitted access to only E-7.
The employee testified that to reach her building every
morning after parking in E-7, she has to walk through the
patient parking lot, cross a cross-walk, and enter her office
building through the Ambulatory Patient Care
("APC") building—all of which are located on
Lifespan's premises. At the end of every day, she clocks
out and reverses this route, exiting through the APC
building, crossing the cross-walk, and walking through the
patient lot to reach her car in E-7. She testified that the
route she takes is the most direct path to and from her
building and she does not have the ability to park anywhere
else.
On
October 22, 2018, the employee punched out of work around
3:30 p.m. and walked her daily route back to her car in E-7.
The employee testified that on that day, there were two (2)
people walking very slowly in front of her through the
patient lot, so she became impatient and attempted to pass
them by stepping on "a round island curb with a tree in
it" that was located in the patient parking lot. Tr.
9:15-18. The employee testified that in stepping onto the
island curb, her sneaker got caught, and she slipped and fell
onto her left side. She stated that there were no warning
signs or barriers placed around the island prohibiting
pedestrians from walking on the island. Additionally,
Lifespan never instructed her to stay off the island. The
employee admitted that she had never walked on the island
before the day of the incident. She even conceded that after
she fell, she "felt a little silly." Tr. 13:12-14.
However, she also stated that the employer had only recently
erected the landscape island in the patient lot.
...
