# Kusenko v. Republic Steel Corp.

> Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · November 20, 1984 · 506 Pa. 104

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9647290

## Case

- **Full name:** Minnie KUSENKO, Widow of Mike Kusenko, Appellee, v. REPUBLIC STEEL CORPORATION, Appellant
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** November 20, 1984
- **Citations:** 506 Pa. 104; 484 A.2d 374; 1984 Pa. LEXIS 368
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Flaherty
- **Judges:** Nix, Larsen, Flaherty, McDermott, Hutchinson, Zappala, Papadakos
- **Cited by:** 25 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9647290

## Opinion text

FLAHERTY, Justice,
dissenting opinion.
I must dissent inasmuch as Section 301(c)(2) of the Workmen’s Compensation Act clearly requires that death is only compensable when it results from an occupational disease. 77 P.S. § 411(2). Thus, I adhere to my original view, as stated in McCloskey v. Workmen’s Comp. Ap. Bd., 501 Pa. 93, 102-105 , 460 A.2d 237, 241-243 (1983) that compensation must be predicated upon a direct causal connection between the occupational disease and the death. The record in the instant case supports the conclusion that the occupational disease, pneumoconiosis, was only a contributing factor, not a direct cause of death. The direct cause of death was carcinoma, and the testimony is that the pneumoconiosis weakened the decedent and thereby merely hastened his *121 death which resulted from the carcinoma. I would reverse.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9647290. Public record. Not legal advice.