Fenwick v. Oklahoma State Penitentiary

OPALA, Vice Chief Justice,

with whom KAUGER, Justice, joins, dissenting.

Today the court reiterates extant precedent holding work-related psychic trauma unaccompanied by physical injury to be noncompensable. I recede from this pronouncement and join the dissent by Kau-ger, J. For me, there is no textually demonstrable legislative intent to exclude from compensability those accidental injuries that result in mental scarring alone. I write separately to explain why I cannot accede to the court’s exposition of the governing act.1

*64I.

NEITHER PROCEDURAL NOR SUBSTANTIVE NORMS OF THE COMMON LAW HAVE A…