COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO, EIGHTH DISTRICT 
                        COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA 
                             NO. 69701
RICHARD HARTSOCK              :    
                              :    ACCELERATED DOCKET
        Plaintiff-appellant   :
                              :      JOURNAL ENTRY
     -vs-                     :           AND
                              :         OPINION
MORRISON PRODUCTS, INC.,      :
    ET AL.                    :
                              :        PER CURIAM 
        Defendants-appellees  :
                              :
DATE OF ANNOUNCEMENT
  OF DECISION:                     APRIL 4, 1996      
CHARACTER OF PROCEEDING:           Civil appeal from
                                   Court of Common Pleas
                                   Case No. CV-267335
JUDGMENT:                          Affirmed.
DATE OF JOURNALIZATION:                                
APPEARANCES:
For plaintiff-appellant:      For defendant-appellee
                              Morrison Products, Inc.:
MICHAEL J. SKINDELL, ESQ.
SEAMAN & ASSOC. CO., L.P.A.   WILLIAM L.S. ROSS, ESQ.
1600 Rockefeller Building     CALFEE, HALTER & GRISWOLD
614 Superior Avenue, N.W.     800 Superior Avenue, Suite 1800
                              Cleveland, Ohio  44114-2688
For defendants-appellees
Industrial Commission of Ohio
and Bureau of Workers' Compensation:
JOSEPH M. SAADI, ESQ.
Assistant State Attorney General
State Office Building
615 West Superior Avenue - 12th Floor
Cleveland, Ohio  44113
                               - 2 -
PER CURIAM: 
     Appellant appeals from the granting  of appellees' motions for
summary judgment  on  appellant's appeal  from  the  administrative
denial  of  his  application  for  Workers'  Compensation benefits.
Appellant filed for benefits after being involved in an altercation
at his  place of work.   The facts are  not in dispute.   Appellant
used an ethnic slur against a  company supervisor, who took offense
and pushed appellant  into a file  cabinet.  The lower  court found
that  the benefits were  properly denied because  appellant was not
injured within the course and scope of employment.
     Appellant asserts one assignment of error.
                                 I
     THE TRIAL  COURT ERRED  IN GRANTING  SUMMARY JUDGMENT  IN
     FAVOR OF DEFENDANTS-APPELLEES WHEN THERE EXISTS A GENUINE
     ISSUE  AS  TO  MATERIAL  FACT  AS TO  WHETHER  PLAINTIFF-
     APPELLANT'S INJURIES WERE SUSTAINED IN  THE COURSE OF HIS
     EMPLOYMENT.
     Appellant argues that reasonable minds  could conclude that he
was injured in the course of employment, presenting a genuine issue
of material fact to be determined.  Appellant's argument is without
merit.
     Summary judgment is properly granted where no genuine issue of
material fact exists and  the moving party is entitled  to judgment
as a  matter of  law.   Civ.R.  56(C).   A  court must  review  the
evidence most strongly in  favor of the party opposing  the motion.
Morris v. Ohio Cas. Ins. Co. (1988), 35 Ohio St.3d 45.  Viewing the
evidence on the record  in a light most favorable  to appellant, we
                               - 3 -
find  that  no  genuine issue  of  material  fact  exists and  that
appellees' motions were properly granted, as a matter of law.
     Whether or not appellant's alleged  injuries were sustained in
the course of employment is a  matter of law, not a disputed  fact.
The trial court correctly resolved this  legal issue by finding the
incident to have taken place outside the scope of employment.
          The test of the right to participate in the Worker's
     Compensation Fund is  not whether there was any  fault or
     neglect on the part of the employer or his employees, but
     whether  a   "causal  connection"   existed  between   an
     employee's injury and  his employment either through  the
     activities,  the  conditions  or the  environment  of the
     employment. Indus. Comm. v. Weigandt (1921), 102 Ohio St.
     1; Indus. Comm. v. Gintert (1934),  128 Ohio St. 129; Fox
     v. Schiele (1955), 162 Ohio St. 569.
Bralley v. Daugherty (1980), 61 Ohio St.2d 302, 303.
     No causal connection exists between appellant's job as a press
operator  or tow motor driver and the injury sustained at the hands
of a supervisor.  The connection  exists between appellant's use of
an ethnic slur against another and his subsequent injury.
     Appellant's  assignment  of  error is  overruled.    The trial
court's  ruling  which  granted  appellees'  motions  for   summary
judgment is affirmed.
                               - 4 -
     It is ordered that appellees  recover of appellant their costs
herein taxed. 
     The Court finds there were reasonable grounds for this appeal.
     It is ordered  that a special mandate issue out  of this Court
directing the  Common  Pleas  Court to  carry  this  judgment  into
execution.  
     A certified  copy of this  entry shall constitute  the mandate
pursuant to Rule 27 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure.
                              _________________________________
                              SARA J. HARPER, PRESIDING JUDGE
                              _________________________________
                              DAVID T. MATIA, JUDGE
                              _________________________________
                              ANN DYKE, JUDGE
N.B. This  entry is  made pursuant  to the  third sentence  of Rule
22(D), Ohio Rules of Appellate Procedure.   This is an announcement
of decision (see Rule 26).  Ten (10) days from the date hereof this
document will be stamped to  indicate journalization, at which time
it will become the judgment and order of the court and  time period
for review will begin to run.
.