Brown v. Texas Employers' Ins. Ass'n

• Decision Date: 16 June 1982
• Docket Number: No. C-851,C-851
• Parties: Betty Ruth BROWN Individually and as Next Friend of Christina Brown, Petitioner, v. TEXAS EMPLOYERS' INSURANCE ASSOCIATION, Respondent.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

Page 415

635 S.W.2d 415

Betty Ruth BROWN Individually and as Next Friend of Christina Brown, Petitioner, v. TEXAS EMPLOYERS' INSURANCE ASSOCIATION, Respondent.

No. C-851.

Supreme Court of Texas.

June 16, 1982.

Rehearing Denied July 21, 1982.

Calhoun, Morton, Deason & Preslar, Cliff Preslar, El Paso, for petitioner.

Charles E. Anderson, El Paso, for respondent.

RAY, Justice.

This is a workers' compensation case in which plaintiff sought death benefits under the Workers' Compensation Act, Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. arts. 8306-8309h, after her husband's fatal heart attack. The trial court rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff upon a jury verdict. The court of appeals reversed the judgment of the trial court and rendered judgment that plaintiff take nothing. 622 S.W.2d 608. We affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.

Sidney Brown was a repairman for a telephone company. Repairmen would report to work around 8:00 a. m. every morning and receive assignments throughout the day. The company employees were periodically evaluated concerning their work time, quality and attendance. Under the company's guidelines, a satisfactory clearing time for an assignment was forty-eight to fifty-two minutes per job.

In 1977, Brown was counseled that his clearing time and absenteeism were unsatisfactory, and in September of 1978, he was again counseled about his clearing time. In December, 1978, he was placed on a six month's warning due to absenteeism. This warning expired two months before his death. About five months before his death he was evaluated as having an outstanding clearing time, but the quality of his work was rated "marginal."

Two days before Brown's death, on August 4, 1979, he had a difficult case. On August 6, 1979, he told his supervisor about the problem, and the supervisor told Brown he would accompany him if the customer called again. After Brown finished his first assignment, he learned that the next assignment was the unsatisfied customer. His supervisor did accompany him on the case, and the problem was worked out, but the assignment took at least an hour and a half. Brown's third assignment was to exchange telephones. At noon that day, he was found dead in his truck.

Brown's wife, Betty Ruth, brought this action for death benefits, claiming accidental injury produced by stressful work conditions. The jury found that Brown's heart attack occurred in the course and scope of his employment, and judgment was rendered for Mrs. Brown for $8,517.00 and $105 a week for life. The court of appeals reversed the judgment of the trial court and rendered judgment for the defendant. It held there was no evidence that Brown was under any mental stress the two days before his death, and thus, there was no evidence of an undesigned, untoward event that is traceable to a definite time, place, and cause.

Mrs. Brown argues that the court of appeals erred because there was evidence of events that were stress producing to Brown and led to his fatal heart attack. She asserts that the evidence reveals that Brown was under stress due to problems with his clearing time and absenteeism. The day of his death he had a case which required an unusually long clearing time, well above the acceptable level under the standards of the company.

To determine if there is evidence of a compensable accidental injury, we consider only the evidence which tends to support a finding that on the day of his death Brown was under mental stress which caused his heart attack. Stodghill v. Texas Employers Insurance Association, 582 S.W.2d 102, 103 (Tex.1979).

The court of appeals cited several cases which have allowed recovery for accidental injury in cases involving mental trauma. In Bailey v. American General Insurance Co., 154 Tex. 430, 279 S.W.2d 315 (1955), this Court held that neurosis suffered by a steel worker after he witnessed a nearby fellow worker fall to his death was an injury compensable under the Workers' Compensation Act. The court in Aetna Insurance Co. v. Hart, 315 S.W.2d 169 (Tex.Civ.App.-Houston 1958, writ ref'd n.r.e.), allowed compensation for a stroke suffered by an employee of a cleaning business after she was violently berated by a customer. In Bailey and Hart, there was evidence of an undesigned, untoward event traceable to a definite time, place and cause.

Where there is no evidence of a particular event causing the injury, there can be no recovery. In Olson v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co., 477 S.W.2d 859 (Tex.1972), this Court affirmed a...