Burson v. Howell
| Decision Date | 10 November 1965 |
| Docket Number | No. 41644,No. 3,41644,3 |
| Citation | 112 Ga.App. 675,145 S.E.2d 718 |
| Parties | R. H. BURSON, Director of State Board of Corrections v. Sharh C. HOWELL |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Syllabus by the Court
In a case arising after the 1963 amendment to the Workmen's Compensation Act (Ga.L.1963, pp. 141, 142, Code Ann. § 114-102), as in cases before the amendment, evidence of exertion at work before the deceased employee was found in a dying condition and medical opinion that the exertion could have caused a coronary occlusion is sufficient to authorize a finding necessary to an award of compensation that the fatal attack was precipitated by the exertion.
This is an appeal from a judgment of the superior court affirming an award of the State Board of Workmen's Compensation in favor of the claimant widow of a deceased employee. The evidence was that the employee, on arrival for work, walked over 100 yards, sat down and fell over and was dying, or already dead, when a physician reached him, and that he died of a coronary occlusion. There was medical opinion evidence that the exertion of walking could have precipitated the heart attack.
Arthur K. Bolton, Atty. Gen., Paul L. Hanes, Asst. Atty. Gen., Marion O. Gordon, Atlanta, for appellant.
Rowland & Rowland, Emory L. Rowland, E. Hodges Rowland, Wrightsville, for appellee.
In 1963 the Workmen's Compensation Act was amended by adding to the statutory definition of 'injury' and 'personal injury' the following exception: '* * * nor shall 'injury' and 'personal injury' include heart disease, heart attack, the failure or occlusion of any of the coronary blood vessels, or thrombosis, unless it is shown by preponderance of competent and creditable evidence that it was attributable to the performance of the usual work of employment.' Ga.L.1963, pp. 141, 142 (Code Ann. § 114-102). This case squarely presents the issue whether under the law as amended the evidence stated above is sufficient to support a finding that exertion in the employment contributed to the death.
In Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Poole, Ga.App., 145 S.E.2d 615, this court held that the 1963 amendment to Code § 114-102 'did not change the law respecting the evidence necessary to prove that an accident arising out of and in the course of employment caused the disability or death.' Before that amendment the law was that in workmen's compensation cases, as in other cases, the weight and credit to be given to the testimony of witnesses and the question as to where the preponderance of the evidence lay were matters resting with the trior of the facts; and the board's determinations upon these matters were final if supported by any evidence. Ocean...
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...112 Ga.App. 527(2), 145 S.E.2d 615 (1965), which was the first appellate decision construing the 1963 amendment; Burson v. Howell, 112 Ga.App. 675, 145 S.E.2d 718 (1965); Fulton Industries v. Knight, 127 Ga.App. 604(1), 194 S.E.2d 346 (1972); City Council of Augusta v. Williams, 137 Ga.App.......
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...out of and in the course of employment. Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Poole, 112 Ga.App. 527 [, 529 (145 SE2d 615) ]; Burson v. Howell, 112 Ga.App. 675 [, 677] (145 SE2d 718); J.D. Jewell, Inc. v. Peck, 116 Ga.App. 405 (157 SE2d 806)." See also Union Carbide Corp. v. Coffman, 158 Ga.App. 360, 361......
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