City of Holmes Beach v. Grace

• Decision Date: 30 April 1992
• Docket Number: No. 76883,76883
• Citation: 598 So.2d 71
• Parties: 17 Fla. L. Weekly S261 CITY OF HOLMES BEACH, Petitioner, v. Michael GRACE, Respondent.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 71

598 So.2d 71

17 Fla. L. Weekly S261

CITY OF HOLMES BEACH, Petitioner, v. Michael GRACE, Respondent.

No. 76883.

Supreme Court of Florida.

April 30, 1992.

Nancy A. Lauten of Fowler, White, Gillen, Boggs, Villareal & Banker, P.A., Tampa, for petitioner.

Alex Lancaster of Alex Lancaster, P.A., Sarasota, for respondent.

GRIMES, Justice.

We review City of Holmes Beach v. Grace, 570 So.2d 1011 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990), in which the district court of appeal certified the following question as one of great public importance:

WHETHER SECTION 440.02(1), FLORIDA STATUTES (1985), DEFINING "ACCIDENT" EXCLUDES A MENTAL OR NERVOUS INJURY WHERE THE INJURY SUFFERED BY THE CLAIMANT RESULTS IN ONLY MINOR PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES?

Id. at 1012. We have jurisdiction under article V, section 3(b)(4) of the Florida Constitution.

Michael Grace was employed as a police officer for the Holmes Beach Police Department. On July 17, 1985, Grace stopped an individual he suspected of stealing a car. Grace had the suspect face down on the ground and was attempting to handcuff him when a struggle ensued. During the struggle, the suspect struck Grace several times with his elbow. Grace took his gun from his holster and pointed it against the suspect's back. While Grace again attempted to put on the handcuffs, the suspect moved. As a consequence, the gun accidentally discharged, shooting the suspect twice in the back and killing him.

After a brief absence, Grace returned to work. In April of 1987 he was involved in an altercation with a motorist and was subsequently relieved of his duties. Grace was diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder relating to the incident of July 17, 1985. In affirming a workers' compensation award of temporary total disability benefits, the district court of appeal stated:

It is our view that the act of the suspect in striking claimant is inseparably interlocked with claimant's act of taking his gun out to intimidate and subdue the suspect. Accordingly, we do not agree with the E/C [employer/carrier] that the doctors were required to explicitly testify that the striking of claimant, which was an integral part of the July 17th incident, was a significant circumstance in the causal etiology of claimant's psychiatric illness. This was implicit in their testimony. Accordingly, because we find this case virtually indistinguishable from prior decisions of this court, we affirm the compensability of this claim. See Sheppard v. City of Gainesville Police Department, 490 So.2d 972 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); Prahl Brothers, Inc. v. Phillips, 429 So.2d 386 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983); and City of Tampa v. Tingler, 397 So.2d 315 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981).

City of Holmes Beach v. Grace, 570 So.2d at 1012.

Where there has been a physical accident or trauma and the claimant's disability is increased or prolonged by traumatic neurosis, the full disability, including the effects of the neurosis, is compensable under the workers' compensation law. Superior Mill Work v. Gabel, 89 So.2d 794 (Fla.1956). However, pursuant to section 440.02(1), Florida Statutes (1985), a "mental or nervous injury due to fright or excitement only ... shall be deemed not to be an injury by accident arising out of the employment," and is therefore not compensable under workers' compensation.

The earliest case on this subject is City Ice & Fuel Division v. Smith, 56 So.2d 329 (Fla.1952), in which a passing automobile sideswiped the left front fender of the truck which the claimant was driving. The claimant suffered a jolt, but the doctor who examined him the following day found no evidence of physical injury. He was later found to be suffering from emotional shock. The Court held that due to the complete lack of any physical injury, at best the claimant was afflicted with nothing more than a "mental or nervous injury due to fright or excitement only," which was not compensable under the statute. Id. at 330.

In a similar vein, compensation was also denied in Superior Mill Work. In that case, a stack of lumber fell on the claimant's right ankle, which aggravated his varicose vein condition. As a result, he developed thrombophlebitis in his right leg, which led to a pulmonary embolism. An operation was finally performed on his right leg to prevent another pulmonary embolism. As it happened, the claimant had had thrombophlebitis in his left leg several years before. At the hearing on his claim for disability, the claimant was found to be depressed and in constant fear that if he resumed his usual occupation he would develop thrombophlebitis in his left leg which would result in another pulmonary embolism. The deputy commissioner and the full commission found that the claimant's anxiety neurosis was compensable. This Court reversed and stated:

It is generally held that "when there has been a physical accident or trauma, and claimant's disability is increased or prolonged by traumatic neurosis or hysterical paralysis * * * the full disability including the effects of the neurosis is compensable." Larson's Workmen's Compensation Law, 1952, Sec. 42.22. In this state, as in some others, there must be an actual physical injury upon which to predicate compensation for a neurosis. See City Ice & Fuel Division v. Smith, Fla.1952, 56 So.2d 329; Larson, ibid., Sec. 42.23. And in all workmen's compensation cases we have read involving a post-traumatic neurosis, it appears that the neurosis was the direct and immediate result of the industrial injury (or accident, in those states where recovery is allowed without an actual physical injury).

Superior Mill Work, 89 So.2d at 795.

On the other hand, this Court has never required that the physical injury be especially serious. For example, in cases where the claimant's being struck by lightning caused a mental or nervous injury, this Court has upheld compensation awards even though there was little or no evidence of physical injury. Moses v. R.H. Wright & Son, Inc., 90 So.2d 330 (Fla.1956); Lyng v. Rao, 72 So.2d 53 (Fla.1954). Similarly, we also upheld a compensation award where a claimant suffered an anxiety complex after he was blown into the air by an accidental discharge of dynamite. Oolite Concrete Co. v. Carver, 145 So.2d 733 (Fla.1962). In Carver, we pointed out that the claimant had suffered a physical injury in the accident, as required for compensation, even though the injury was relatively minor.

On occasion, the district courts of appeal have attempted to circumvent the statutory exclusion by approving compensation awards for mental or nervous injuries caused by accidents in which the claimant suffered some physical touching, but almost no physical trauma. For example, in Sheppard v. City of Gainesville Police Department, 490 So.2d 972 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986), a policeman suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder caused by an incident in which he went to the assistance of an injured bicyclist. When the policeman bent over him to render aid, the victim became combative and lurched toward the policeman in a violent manner. He grabbed the policeman by the upper right arm and snatched his shoulder. A psychiatrist testified that when the victim looked the policeman in the eye and grabbed him, he had a flashback to an earlier incident in which he had to kill someone under similar...