Deturk v. Charlotte County Bd. of County Com'rs

• Decision Date: 08 September 1994
• Docket Number: No. 93-810,93-810
• Citation: 642 So.2d 779
• Parties: 19 Fla. L. Weekly D1908 Scott DETURK, Appellant, v. CHARLOTTE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS and Gallagher Bassett Services, Appellees.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 779

642 So.2d 779

19 Fla. L. Weekly D1908

Scott DETURK, Appellant, v. CHARLOTTE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS and Gallagher

Bassett Services, Appellees.

No. 93-810.

District Court of Appeal of Florida,

First District.

Sept. 8, 1994.

William Welker, Fort Myers, and Bill McCabe of Shepherd, McCabe & Cooley, Longwood, for appellant.

Gerald W. Pierce of Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt, P.A., Fort Myers, for appellees.

ZEHMER, Chief Judge.

The Claimant in this workers' compensation case appeals an order denying his claim for medical benefits and for temporary partial disability and wage loss benefits on the finding that the injury did not arise out of his employment. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

When this claim was heard by the judge of compensation claims on January 19, 1993, Claimant was 68 years old and had a varied work history, holding a Master's degree in music. At the time of the accident, he was working for the county during the summertime as a cashier at the county's public swimming pools. Claimant's job required him to work at a number of pools throughout the county and to collect money and later deposit the receipts in the night depository at a local bank. Claimant testified that he drove his own vehicle to the pools and to the bank on these occasions at the county's request.

On August 23, 1990, Claimant was working at one of the county-owned pools located approximately 20 miles from the bank and from his home. On that particular day, Claimant testified that he experienced nothing unusual regarding his job duties and did not feel physically strained or different. He specifically remembers leaving the pool and driving out of the city toward the bank twenty miles away to make the usual night deposit; however, he has absolutely no recollection of what occurred immediately before, during, or after an automobile accident in which he was involved on the way to the bank, other than that he was told that he ran into the back of another car. The medical evidence ultimately accepted by the judge reveals that Claimant had apparently lost consciousness just prior to the accident and that the cause of this syncopic episode, or fainting spell, was a preexisting condition known as "sick sinus syndrome." This syndrome can cause instances of an increased (tachycardia) or decreased (bradycardia) heartbeat. In Claimant's case, his heartbeat slowed, which in turn caused the loss of consciousness. As a result of the automobile accident, Claimant suffered a comminuted intertrochanteric fracture of his right hip. However, during the course of Claimant's treatment in the hospital, his condition deteriorated and he additionally suffered a right-sided hemisphere infarction and a perforated transverse colon secondary to ischemia, which ultimately caused the need for an ileostomy.

Claimant eventually returned to work for the Employer for a short period of time, but testified he could not do his regular job and that when the county ran out of "busy work" for him to do, he eventually stopped working on January 14, 1992. He thereafter began looking for work, introducing into evidence wage loss request forms from July 26, 1992, through January 9, 1993. The county and Gallagher-Bassett denied benefits on the basis that Claimant's condition was related solely to a preexisting or idiopathic disease. The judge of compensation claims agreed, rejecting Claimant's argument that his act of driving constituted an increased hazard which aggravated the injuries he suffered after he passed out and caused the accident. Significantly, the judge ruled that the question "is not whether one part of the claimant's job poses a hazard greater than other activities on the job; rather, the question is whether an aspect of the claimant's job has a hazard greater than that found in his non-employment life." In so ruling, the judge accepted the county's argument that since Claimant spent more than half of his driving time for personal reasons rather than for work-related reasons, Claimant's employment neither contributed to the risk of injury nor aggravated the injuries Claimant sustained in the motor vehicle accident.

As a preliminary matter, Claimant requests this court to rule on whether the judge's finding that Claimant suffered from an idiopathic condition is based on competent and substantial evidence. A careful review of the record reveals that it is, and therefore that portion of the judge's order is affirmed. However, we agree with Claimant that the judge erred as a matter of law in ruling that Claimant's accident and resultant injuries did not arise out of his employment.

A compensable injury under the Florida Workers' Compensation statute must "arise out of" employment. See Secs. 440.02(1) and (16), and 440.09(1), Fla.Stat. (1989). The supreme court has ruled, however, that injuries caused by risks or conditions personal to the claimant "do not arise out of the employment unless the employment contributes to the risk or aggravates the injury." Foxworth v. Florida Industrial Commission, 86 So.2d 147, 151 (Fla.1955). Specifically, "[t]he employment in some manner must contribute an increased hazard peculiar to the employment." Id. In addition, this court has held that an injury caused by an idiopathic condition "arises out of" employment when the employment exposes the claimant to conditions "which the claimant would not normally encounter during his non-employment life." Medeiros v. Residential Communities of America, 481 So.2d 92, 93 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986).

In support of the denial of benefits, the county directs our attention to a number of decisions from the Florida Supreme Court which, it submits, show that the court favors strictly limiting the instances wherein accidents caused by idiopathic conditions can be held compensable. The county argues that the supreme court in recent years has largely distanced itself from its earlier holding in Protectu Awning Shutter v. Cline, 154 Fla. 30, 16 So.2d 342 (1944), wherein it found compensable an accident which caused mortal injuries when the employee fell and struck his head on a concrete floor during the course of his employment, even though the fall was precipitated by a preexisting heart condition. The cases upon which the county principally relies to support its argument include Foxworth v. Florida Industrial Commission (holding that Cline represents the outer limits of the doctrine); Federal Electric Corp. v. Best, 274 So.2d 886 (Fla.1973) (death benefits denied following the employee's skull fracture, caused as a result of the employee's epileptic seizure); Southern Convalescent Home v. Wilson, 285 So.2d 404 (Fla.1973) (affirming denial of benefits and holding injuries suffered by claimant following fall caused by epilepsy arose from a risk or condition personal to him, and did not arise out of his employment); and Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company v. McCook, 355 So.2d 1166 (Fla.1977) (upholding denial of benefits and ruling that it would not permit the Industrial Relations Commission to convert the workers' compensation statute into a mandatory general health insurance policy). The county also strongly relies on the supreme court's latest decision...