Eastern Airlines, Inc. v. Crittenden, 91-1274

• Decision Date: 11 March 1992
• Docket Number: No. 91-1274,91-1274
• Citation: 596 So.2d 112
• Parties: EASTERN AIRLINES, INC. and GAB Business Services, Appellants, v. Patricia CRITTENDEN and Travelers Insurance Co., Appellees. 596 So.2d 112, 17 Fla. L. Week. D724
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 112

596 So.2d 112

EASTERN AIRLINES, INC. and GAB Business Services, Appellants, v. Patricia CRITTENDEN and Travelers Insurance Co., Appellees.

No. 91-1274.

596 So.2d 112, 17 Fla. L. Week. D724

District Court of Appeal of Florida,

First District.

March 11, 1992.

Rehearing Denied April 28, 1992.

Hinda Klein of Conroy, Simberg & Lewis, P.A., Hollywood, for appellants.

Peter S. Schwedock, Miami, for appellee Patricia Crittenden.

Jill E. Jacobs, Miller, Kagan & Chait, P.A., Coral Gables, for appellant Eastern Airlines, Inc.

ALLEN, Judge.

The employer and GAB Business Services, the carrier at the time of the claimant's last injurious exposure in this occupational disease case, appeal a workers' compensation order by which the claimant was awarded various benefits with GAB as the responsible carrier. We conclude that the appellee Travelers Insurance Company, which was the carrier at the time of earlier injurious exposures, should be responsible for the benefits which accrued before the claimant sustained an injurious exposure during GAB's period of risk.

Although the parties have presented this as an occupational disease case, the record demonstrates some confusion between the parties as to the relationship between occupational disease and prolonged exposure theory. While a prolonged exposure may sometimes produce an occupational disease, the doctrines are not identical, see e.g., Lake v. Irwin Yacht & Marine Corp., 398 So.2d 902 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981), and the characterization of an injury as an occupational disease has significant consequences. Occupational diseases are governed by section 440.151, Florida Statutes, and the statute creates several distinctions between occupational diseases and other injuries. Section 440.151(5), Florida Statutes, establishes that the employer and carrier at risk when the claimant is last injuriously exposed to the hazards of an occupational disease shall alone be liable for the payment of compensation, without any contribution from a prior employer or carrier. It is the last injurious exposure, and not the initial development or occurrence of the disease, which is crucial in this regard. See Conner v. Riner Plastering Co., 131 So.2d 465 (Fla.1961); Mundy v. McLean, 72 So.2d 275 (Fla.1954); see also, Wood v. Harry Harmon Insulation, 511 So.2d 690 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987), rev. denied, 520 So.2d 584 (Fla.1988).

The claimant developed a bronchial condition caused by exposures to cigarette smoke while she was working as a flight attendant. She had successive periods of disability during which she did not work and her condition would improve, whereupon she would return to work and her condition would worsen as a result of new exposures. Travelers was the carrier at risk until February 1, 1987, when GAB assumed the risk. At that time the claimant was temporarily grounded due to her bronchial condition, and she continued in that status through February 19, 1987. When the claimant then returned to work she sustained additional...