Ex parte Patterson
| Decision Date | 12 January 1990 |
| Citation | 561 So.2d 236 |
| Parties | Ex parte Calvin PATTERSON. (Re Calvin PATTERSON v. OPELIKA FOUNDRY COMPANY, INC.). 88-1619. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
James B. Sprayberry, Auburn, for petitioner.
N.T. Braswell III of Rushton, Stakely, Johnston and Garrett, Montgomery, for respondent.
Calvin Patterson sustained personal injuries while employed by Opelika Foundry Company, Inc. ("the Foundry"). He subsequently filed a complaint in Lee County Circuit Court, seeking compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act, Ala.Code 1975, § 25-5-1 et seq. After hearing ore tenus evidence, the trial court found that Patterson's injuries were not caused by an accident that arose out of his employment and entered a judgment denying his claim. Patterson appealed to the Court of Civil Appeals, which affirmed the judgment. See Patterson v. Opelika Foundry Co., 561 So.2d 234 (Ala.Civ.App.1989). We granted Patterson's petition for a writ of certiorari, pursuant to Rule 39, A.R.App.P. We reverse and remand.
The record reveals that at the time he sustained his injuries, Patterson was 47 years old and had been employed by the Foundry for approximately 11 years. He appeared to be in good physical condition and had an excellent job attendance record, having missed only one week during his term of employment at the Foundry; that was due to the "flu." Patterson's job primarily involved pushing a button that controlled an overhead conveyor belt that transported pieces of iron, each weighing between 150 and 200 pounds, to a container where they were melted. Patterson, wearing a hard hat, was standing beneath a steel grill platform doing his job when he was knocked unconscious, suffering head, hand, and back injuries. Patterson testified that he did not know what happened to him. He stated that he remembered being on the job and later waking up in the hospital. Patterson also testified that there were only two people close to him at the time he was injured and that both of them were fellow employees who were performing their respective duties. He further testified that at the time he was injured, he was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. There were no eyewitnesses to the incident.
The trial court's judgment reads, in pertinent part, as follows:
Our review in workmen's compensation cases is limited to a determination of whether there was any legal evidence to support the trial court's findings of fact. If any reasonable view of the evidence supports the findings of the trial court, this Court may then determine whether the correct legal conclusions have been drawn therefrom. Ex parte Neal, 423 So.2d 850 (Ala.1982).
For Patterson's injuries to be compensable, they had to be "caused by an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment." Ala.Code 1975, § 25-5-51. As the Court of Civil Appeals acknowledged in its opinion, and as reflected in the trial court's findings, it is undisputed that Patterson's injuries occurred in the course of his employment. For a good definition of the phrase "in the course of," see Massey v. United States Steel Corp., 264 Ala. 227, 86 So.2d 375 (1955). The sole issue is whether Patterson's injuries were caused by an accident that arose out of his employment.
"Accident" is defined in Ala.Code 1975, § 25-5-1(8), as follows:
"Such term, as used in the phrases 'personal injuries due to accident' or 'injuries or death caused by accident' shall, unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context, be construed to mean an unexpected or unforeseen event, happening suddenly and violently, with or without human fault, and producing at the time injury to the physical structure of the body or damage to an artificial member of the body by accidental means."
The phrase "arising out of ... employment" refers to the employment as being the source and cause of the accident. This Court has held that the rational mind must be able to causally connect the resulting injury to the employment. Massey v. United States Steel Corp., supra. The claimant bears the burden of proving that his injury arose out of his employment. Southern Cotton Oil Co. v. Wynn, 266 Ala. 327, 96 So.2d 159 (1957).
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Brown v. Patton (Ex parte Patton)
...‘refers to an employee's preexisting physical weakness or disease’ that is ‘ “peculiar to the individual” ’ employee. Ex parte Patterson, 561 So.2d 236, 238 n. 2 (Ala.1990). Thus, a fall may, under the appropriate circumstances, properly be deemed an accident arising out of employment.... I......
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Ex parte Eastwood Foods, Inc.
...of review in such cases differently, we take this opportunity to reaffirm the statement of the rule of review contained in Ex parte Patterson, 561 So.2d 236 (Ala.1990). After an examination of the facts of this case, we hold that the Court of Civil Appeals, in view of those facts, correctly......
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City of Birmingham v. Jenkins
...compensation may be awarded when the circumstantial evidence leads only to an inference of an employment connection. See Ex parte Patterson, 561 So. 2d 236 (Ala. 1990). " ‘ "[W]hen the facts, although undisputed[,] are such that reasonable men may reasonably and conscientiously arrive at op......
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City of Birmingham v. Jenkins
...may be awarded when the circumstantial evidence leads only to an inference of an employment connection. See Ex parte Patterson, 561 So. 2d 236 (Ala. 1990). "' " [W]hen the facts, although undisputed[,] are such that reasonable men may reasonably and conscientiously arrive at opposite conclu......