Gilbert v. State Comp. Comm'r

• Citation: 1 S.E.2d 167
• Decision Date: 24 January 1939
• Docket Number: No. 8840.,8840.
• Court: Supreme Court of West Virginia
• Parties: GILBERT. v. STATE COMPENSATION COMMISSIONER et al.

1 S.E.2d 167

GILBERT.
v.
STATE COMPENSATION COMMISSIONER et al.

No. 8840.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Jan. 24, 1939.

Syllabus by the Court.

An acute dilatation of a normal heart, superinduced by an unusual lift or strain occurring in the course of and resulting from employment, is a compensable injury within the meaning of Code, 23-4-1.

Appeal from Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board.

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act by James Gilbert, claimant, opposed by the Toledo Grain & Milling Company, employer. From rulings of the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board and Compensation Commissioner that disability was not due to injury received in the course of and resulting from employment, the claimant appeals.

Rulings reversed, with directions that payment of compensation be made to claimant.

McKee & McKee, of Wheeling, for appellant.

Clarence W. Meadows, Atty. Gen., and Marlyn E. Lugar, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

RILEY, Judge.

James Gilbert complains of an action of the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board sustaining the commissioner's finding that the disability for which compen-

[1 S.E.2d 168]

sation is sought was not due to injury received in the course of and resulting from employment.

Claimant, 37 years of age, had been in the employ of the Toledo Grain and Milling Company for approximately two years. His work consisted principally of unloading and handling sacks of feed and grain weighing one hundred to one hundred twenty pounds apiece. About 3 o'clock P. M., on the day of the disability, while lifting a sack of grain, he felt a severe chest pain in the region of his heart. He immediately became short of breath, coughed violently, and was unable to continue work. His condition grew worse. During the evening he was taken to a doctor, who testified that he found claimant to be in a dying condition. The fluoroscope showed an inch and one-half dilatation of the left side of the heart. As a result of absolute rest and medical treatment, continuing over a period of several months, the dilatation completely disappeared. There were no heart lesions. It was an acute dilatation. Claimant, according to the doctor, has fully recovered, but has been admonished to refrain from heavy work in the future.

Was the dilatation an "injury" within the meaning of the Compensation Act?

Claimant and a brother, who was present at the time of the lifting, both testify to the effect that the former had been in good health prior to the disability. No testimony to...