Griggs v. Lumbermens Mut. Cas. Co

• Decision Date: 25 November 1939
• Docket Number: No. 27742.,27742.
• Citation: 6 S.E.2d 180
• Parties: GRIGGS. v. LUMBERMENS MUT. CASUALTY CO. et al.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

6 S.E.2d 180

GRIGGS.

v.LUMBERMENS MUT. CASUALTY CO. et al.

No. 27742.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Division No 2.

Nov. 25, 1939.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 19, 1939.

Syllabus by the Court.

Paralysis due to cerebral hemorrhage in one suffering from arterio sclerosis, because of continuous exerting labor for about 40 minutes in lifting 600 sacks of cement, weighing about 94 pounds each, from a railroad car onto trucks, is within the operation of the statute providing for compensation for injury resulting from accident.

FELTON, J., dissenting.

Error from Superior Court, Fulton County; Edgar E. Pomeroy, Judge.

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Clarence Griggs, employee, opposed by the West Lumber Company, employer, and the Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company, insurer. To review a judgment of the superior court setting aside an award of the full board of directors of the Department of Industrial Relations allowing compensation, the claimant brings error.

Reversed.

Clarence Griggs filed with the Industrial Board of Georgia a claim for compensation against the West Lumber Company and its insurance carrier, Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company, arising out of alleged injuries suffered by him while in the employ of the lumber company engaged in the performance of the duties of his employment. It appeared from the evidence adduced upon the hearing before the single director that the claimant and another employee of the company were engaged in unloading 600 sacks of cement from a railroad car on to trucks, each bag weighing about 94 pounds, that immediately after unloading this cement, which took about 40 minutes, the claimant felt a weakness in his knees, that five or ten minutes after reaching the mill of his employer, the claimant fell and caught himself, that, on being told to go out and rest in the sun, the claimant started out of the mill and fell once more, that he fell again, and when his condition appeared such that he was unable to continue working, he was taken home, and that when he left the mill he was unable to properly use his left arm and left leg. It appeared from the evidence that he had suffered a hemorrhage of the brain which resulted in paralysis of his left arm and left leg. The medical evidence on behalf of the claimant was that his ailment was precipitated by undue physical exertion, that the doctor for the claimant believed this because it happened immediately following the physical exertion, that exerting labor causes one's blood pressure to increase by the heart becoming more active, and increased blood pressure frequently causes a broken blood vessel, that two men unloading a car of cement in about 40 minutes, each bag weighing about 90 pounds, would tend to increase the blood pressure of the individual, and that such labor could cause the rupture of a cerebral blood vessel. This doctor testified that, in his opinion, the claimant's injury was due to increased blood pressure with the breakdown of one of the blood vessels due to the physical strain of the work the claimant had just completed when the paralysis occurred. The doctor for the employer and insurance carrier stated that such physical exertion might have had something to do with the cerebral hemorrhage of the claimant. It also appeared that the claimant, a negro man about 48 years of age, had a blood pressure higher than normal, and, in addition, had arterio sclerosis which is a hardening of the arterioles, or small arteries, which condition of the claimant was of the most gradual development. There was evidence that the physical exertion preceding the paralysis caused the preexisting infirmities to produce the paralysis. The physician for the defendants testified that the weakening of the minute blood veins was the result of the high blood pressure and arterio sclerosis over a period of years, and the fact that the leakage occurred shortly after the physical exertion was a bare coincidence and could have happened whether the claimant was asleep, resting, playing or working.

The director found "as a matter of fact that claimant worked continuously loading heavy bags of cement for a period of approximately forty minutes and unduly exerted himself, and the exertion and heavy work" of unloading "the cement raised his blood pressure and aggravated preexisting condition and disease of high blood pressure and arterio sclerosis caused a hemorrhage of the brain which resulted in a paralysis of his left arm and left leg." The director then found that the claimant sustained an accidental injury arising out of and in the course of his employment, and that he was totally disabled therefrom, and awarded him compensation accordingly. From this award the employer and insurance carrier appealed to the full board, which affirmed the award of the singledirector, and found that there was "ample evidence to sustain the findings of fact of the hearing director, " and approved his findings of fact and conclusions of law. Thereupon the employer and the insurance carrier appealed to the superior court, where their appeal was sustained and the findings and award of the industrial board reversed. From this judgment the claimant excepts.

Louis Geffen, of Atlanta, for plaintiff in error.

Haas, Gambrell & Gardner, of Atlanta, for defendants in error.

STEPHENS, Presiding Judge (after stating the foregoing facts).

" 'Injury' and 'personal injury' shall mean only injury by accident arising out of and in the course of the employment and shall not include a disease in any form except where it results naturally and unavoidably from the accident." Code, § 114-102. To be compensable the disease must arise out of or be an accident or injury arising out of, and in the course of, employment. If the facts show a causal connection between the injury and the development of the disease, the victim of the disease is entitled to compensation. A traumatic disease, as distinguished from an ideopathic disease, is one which is caused by physical injury and is compensable. It has been held that a cerebral hemorrhage due to excessive heat is a traumatic disease, and compensable. Johnson v. The Torrington, 1 B. W. C. C. 68. Also overexertion causing a cerebral hemorrhage is a traumatic disease, and compensable. McInnes v. Dunsmuir, 1 B. W. C. C. 226.

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