Hansel v. Sherman Textiles, 107

• Decision Date: 06 October 1981
• Docket Number: No. 107,107
• Citation: 304 N.C. 44,283 S.E.2d 101
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: Pauline C. HANSEL v. SHERMAN TEXTILES v. TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY.

Page 101

283 S.E.2d 101

304 N.C. 44

Pauline C. HANSEL v. SHERMAN TEXTILES v. TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY.

No. 107.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Oct. 6, 1981.

Frederick R. Stann, Gastonia, for plaintiff-appellant.

Hollowell, Stott, Hollowell, Palmer & Windham by James C. Windham and Grady B. Scott, Gastonia, for defendant-appellee.

MEYER, Justice.

Pursuant to Rule 16 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure, review by the Supreme Court after a determination by the Court of Appeals, is to determine whether there is error of law in the decision of the Court of Appeals.

Even though the record in the case before us may support a finding that plaintiff did not contract an occupational disease as a result of exposure to cotton dust in her employment with the defendant, if, upon review, this Court finds that the decision of the full commission in its opinion and award is supported by competent evidence, we must conclude that there is error as a matter of law in the decision of the Court of Appeals.

Under the provisions of G.S. 97-86, the Industrial Commission is the fact finding body and the rule under the uniform decisions of this Court is that the findings of fact made by the Commission are conclusive on appeal, both before the Court of Appeals and in this Court, if supported by competent evidence. This is so even though there is evidence which would support a finding to the contrary. Inscoe v. Industries, Inc., 292 N.C. 210, 232 S.E.2d 449 (1977); Cole v. Guilford County, 259 N.C. 724, 131 S.E.2d 308 (1963); Vause v. Equipment Co., 233 N.C. 88, 63 S.E.2d 173 (1951); 8 Strongs N.C. Index 3d, Master and Servant § 96, and cases there cited.

In passing upon an appeal from an award of the Industrial Commission, the reviewing court is limited in its inquiry to two questions of law, namely: (1) whether or not there was any competent evidence before the Commission to support its findings of fact; and (2) whether or not the findings of fact of the Commission justify its legal conclusions and decision.

Inscoe v. Industries, Inc., 292 N.C. 210, 216, 232 S.E.2d 449, 452 (1977); Henry v. Leather Co., 231 N.C. 477, 57 S.E.2d 760 (1950).

As demonstrated by the majority of the Court of Appeals, there was evidence before the Commission in this case which would have supported a finding that the plaintiff did not contract byssinosis as a result of her exposure to cotton dust in her employment with defendant. It is apparent upon review of the evidence in the record before us that there is substantial and convincing evidence that the plaintiff's symptoms could just as likely have been the result of her asthma and chronic bronchitis conditions as of byssinosis resulting from prolonged exposure to cotton dust. However, that is not the test. The test, as indicated above, is whether there is, in the record that was before the Court of Appeals and which is now before us, competent evidence which would support the Commission's finding that plaintiff contracted byssinosis as a result of her exposure to cotton dust in her employment with the defendant-employer.

It is not the role of the Court of Appeals or of this Court to substitute its judgment for that of the finder of fact.

When the aggrieved party appeals to an appellate court from a decision of the Full Commission on the theory that the underlying findings of fact of the Full Commission are not supported by competent evidence, the appellate courts do not retry the facts. Moses v. Bartholomew, 238 N.C. 714, 78 S.E.2d 923 (1953). It is the duty of the appellate court to determine whether, in any reasonable view of the evidence before the Commission, it is sufficient to support the critical findings necessary for a compensation award. Keller v. Electric Wiring Co., 259 N.C. 222, 130 S.E.2d 342 (1963).

Inscoe v. Industries, Inc., 292 N.C. 210, 217, 232 S.E.2d 449, 453 (1977).

In his dissent, Judge Wells examined the record and found substantial competent evidence to support the full Commission's findings and conclusions. We likewise find competent evidence to support the findings of the Commission, but we are unable to say that the findings justify the Commission's conclusion as to causation and its award. While the two-judge majority of the panel at the Court of Appeals failed to find sufficient evidence in the record before the Commission to support the opinion and award, and the dissenting judge reviewing the same record found ample evidence to support it, our comprehensive review of that same record leads us to an entirely different conclusion. We conclude that the medical evidence in the record is not sufficiently definite as to the cause of plaintiff's disability to permit effective appellate review.

For a disability to be compensable under our Workers' Compensation Act, it must be either the result of an accident arising out of and in the course of employment or an "occupational disease."

G.S. 97-52 provides in effect that disablement of an employee resulting from an "occupational disease" described in G.S. 97-53 shall be treated as the happening of an injury by accident. This section provides specifically:

The word 'accident' ... shall not be construed to mean a series of events in employment of a similar or like nature occurring regularly, continuously ... whether such events may or may not be attributable to the fault of the employer and disease attributable to such causes shall be compensable only if culminating in an occupational disease mentioned in and compensable under this article. (Emphasis added).

G.S. 97-53 contains the comprehensive list of occupational diseases for which compensation is provided in the Act. By the express language of G.S. 97-53, only the diseases and conditions enumerated therein shall be deemed to be occupational diseases within the meaning of the Act.

Byssinosis is not "mentioned in and compensable under" the Act, except by virtue of G.S. 97-53, which provides in pertinent part as follows:

Section 97-53. Occupational diseases enumerated; ... the following diseases and conditions only shall be deemed to be occupational diseases within the meaning of this Article:

* * *

(13) Any disease ... which is proven to be due to causes and conditions which are characteristic of and peculiar to a particular trade, occupation or employment, but excluding all ordinary diseases of life to which the general public is equally exposed outside of the employment.

In Booker v. Medical Center, 297 N.C. 458, 256 S.E.2d 189 (1979), Chief Justice Sharp exhaustively examined the true meaning of the term "occupational disease" as that term is used in our Workers' Compensation Act. It is unnecessary for us to repeat the results of that examination here. The clear language of G.S. 97-53 is that for any disease, other than those specifically named, to be deemed an "occupational disease" within the meaning of the Article, it must be "proven to be due to," causes and conditions as specified in that statute. This Court held in Booker that there are three elements necessary to prove the existence of a compensable "occupational disease": (1) the disease must be characteristic of a trade or occupation, (2) the disease is not an ordinary disease of life to which the public is equally exposed outside of the employment, and (3) there must be proof of causation, i. e., proof of a causal connection between the disease and the employment. Id. at 468, 475, 256 S.E.2d at 196, 200.

With regard to the third element, this Court further said in Booker :

It is this limitation which protects our Workmen's Compensation Act from being converted into a general health and insurance benefit act. Bryan v. Church, 267 N.C. 111, 115, 147 S.E.2d 633, 635 (1966). In Duncan v. Charlotte, 234 N.C. 86, 91, 66 S.E.2d 22, 25 (1951) we held that the addition of G.S. 97-53 to the Act 'in nowise relaxed the fundamental principle which requires proof of causal relation between injury and employment. And nonetheless [sic], since the adoption of the amendment, may an award for an occupational disease be sanctioned unless it be shown that the disease was incident to or the result of the particular employment in which the workman was engaged.'

297 N.C. at 475, 256 S.E.2d at 200.

In workers' compensation actions the rule of causation is that where the right to recover is based on injury by accident, the employment need not be the sole causative force to render an injury compensable.

[If the employee] by reason of constitutional infirmities is predisposed to sustain injuries while engaged in labor, nevertheless the leniency and humanity of the law permit him to recover compensation if the physical aspects of the employment contribute in some reasonable degree to bring about or intensify the condition which renders him susceptible to such accident and consequent injury.

Vause v. Equipment Co., 233 N.C. 88, 92, 63 S.E.2d 173, 176 (1951).

It has on occasion been implied that a similar rule of causation should prevail in cases where compensation for occupational disease is sought; however, if a disease is produced by some extrinsic or independent agency, it may not be imputed to the occupation or the employment. Duncan v. Charlotte, 234 N.C. 86, 66 S.E.2d 22 (1951); Moore v. Stevens & Co., 47 N.C.App. 744, 748, 269 S.E.2d 159, 162 (1980).

It is axiomatic that neither Mrs. Hansel's asthma nor her chronic bronchitis is an "occupational disease" which standing alone is compensable under the Workers' Compensation Act, nor does either party make such a contention. The questions of aggravation or acceleration of these diseases or infirmities was not considered by Deputy Commissioner Denson or the full Commission, nor was it addressed in the evidence. We believe that it should have been. In cases in which a claimant has other infirmities related solely to the lungs or respiratory system, the Commission should, as a matter of course, consider whether claimant's disablement (i. e. inability to work...