Harold v. La Belle Maison Apartments

• Decision Date: 17 October 1994
• Citation: 643 So.2d 752
• Parties: 94-0889 La
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 752

643 So.2d 752

94-0889 La. 10/17/94

Etta D. HAROLD, v. LA BELLE MAISON APARTMENTS.

No. 94-C-0889.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Oct. 17, 1994.

Donald S. Klein, Klein & Klein, New Orleans, for applicant.

Richard P. Ieyoub, John S. Coulter, Baton Rouge, Marilyn R. Cohen, New Orleans, for respondent.

[94-0889 La. 1] MARCUS, Justice. ^*

Etta D. Harold filed this worker's compensation action against her employer, La Belle Maison Apartments, to recover disability benefits and medical expenses related to an anterior myocardial infarction (heart attack) she suffered while working. After a trial on the merits, the hearing officer denied compensation and dismissed plaintiff's claim with prejudice, finding that she failed to meet the burden of proof required of heart attack claimants as provided in the recently amended La.R.S. 23:1021(7)(e). Plaintiff appealed the dismissal, and the court of appeal affirmed. ¹ Plaintiff then applied for a writ of certiorari from this court, which we granted. ²

At the time she suffered her heart attack on August 28, 1991, Etta D. Harold was a 55 year old woman employed as a maintenance worker by La Belle Maison Apartments, a 220-unit two story apartment complex. Mrs. Harold had worked for La Belle for [94-0889 La. 2] over 15 years, and eventually came to be the senior worker on a maintenance crew consisting of herself and from two to three other workers. Her employment duties included heavy physical labor, such as moving refrigerators, stoves and ovens into and out of apartments, including those located on the second floor of the complex. Sometimes other workers assisted her in moving this heavy equipment, and other times she had the assistance of only a dolly. She was also responsible for carpentry work, yard work, roof repair, painting, cleaning, and making general repairs.

Mrs. Harold was a dedicated employee who rarely, if ever, missed work. Alton Gasaway, the apartment manager and her direct supervisor, testified that she was a good and honest employee, and was not a complainer. Gasaway also stated that it was unusual for Harold to ever complain of feeling ill or being sick. In fact, she had suffered only one other work-related injury in over 15 years of employment, and made no claim for worker's compensation benefits related to that injury.

On the day of her heart attack, Harold arrived at work at her usual time of 7:15 a.m. and opened the shop and office. She spent the morning performing outdoor yard maintenance. She broke for lunch from noon until 1:00 p.m., then resumed her outdoor chores. Specifically, Harold used a shovel to remove grass from the cracks in the sidewalks. The evidence revealed that it was a very hot afternoon, and she exerted a great deal of energy to remove the grass from the sidewalks.

While performing these duties, at approximately 2:00 p.m., Mrs. Harold began to feel pain. According to her testimony, she stopped working and walked into the apartment building office. She saw no one upon entering and went into the bathroom to splash cold water on her face. Upon leaving the bathroom, as she was drying her face with a towel, she encountered Gasaway, the apartment manager, in the hallway. Harold testified that she told Gasaway that she had "severe pains in [her] chest and [her] back, and [she] thought [she] needed to go see a doctor." She stated that Gasaway's response was to give her a work order to repair a [94-0889 La. 3] dishwasher and a toilet in an upstairs apartment in the complex.

Gasaway testified that he saw Harold come out of the bathroom, with her face wet and holding a towel. He denied, however, that Harold complained of chest pains, and said that she only complained of "feeling sick at [her] stomach." Gasaway admitted in his deposition that Harold looked like she was in "distress" when she walked out of the bathroom. However, at trial, he disputed this fact, but at the same time admitted that Harold told him "she was not feeling well," and that "she didn't look well...." The bookkeeper, Collette Rosenbohm, who was sitting in the office near the hallway door, testified that she overheard Harold tell Gasaway that she did not feel well.

Gasaway testified that after Harold told him she was in pain, he instructed her to go sit in the air conditioned office. However, approximately ten or 15 minutes later, he instructed the security guard, Steve Turner, to take a work order back to Harold for her to "check into." After receiving the work order, Harold proceeded to the apartment to perform the repairs. ³ Turner accompanied Harold on the call. He drove her to the apartment in need of repair, and stayed with her while she performed the work. Harold testified that she was "really hurting" when she arrived at the apartment. She serviced the dishwasher, which required her to get down on her hands and knees, remove the bottom rack, and check the water bar. She then tested the dishwasher to see if it was working. She also repaired the toilet, which required her to lift the ceramic top off of the toilet, replace the flapper, and test it to ensure it was working. Turner testified that while on the repair call, Harold "complained of stomachaches, and then later she said her chest started hurting more."

After making the repairs, Harold asked Turner to take her to her apartment, which was located in the complex. Soon after arriving there, Harold collapsed to the floor. She was taken to the hospital, and arrived in the emergency room at 4:13 p.m., over [94-0889 La. 4] two hours after she initially complained of pain to her supervisor. The doctors diagnosed her with an evolving anterolateral myocardial infarction. She required "thrombolytic therapy acutely and subsequently underwent cardiac catheterization documenting three vessel coronary artery disease." Harold underwent quadruple aortocoronary bypass surgery on August 30, 1991, which involved complications resulting in a lengthy hospital stay. Because of the extent of her injuries, Harold's physician, Dr. David W. Snyder, diagnosed her as totally and permanently disabled from any occupation requiring significant physical exertion.

The sole issue presented for our consideration is whether Etta D. Harold has met the burden of proof required of heart attack claimants seeking worker's compensation benefits as specified in La.R.S. 23:1021(7)(e).

The requirements for a successful claim for worker's compensation benefits are set forth in La.R.S. 23:1031 A, which provides:

If an employee not otherwise eliminated from the benefits of this Chapter receives personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, his employer shall pay compensation in the amounts, on the conditions, and to the person or persons hereinafter designated. (Emphasis added.)

Effective January 1, 1990, the legislature redefined these requirements with respect to heart-related and perivascular injuries by enacting La.R.S. 23:1021(7)(e), which provides:

Heart-related or perivascular injuries. A heart-related or perivascular injury, illness, or death shall not be considered a personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of employment and is not compensable pursuant to this Chapter unless it is demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence that:

(i) The physical work stress was extraordinary and unusual in comparison to the stress or exertion experienced by the average employee in that occupation, and

(ii) The physical work stress or exertion, and not some other source of stress or preexisting condition, was the predominant and major cause of the heart-related or perivascular injury, illness, or death. (Emphasis added.)

[94-0889 La. 5] This statute makes it more difficult for a claimant to prove that heart-related and perivascular injuries suffered on the job are compensable. Specifically, the amended statute changes the law in such cases in at least three respects. First, it heightens the burden of proof the claimant must show from a preponderance of the evidence to clear and convincing evidence. Second, it changes the standard that the claimant's physical work stress must be compared to, requiring his or her physical work stress to be extraordinary and unusual when compared to the physical work stress of the average employee in that occupation. Third, it heightens the required causal link between that work stress and the heart injury by requiring the physical work stress to be the predominant and major cause of the heart-related or perivascular injury.

The task of interpreting this new statute has been before this court only once, in the case of Charles v. Travelers Ins. Co., 627 So.2d 1366 (La.1993). That case held that a cerebral vascular accident, commonly called a stroke, constitutes a "perivascular injury" as contemplated by La.R.S. 23:1021(7)(e). In the present case, the plaintiff suffered a large anterior myocardial infarction. In lay terms, this injury is known as a heart attack. A heart attack is clearly a heart-related injury. Therefore, worker's compensation claimants seeking benefits for employment-related heart attacks must meet the requirements provided in La.R.S. 23:1021(7)(e).

The first prong of the amended statute requires plaintiff to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the physical work stress she experienced was extraordinary and unusual in comparison to the stress or exertion experienced by the average employee in that occupation. La.R.S. 23:1021(7)(e)(i). "Extraordinary" is defined as "going beyond what is usual, regular, or customary." Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (1977). "Unusual" is defined as "not usual" and "uncommon;" that is, not in accordance with usage, custom, or habit. Id. As is apparent from these definitions, the terms "extraordinary" and "unusual" have similar meanings. We hold that these terms require plaintiff to prove that [94-0889 La. 6] her physical work stress went beyond what was usual, regular or customary in relation to the...