Hines v. Industrial Acc. Bd.

• Decision Date: 30 December 1960
• Docket Number: No. 10153,10153
• Citation: 138 Mont. 588,358 P.2d 447
• Parties: Martha HINES, Claimant and Respondent, v. INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT BOARD, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

Page 447

358 P.2d 447

138 Mont. 588

Martha HINES, Claimant and Respondent, v. INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT BOARD, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 10153.

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted Sept. 26, 1960.

Argued Dec. 30, 1960.

L. V. Harris, Robert F. Swanberg, Helena, for appellant.

L. V. Harris and Robert S. Swanberg argued orally.

Myles J. Thomas, Helena, for respondent.

Myles J. Thomas argued orally.

ANGSTMAN, Justice.

This is an appeal by the defendant, Industrial Accident Board, from a judgment awarding claimant compensation and reversing the Industrial Accident Board's order which denied compensation.

Claimant is the widow of the late Floyd J. Hines, who was employed by the City of Helena as foreman of the street department until his death on July 25, 1958. He was then 27 years of age. In July of 1958, the regular foreman of the sanitation department was in the hospital and deceased was substituting part of the time as foreman of the sanitation department in addition to his duties as foreman of the street department. While on the job on the afternoon of July 22, 1958, he complained of a headache to the superintendent of the street and sanitation department and that same evening began to perspire, had a temperature, was nauseated and had difficulty walking. On July 23, he was taken to the hospital and his illness was diagnosed as poliomyelitis, or spinal, bulbar polio, which diagnosis was confirmed by laboratory analysis.

The single question which arises on this appeal is whether or not the evidence preponderates against the findings of the Board so as to justify the trial court in finding that the presumption that the Industrial Accident Board decided correctly was overcome, and in finding that the poliomyelitis contracted by deceased constituted a compensable industrial accident. The trial court found that for three or more days prior to July 22, 1958, the work which Floyd J. Hines was doing for the city required him to be in the hot sun, climbing in and off trucks which were patching streets with hot asphalt, and doing other fatiguing work in the hot sun which also required him to be at the city shops located near the hobo jungles and in close proximity to the garbage trucks of the city which often contained human fecal matter and other human waste matters, around which flies and blow flies abounded, that he also ate his lunch at the city shops, 50 to 100 feet from where the garbage trucks were parked and about a city block from the sewer which runs through the hobo jungles.

The court found that during the course of the day on July 22, Hines complained to his superior that he wasn't feeling well. He then took some aspirin tablets and stayed on the job, though his superior suggested that he go home. Upon completion of the days work he went home. He then had a fever, was vomiting, had convulsions and a running nose; he had no appetite, his head ached, he was sweating profusely, his skin was flushed and he complained of pain and weakness in his legs. The following day he could not walk; he was carried to a doctor's office and later to the hospital where he died.

The court found that the uncontradicted evidence disclosed the following:

'(a) polio virus is isolated from sewage and flies,

'(b) physical activity is a factor in predisposition to polio,

'(c) insects, water and sewage have all been regarded with suspicion in epidemics of polio,

'(d) headache, nausea, fever, vomiting, profuse sweating, flushed skin, diarrhea but more likely constipation, pain and weakness of the muscles of the extremities are found in polio cases.'

The court specifically found that Hines' 'work required him to be in places where it was more likely that the polio virus existed than it did in places where the public generally had occasion to be.'

The court found that the Board's expert witness, Dr. Larson, 'did not exclude the possibility that deceased might have come in contact with the virus as a result of his work.'

The court found that 'No one knows exactly when, where, how or why a poliomyelitis victim contracts the disease.'

As conclusions of law the court found that the Board was in error in finding that the 'uncontroverted medical evidence showed that claimant's contraction of poliomyelitis was not causally related to his employment.'

The court specifically found that the law does not require that the injury result from some fortuitous event.

The court found 'An injury is accidental when either the cause or the result is unexpected. Murphy v. Anaconda Co., 133 Mont. 198, 321 P. [2d] 1094.'

The court's conclusion of law number II is as follows:

'The Board's Conclusion of Law No. III that Martha Hines is not entitled to compensation is erroneous. The experts called by the Board in effect said that the work which Hines was doing could possibly have been a factor in his death. A possibility is all that is required. Gaffney v. Industrial A. B., 129 Mont. 394, 397, 287 P.2d 256.'

The court's conclusion of law number III was as follows:

'Claimant is not required to prove her case with mathematical certainty. Weakley v. Cook, 126 Mont. 332, 249 P.2d 926.'

Conclusion of law number IV was as follows:

'The Workmen's Compensation Act should be liberally construed, R.C.M.1947, Sec. 92-838, and under that act and the cases interpreting it the claimant's evidence must be viewed as showing that her husband's death was causally related to the work he was doing for the City of Helena.'

A careful review of the evidence discloses that the trial court's findings of fact are supported by the evidence.

Pertinent excerpts from the testimony of Dr. Amos R. Little, Jr., are as follows:

'Q. Is polio infectious and contagious? A. Yes.

'Q. Could a person doing hard, manual labor in the hot sun, spending long hours on his feet climbing on and off trucks and under great exertion, and exposed to human waste matter, contract the disease if he was exposed to the virus? A. The answer to that is 'yes'.

'Q. In other words, might excessive fatigue and overwork be factors in the incidence of polio, that is, could they be? A. They could be. * * *

'Q. Does the virus exist in contaminated water and sewage water? A. Presumably. * * *

'Q. In other words, it could be that flies, especially blow flies, can carry this virus and infect food or anything that may come in contact with it if they have the virus? A. As far as I know, there is a possibility. * * *

'Q. It is possible, however, that the exposure that Mr. Hines was having if this virus was around in these garbage trucks and storm sewer, that he contracted the disease from that exposure? A. It's possible.'

Dr. Eugene J. Sherba testified as follows:

'Q. Polio is an infectious and contagious disease? A. I would say it is.

'Q. And in the volume here which has been identified as the Encyclopedia of Medicine and Surgery, which I have obtained from the Montana State Law Library, and referring to volume X, on page 922, and 923--incidentally I'm not trying to pose as an expert on polio, or am I trying to impeach anything you might say. My meager knowledge I have obtained from this volume and I read in here: 'Also contributing to susceptibility are fatigue, exposure to cold and other physical and physiological disturbances which in some cases seem to have opened the door for entry or activation of the virus.' A. If I am immune to polio, I can be fatigued and I won't get polio, but if I am not immune and possibly become extremely fatigued, there's a possibility.

'Q. You might be more susceptible? A. Is that your question, am I more susceptible?

'Q. You might be more susceptible? A. I can't answer that.

'Q. Nobody knows? A. I don't think we can answer that.

'Q. Could we say, however, that excessive fatigue and overwork might be factors in the incidence of polio? A. I think it's possible, but I don't think it's a very important factor. * * *

'Q. Also on page 922 the statement is made that 'The virus has been isolated from the sewage of a number of cities and from flies collected in widely separated areas.' That is probably correct, is it not? A. Yes.

'Q. Are headaches, nausea, fever, vomiting, profuse sweating, flushed skin, diarrhea or perhaps constipation, pain and weakness of the muscles of the extremities, all symptoms of the disease? A. Yes, they can be.

'Q. Is this a fact that the greater the exposure of a person to the polio virus, the greater the possibility of that person contracting the disease? A. I would say in general this is probably true if a person is not immune.'

Dr. Carl L. Larson of the Rocky Mountain Laboratory at Hamilton, Montana, testified in behalf of the Board, as follows:

'Q. You were brought here from Hamilton by the Industrial Accident Board? A. Yes.

'Q. In this matter in Hamilton about which you testified where you found virus in one of the sewers? A. We find the virus in all of the sowers, the six outlets that we have in the city are located so we test all the sewers in town, you see, before they empty into the sewage disposal plant * * *

'Q. What would you say about this statement that appears on page 922: 'The virus has been isolated from the sewage of a number of cities and from flies collected in widely separated areas.' What would you say about that? A. That's a good statement. I'll agree with it.

'Q. Doesn't that probably fit in with what you say that maybe this disease can be transmitted, this virus can be transmitted, by flies? A. There's long way between 'maybe' and 'Yes, it can be.'

'Q. It's possible that it can. A. It's possible, there are a lot of things that are possible.'

Dr. Larson also testified in respect to the connection with the employment as follows:

'There is some evidence that hard work during the time one has a virusemia will tend to localize the virus in the central nervous system and cause paralysis.'

Defendant produced from the Montana State Board of Health, Dr. A. Howard Fieldsteel, a virologist, at the present time...