Industrial Com'n v. Havens

• Citation: 136 Colo. 111,314 P.2d 698
• Decision Date: 26 August 1957
• Docket Number: No. 18261,18261
• Parties: The INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION of Colorado, J. B. Montgomery, Inc., and Transport Indemnity Company, Plaintiffs in Error, v. Minnie Mildred HAVENS, Carol Jean Havens, by Her Mother and Next Friend, Minnie Mildred Havens, and Sandra Sue Havens, by Her Mother and Next Friend, Minnie Mildred Havens, Defendants in Error.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

Page 698

314 P.2d 698

136 Colo. 111

The INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION of Colorado, J. B. Montgomery, Inc., and Transport Indemnity Company, Plaintiffs in Error, v. Minnie Mildred HAVENS, Carol Jean Havens, by Her Mother and Next Friend, Minnie Mildred Havens, and Sandra Sue

Havens, by Her Mother and Next Friend,

Minnie Mildred Havens,

Defendants in Error.

No. 18261.

Supreme Court of Colorado, En Banc.

Aug. 26, 1957.

Rehearing Denied Sept. 16, 1957.

Wormwood, O'Dell & Wolvington and Paul D. Renner, Denver, for plaintiffs in error J. B. Montgomery, Inc., and Transport Indemnity Co.

Creamer & Creamer, Denver, for defendants in error.

SUTTON, Justice.

This is a workmen's compensation case involving undisputed evidence as to the facts. We will refer to decedent Clifford Grant Havens, the deceased employee, as Havens; to those claiming under him as claimants or by name; and to the plaintiffs in error as employer.

The record shows that Havens, age 47, was employed on February 2, 1956, six days prior to his death, to drive a truck for employer on a Denver-Chicago run. He drove from Nebraska to Chicago, then to Denver on this occasion. Lloyd Ballinger was his relief or co-driver on the journey. In Chicago they picked up a load of about ten tons of merchandise for Swift and Company in Denver. They stopped in North Platte, Nebraska, on February 1 on the return trip to enable Havens to see his wife and arrived in Denver about 10 p. m. the same day. Havens slept in the truck and Ballinger went home for the night. At 7 a. m. the next day Havens drove to the Swift plant where he met Ballinger. At 8 a. m. both of them, with a Swift employee's help, commenced unloading the truck, placing the goods on handcars which were moved down a ramp from the truck to the loading platform, thence elsewhere in the plant. The goods ranged from packages 30 to 40 pounds in weight to lard barrels weighing up to 200 pounds each. The handcar when loaded held between 2,000 and 2,500 pounds of merchandise. Witness Ballinger, who was accustomed to such work, testified that he was tired from it and that so was Havens who was not used to this unusual exertion, his previous work having been solely as a gasoline transport driver not involving heavy manual labor. This work continued until 12 noon. Between 11 a. m. and 12 noon, while the Swift employee was gone, Havens was struck by a handcar which he and Ballinger had loaded and which broke loose on the ramp. It knocked him backwards on his knee after striking him in the side or leg, but he appeared to recover immediately and continued his work. When he left Swift's premises he drove to a garage where the trailer was uncoupled for cleaning, then after 1 p. m. drove to a nearby place for lunch. He took 15 or 20 minutes to eat and at about 1:45 p. m. left to drive to his next destination. Ten minutes later he was found dead in the cab of his truck having proceeded but a short distance down the highway. There was no medical examination of the body and no autopsy. The coroner certified the cause of death as 'coronary occlusion'.

Mrs. Havens, the widow, testified that her husband was in good health and 'well and happy' the day previous and had no heart disease or condition, and his son testified that he saw his father on December 27, 1955, and that he was well then. Havens had been examined by a Dr. J. B. Redfield on the Friday before his employment on this job to determine that he was able bodied and the doctor's report, which was in evidence, indicated no heart condition, being without comment thereon except to relate that his blood pressure was normal.

Claimants failed to introduce evidence as to whether over-exertion results in coronary occlusion and defendants introduced no evidence at the hearing on this point. Claimants contended in the trial court and now claim here that such proof is not necessary. Defendants state that there must be medical evidence establishing a causal relationship between over-exertion and heart attack before a referee may properly order workmen's compensation benefits.

The referee's order, after reciting substantially the above facts except that it omitted all reference to: (a) the handcar striking Havens, (b) the testimony of Mrs. Havens and her son and the doctor's prejob medical examination and (c) comment as to lack of medical testimonv at the hearing, then stated:

'Havens had only worked for respondent employer six days. Prior thereto he had driven a gasoline transport, which did not require loading and unloading, so it would not be unrealistic to conclude that the work he was doing on February 2, 1956, constituted, for him, an unusual exertion. The problem thus resolved is whether or not the overexertion prior to noon was the proximate cause of decedent's death two hours later. The Referee is of the opinion that it was not, for the reason that overexertion is not ordinarily an element of coronary occlusion as demonstrated by the fact that more people that succumb to coronary occlusion do so while asleep or at rest than while performing any manner of exercise. The Referee is of the opinion that where exertion is a causative factor in coronary occlusion, death results when the exertion is in progress or within a very few minutes thereafter. The Referee, therefore, concludes that overexertion was not a factor in the death of Clifford G. Havens, which occurred two hours after the exertion had ceased.

'It Is, Therefore, Ordered: That claimant's claim for compensation and medical benefits be and the same is hereby denied and dismissed.'

The referee's order was later affirmed by the Industrial Commission in its Findings of Fact and Award. Petition for review was denied and the necessary procedures were followed and pleadings filed in the district court to review the denial of benefits. After hearing the court ordered the award set aside, and remanded the cause to the commission with directions to enter an award in favor of claimants entitled by statute to receive it. Motion for new trial was dispensed with and defendants are here on writ of error urging for reversal that:

1. The district court erred in vacating and setting aside the Findings of Fact and Award of the Industrial Commission where the Findings of Fact were based upon substantial, credible evidence.

2. The district court erred in substituting its judgment for that of the Industrial Commission as to the inferences and conclusions to be drawn from the evidence in the record.

3. The district court erred in making Findings of Fact which were not substantiated by the evidence in the record.

We believe that all three of the objections to the trial court's judgment depend solely on the answer to one question; viz., Did the death arise out of the employment or, to put it another away, was there a causal connection between Haven's legitimate job actions and his death?

This question must be answered in the affirmative. Claimants in the trial court attacked as false the premise that the referee's order and the commission's award were based upon substantial, credible evidence. In this they were properly sustained by the trial court. It is clear that the referee's order fails to cover the entire range of pertinent evidence as is set forth in our statement of the case supra. It also appears that the only pertinent evidence before the referee was that Havens died of a coronary occlusion after 'unusual exertion' and after being hit by the hand car during the course of his employment. The referee's comment upon, and the expression of his ideas as to the causes and effects of coronary occlusions, as recited in his order, was highly improper, without support in the record and incompetent as a basis upon which to deny an award. If that part of his order were disregarded and the evidence of no prior heart condition and of the blow from the handcar were inserted in lieu thereof, the finding of the referee would reasonably have brought the case within the aegis of the statute. We point out that the 'coronary occlusion' was prima facie proved by the admission into evidence of the certified copy of the death certificate. See '53 C.R.S. 66-8-24.

The employer urges upon us the valid rule that: Where there are disputed facts the findings of the Industrial Commission relating thereto must be accepted by the courts if there is any substantial evidence to support them, citing as authority Morrison v. Clayton Coal Co., 116 Colo. 501, 181 P.2d 1011. This moves us, for the benefit of counsel, to point out that that rule has no application to a case where the facts are undisputed. Likewise the cited rule in Industrial Commission v. Valdez, 101 Colo. 482, 74 P.2d 710, and other cases, that inferences and conclusions to be drawn from the evidence are for the Industrial Commission and not for the courts has no application to cases of undisputed facts, for in Colorado the clear rule is that where the facts in workmen's compensation cases are undisputed, the entire question is one of law for the court, and the courts are not bound by the referee's or the Commission's conclusions of law upon such facts. Denver Truck Exchange v. Perryman, 134 Colo. 586, 307 P.2d 805 citing Industrial Commission v. Bonfils, 78 Colo. 306, 241 P. 735. And, the district court is at liberty to set aside, in fact must set aside, the award of the commission when it is based upon an improper application of the law. See Western Casualty & Surety Co. v. Swort, 134 Colo. 421, 306 P.2d 661.

Defendants also urge that 'The claimant must prove not only the accident and the injury, but also the causal connection between the two; * * *' citing Vanadium Corporation of America v. Sargent, 134 Colo. 555, 307 P.2d 454. Indeed this is true, the point here however is: did the circumstantial evidence before the referee establish the causal connection between the occurrence and the death, or must claimants prove it by expert medical testimony? The unrebutted evidence of the...