Johnson v. Dicks
| Citation | 76 So.2d 657 |
| Parties | Essie Mae JOHNSON, a widow, individually and as mother and natural guardian of Anderson Johson, Jr., Edward Johnson, Frederick Johnson, and J. T. Johnson, minor children of Anderson Johnson, deceased, Appellants, v. Leonas DICKS, General Accident Fire & Life Assurance Corporation, and FloridaIndustrial Commission, Appellees. |
| Decision Date | 03 December 1954 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Florida |
Joseph P. Lieb, of Fowler, White, Gillen, Yancey & Humkey, Tampa, and Charles F. Chastain, of Oxford & Oxford, Lakeland, for appellants.
John M. McNatt, Jacksonville, and Rodney Durrance, Tallahassee, for appellees.
This is a workmen's compensation case. Our judgment turns on our answer to the question of whether there is competent, substantial evidence under the law to support the findings of the Deputy Commissioner who made an award to claimant widow and her children for the death of her husband.
The Deputy Commissioner found: Anderson Johnson at the time of his death was working as a fruit picker. He was last seen a few minutes before his death walking with a long aluminum ladder toward a fruit tree. The grove, the grounds, and the gloves, hands and clothing of the employee all were wet. A fellow employee heard a groaning noise and a flop and ran over to find Johnson lying on the ground beside the ladder. The ladder, if stood on the ground on end, was long enough to reach high-tension wires strung above and carrying voltage high enough to cause the death of a human being. The employee's death was caused by heart failure, and there was no evidence of any prior heart disease which could have caused death. The autopsy was inconclusive as to facts which would lead to the cause of death. From the testimony the Deputy Commissioner concluded that the death was caused by electrocution which was the result of an accident arising out of and in the course of employment of deceased.
The Full Commission reverse the award in favor of claimants. The Circuit Court affirmed the order of the Full Commission.
We have examined in detail the record in this cause. The orange grove where the deceased worked was bordered on the south by Lumsden Road in Hillsborough County. The carrier offered exhibits which are diagrams of the accident location. These depict a utility pole on the north side of Lumsden Road close to trees growing in the orange grove. The crossbar at the top of this pole carried three wires which ran east and west between the grove and the road. At various places leaves and branches of the trees grew out and around the wires. These top three wires are 25.5 feet above the ground at the pole and go closer to the ground as they proceed west until they are 22.5 feet from the ground at a point about 71 feet west of the pole. Below this top set of lines are three lines which run south from the pole across the road for the purpose of furnishing electricity to a residence. These latter lines are placed one below the other with the top line being 22.2 feet above the ground at the pole. At this same distance above the ground at the pole there is another line running east and west and below the top three lines.
A witness for the carrier testified that the top three east and west lines carried about 4800 volts of electricity; that the low east and west line was a neutral wire in which there was current at times but which was grounded at each transformer and at other points so that there is no potential between that and the earth. The middle of the lower three wires running to the south carried 220 volts and the other two 110 volts.
In pictures of the accident scene the ladder used by the deceased is shown west of the pole in a position approximate to where it is said to have been found at the time of discovery of his body. One of the fellow workmen testified that he found the deceased lying one to two steps east of the ladder and right under the wires. The record does not disclose in terms of feet how far the deceased was from the pole at the time he was found upon the ground.
Deceased was 46 years of age and weighed about 156 pounds. He had worked at the orange groves for about three seasons and was in good health. A fellow workman testified that he saw deceased two or three minutes before his death at which time he talked just like he always did. Deceased was carrying a twenty-four foot aluminum ladder heading toward trees bordering the road and close to the electric wires. That Was the last time he was seen alive. The fellow workman was two or three trees or about 75 to 90 feet, away from deceased. He heard a groaning noise, went to investigate, and found deceased lying upon the ground. No signs of burns were found on or about the deceased or the ladder.
There was an autopsy attended by three physicians. The summary of the findings in this report indicated that the cause of death was inconclusive and stated, 'since the possibility of electrocution was cited and this is a cause of heart failure and may show no diagnostic evidence peculiar to it, conclusion must be reached from attendant circumstances.' The report also recited that deceased was found at the foot of an aluminum ladder comparatively near which was a high-tension wire and that there was no evidence of recent burns to the clothing or body of deceased.
Dr. Bush, who had attended the autopsy, and Dr. Mims, who testified with reference to the autopsy report, were witnesses for claimant. Both of them were clearly of the opinion that the autopsy failed to reveal any pathological cause of death and that so far as the autopsy revealed, the deceased did not die of natural causes.
In response to a hypothetical question, Dr. Mims expressed the opinion that deceased died of electrocution; he further stated that a peculiar condition of the blood found in deceased was consistent with electrocution.
We think the evidence detailed above is sufficient to warrant the finding that the deceased died from electrocution arising out of and in the scope of his employment. Wisconsin Coal Corporation v. Haddix, 280 Ky. 676, 134 S.W.2d 232; Dixie Darby Fuel Co. v. Franks, 311 Ky. 341, 224 S.W.2d 147; McVicar v. Harper Hospital, 313 Mich. 48, 20 N.W.2d 806; Burke v. B. F. Nelson Mfg. Co., 219 Minn. 381, 18 N.W.2d 121; Botts-Hulme & Odell v. Tate, Okl., 265 P.2d 709; Buff v. Columbia Baking Co., 215 S.C. 41, 53 S.E.2d 879; Morris v. State Compensation Commissioner, 135 W.Va. 425, 64 S.E.2d 496; Cornell Wood Products Co. v. Sicheneder, 195 Wis. 267, 218 N.W. 182.
In each of the cited cases a worker in previous good health was found dead at a place in proximity to electrical equipment under circumstances in which he could have been electrocuted while engaged in his employment. In each case no natural cause of death appeared and there were no burns upon the body of deceased. And in all of the cases, except that of Burke v. B. F. Nelson Mfg. Co., supra, there was no witness who observed deceased at the time of the event of death. In each case the cause of death was not conclusively established, but the court held that the circumstances were sufficient to warrant a finding that death was caused by electrocution arising out of and in the course of the employment.
We are aware of the grave and difficult problems arising in connection with an unwitnessed death, particularly where electrocution is a possibility of death; but, under the authority of the foregoing cases, we have no hesitation to hold in the instant case that under the law there is competent, substantial evidence in the record to support the findings and conclusions of the Deputy Commissioner which in turn support the award made for the death of this worker.
Appellees contend vigorously that there is no medical evidence...
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