Joslyn v. Oneida County Sheriff's Dept.

• Decision Date: 30 December 1999
• Citation: 700 N.Y.S.2d 548
• Parties: 1999 N.Y. Slip Op. 11,164 In the Matter of the Claim of Robert JOSLYN, Deceased, Respondent, v. ONEIDA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT, Appellant, and Special Disability Fund, Respondent. Workers' Compensation Board, Respondent.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Page 548

700 N.Y.S.2d 548

1999 N.Y. Slip Op. 11,164

In the Matter of the Claim of Robert JOSLYN, Deceased, Respondent, v. ONEIDA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT, Appellant and Special Disability Fund, Respondent Workers' Compensation Board, Respondent.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York.

Dec. 30, 1999.

Wolff, Goodrich & Goldman (Christopher R. Mason of counsel), Syracuse, for appellant.

Eliot Spitzer, Attorney-General (Iris A. Steel of counsel), New York City, for Workers' Compensation Board, respondent.

Daly & Pitts (Michael P. Daly of counsel), Syracuse, for Robert Joslyn, respondent.

Before: PETERS, J.P., SPAIN, CARPINELLO, GRAFFEO and MUGGLIN, JJ.

PETERS, J.P.

Appeals (1) from a decision of the Workers' Compensation Board, filed September 29, 1997, which ruled that decedent sustained a compensable injury and awarded workers' compensation benefits, and (2) from a decision of said Board, filed September 15, 1998, which ruled that decedent's death was compensable and awarded workers' compensation death benefits.

Upon awaking with chest pains on June 25, 1992, decedent was transported to the emergency room where he was diagnosed with a severe myocardial infarction. He thereafter suffered numerous cardiac arrests which resulted in severe brain damage. For the following four years, he lived in a neurovegetative state until his death from congestive heart failure in September 1996.

Prior to his heart attack, decedent was employed by the Oneida County Sheriff's Department (hereinafter the employer) as an Operations Lieutenant at the local jail. In such capacity, he had administrative and supervisory duties for approximately 300 prisoners and a staff of 200. Testimony adduced at various hearings revealed that in recent years, the jail had experienced, among other problems, increases in the prisoner population compounded by staff shortages, inmate and staff assaults, suicides and concerns of contracting HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis. Although decedent had worked the day shift for the last 11 years, approximately three weeks prior to his heart attack he was asked by Sheriff Gerald Washburn, who had held that position since January 1991, whether he would volunteer to switch to the "afternoon" shift, comprised of an eight-hour period between 6:00 P.M. and 4:00 A.M. While couched as a nonmandatory assignment, decedent believed that he had no choice but to comply; he accepted and began, at 47 years old, to work from 7:00 P.M. to 3:00 A.M.

Decedent had great difficulty adjusting to the shift change as documented in the affidavit and testimony of both his wife who had, in the past, held a Deputy Sheriff's position in the jail, and his direct supervisor and friend, Captain Daniel Middaugh. Decedent experienced difficulty sleeping, was complaining of headaches, neck pain and loss of appetite, was irritable and withdrawn and "looked terrible". While complaints were also communicated to the psychiatric social worker stationed at the jail, Barbara Lee Pflender-Ruiz, no such complaints were expressed to Washburn.

Subsequent to the heart attack, a workers' compensation claim was filed on decedent's behalf (hereinafter the lifetime claim). In connection therewith, medical testimony was elicited from decedent's attending physician, Antonio Di Marco, who opined that the stress caused by the change in shifts was the most important precipitating factor for decedent's heart attack. A contrary report by John Walters, a physician who examined decedent in 1993, opined that the heart attack was precipitated not only by the stress induced by the change in shift but also by smoking and family history. Without a history of psychological or psychiatric involvement, he opined that there was no evidence to confirm chronic stress, as opposed to acute stress, which did not, in his view, trigger a myocardial infarction.

The Workers' Compensation Law Judge (hereinafter WCLJ) determined that benefits should be awarded since an accident, notice and causal relationship had been established. Upon application for review by a panel of the Workers' Compensation Board, the claim was...