King v. Jones Truck Lines

• Decision Date: 22 April 1991
• Docket Number: No. 4,4
• Citation: 814 S.W.2d 23
• Parties: Marjorie Inez KING, Surviving Widow of Billy J. King, Deceased, Plaintiff/Appellee, v. JONES TRUCK LINES, Defendant/Appellant. 814 S.W.2d 23
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

Page 23

814 S.W.2d 23

Marjorie Inez KING, SurvivingWidow of Billy J. KingDeceased, Plaintiff/Appellee, v.JONES TRUCK LINES, Defendant/Appellant.

No. 4.

814 S.W.2d 23

Supreme Court of Tennessee at Jackson.

April 22, 1991.

Erich W. James, Memphis, for defendant-appellant.

Monroe W. Gibbs, Memphis, for plaintiff-appellee.

OPINION

ANDERSON, Justice.

In this worker's compensation action, the trial court awarded death benefits to the employee's widow.The trial court found that the employee had suffered an injury to his spleen which arose out of and was in the course of employment, and which resulted in his death.We disagree that the death arose out of employment, because we find that the spleenic injury was caused by cardiopulmonary resuscitation following a heart attack which was not caused by employment.Therefore, we reverse.

FACTUAL HISTORY

Billy J. King("King") was six feet, two and one-half inches tall, weighed 209 pounds, and was 53 years old at the time of his death on July 9, 1987.He had been employed as an over-the-road truck driver with the defendant employer, Jones Truck Lines, since May 1985.

At the age of 20, King had contracted rheumatic fever, which led to the replacement of his mitral heart valve with an artificial valve.When King moved to Memphis from St. Louis in 1981, he was referred by his St. Louis cardiologist to a fellow cardiologist, Dr. Thomas Stern, who treated him and in 1984 arranged for the replacement of King's aortic heart valve with a second artificial valve.As a part of his treatment, King was taking Coumadin, a blood thinner, and Lanoxin to control his heart rhythm.In addition, King was a borderline diabetic who took Diabinese to control his blood sugar.King saw Dr. Stern for his last regular six-month check-up in February of 1987, at which time Dr. Stern reported he had been quite stable for some time, had the same irregular heartbeat he had had for years but it was well controlled.Dr. Stern found no sign of heart weakness, no abnormalities in the x-rays or electrocardiogram, and no evidence of strain on the heart.His instructions to King were the same as in the past--to lead a normal life, to continue his truck driving occupation, to avoid extraordinary stress, and to report if he became short of breath or developed swelling.

King arrived home in Memphis at approximately 1:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, June 28, 1987, after a roundtrip for his employer to Lake Charles, Louisiana.His wife said that King seemed more tired than normal.He awoke at about eight o'clock Sunday morning, and they went to church.Afterward, they went out to eat in a Chinese restaurant, where King enjoyed a meal of cashew chicken and rice.

Following lunch, the Kings returned home and King took a nap at about 5:00 p.m.When Mrs. King returned at about 6:30 p.m., after visiting neighbors, King was already up.King told her he had suffered a severe stomach pain and had taken a Gas-X, which relieved his pain.He also indicated he was sore on the left side of his abdomen.King felt well enough, however, to leave home at about 7:00 p.m. for what was to be his last business trip.

Sometime after midnight on Monday, June 29, 1987, King entered a Shell station mini-mart at Natural Bridge, Alabama, which is approximately 200 miles from Memphis.He was sweating, looked pale, and was bent over in a stooped condition.He leaned over the counter and asked the night manager, Ruby Mae Sutherland, the location of the nearest hospital.She advised him that it was about 11 miles away, and asked if he wanted her to call an ambulance.He asked if he could sit down and she showed him to a booth, after which she obtained towels from the bathroom for King to wipe his face.

King advised her that he had eaten Chinese food and thought he might have food poisoning.It appeared to her that King was having a heart attack.There was nothing to indicate to Sutherland that King or his truck might have been in an accident.

King sat in the booth for twenty to thirty minutes and then approached Sutherland at the register and asked her to call an ambulance.At that time he appeared much more pale and was perspiring heavily.When the ambulance arrived, he was immediately placed on a stretcher, given oxygen, and taken to the Burdick-West Memorial Hospital in Halleyville, Alabama.

The Burdick-West Memorial Hospital record reveals that King arrived by ambulance in the emergency room at 12:53 a.m. on Monday, June 29, 1987, at which time he was pale but alert, with a complaint of severe lower abdominal cramps.He had atrial fibrillation (weak, irregular heartbeats) with a rate of 84, temperature of 93.6, and blood pressure of 98/50.King told hospital personnel his past medical history, his present medications, and his own theory--that he was suffering from food poisoning--but did not report any accidents or physical trauma.His admitting diagnosis was atrial fibrillation and hypertension.His heart fibrillation did not respond to medication.

At approximately 10:00 a.m. Monday morning, King lost consciousness, had very shallow respiration and increasing atrial fibrillation.His blood pressure dropped to 54/40.He suffered respiratory arrest and was intubated.Cardiopulmonary resuscitation by external massage was applied three times.By 10:37 a.m. his blood pressure was restored enough that he could be transported by air ambulance to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis.That evening, Dr. Charles Frankum performed exploratory surgery and surgically removed King's spleen, which had a large laceration three and one-half inches wide by five inches long and was approximately five times its normal size.King never recovered and died in Baptist Memorial Hospital ten days later on July 9, 1987.

A death summary prepared by King's cardiologist, Dr. Thomas Stern, reported that spleenic rupture, shock, intervascular coagulation, rheumatic heart disease, acute tubular necrosis secondary to ischemia, and acute stress gastric ulcer all contributed to King's death.

TRIAL COURT FINDING

After denial of the claim by the employer, this action for worker's compensation death benefits was filed by King's widow in Shelby County Circuit Court, and was tried on November 3, 1989, after which the trial court found 2.That the decedent's injury and subsequent death arose out of and within the course and scope of his employment and is therefore compensable under the Tennessee Workers Compensation Act.

3.While the evidence does not clearly establish the precise instrumentality that caused the injury, it does clearly establish that the decedent died as a result of a ruptured spl[een] and notwithstanding the testimony of Dr. Randolph Turner, the Court finds that the testimony of Dr. Stern is much more credible that this ruptured spl[een] could not have resulted without some form of trauma to the decedent.

4.While the issue here may be close, the Court believes that the evidence clearly establishes that the decedent while he complained of an upset stomach before he left Memphis had been driving this truck for many hours and when he arrived at the truck stop in Halleyville, Alabama, some form of injury had occurred to him which was subsequently diagnosed to be a lacerated spl[een] and resulted in his death.

SCOPE OF REVIEW

Our review of findings of fact by the trial court is de novo upon the record of the trial court, accompanied by a presumption of the correctness of the findings, unless the preponderance of the evidence is otherwise.Tenn.Code Ann. Sec. 50-6-225(e);Lollar v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 767 S.W.2d 143(Tenn.1989)."This standard differs from that previously provided and requires this Court to weigh in more depth factual findings and conclusions of trial judges in workers' compensation cases."Humphrey v. David Witherspoon, Inc., 734 S.W.2d 315(Tenn.1987).Under the material evidence rule, this Court was required to accept the findings of fact of trial courts if those findings were supported by any material evidence.Anderson v. Dean Truck Line, Inc., 682 S.W.2d 900, 901-02(Tenn.1984).However, we are no longer bound by the findings of the trial court in these cases and now determine where the preponderance of the evidence lies.Corcoran v. Foster Auto GMC, Inc., 746 S.W.2d 452, 456(Tenn.1988).

PREPONDERANCE OF THE EVIDENCE

The plaintiff in a worker's compensation suit has the burden of proving every element of the case by a preponderance of the evidence.Talley v. Virginia Insurance Reciprocal, 775 S.W.2d 587(Tenn.1989).Compensable injuries are those caused "by accident arising out of and in the course of employment."Tenn.Code Ann. Sec. 50-6-102(a)(4).

The phrase "in the course of" refers to time and place, and "arising out of" to cause or origin; an injury by accident to an employee is "in the course of" employment if it occurred while he was performing a duty he was employed to do; and it is an injury "arising out of" employment if caused by a hazard incident to such employment.

Bell v. Kelso Oil Co., 597 S.W.2d 731, 734(Tenn.1980);Travelers Insurance Co. v. Googe, 217 Tenn. 272, 397 S.W.2d 368, 371(1965).

If we find that King suffered an accidental injury to his spleen while on the job, there is no real question that his death "arose out of" employment.Therefore, the question presented by the defendant can be restated--whether the trial court correctly found that the preponderance of evidence demonstrates that King suffered an accidental injury to his spleen "in the course of" employment.

The plaintiff advances two theories in support of the trial court's findings.First, it is argued that King may have sustained a jarring blow on June 27, 1987, when he"hooked up" a trailer in preparation for a trip.The second alleged incident might have occurred on June 28, 1987, after King left Memphis in his tractor-trailer rig en route to Natural Bridge, Alabama, where he arrived in shock and terminally ill.

We first look...