Lawler v. Windmill Restaurant, 16074

Citation435 N.W.2d 708
Decision Date12 October 1988
Docket NumberNo. 16074,16074
PartiesJosephine L. LAWLER, Appellant v. WINDMILL RESTAURANT, Appellee, and U.S. Fidelity & Guaranty Company, Appellee. . Considered on Briefs
CourtSupreme Court of South Dakota

David L. Stanton, Rapid City, for appellant.

Dennis W. Finch of Finch, Viken, Viken & Pechota, Rapid City, for appellee.

WUEST, Chief Justice.

Josephine Lawler (Lawler) appeals a circuit court judgment affirming the decision of the South Dakota Department of Labor (Department) which denied her worker's compensation claim. We affirm.

Lawler was employed as a fry cook at the Windmill Restaurant (Windmill) in Rapid City, South Dakota. On August 20, 1981, she suffered an "acute myocardial event" while performing her regular duties at work. Lawler was immediately transported to the Rapid City Regional Hospital. There, her attending physician, Dr. Paul Dzintars, and a cardiologist, Dr. James Jackson, observed that she was experiencing chest pains, poor skin color and cold sweats. They suspected that Lawler had suffered a myocardial infarction 1 and treated her accordingly.

On November 1, 1981, Lawler returned to work as a pastry cook at Windmill. She was discharged after thirty days because Windmill feared she would have another "heart attack" and believed she was unreliable as an employee. Thereafter, Lawler received unemployment compensation until late 1982. She then succeeded in obtaining two consecutive jobs, neither of which lasted more than four months. In both cases, Lawler was discharged for non-health reasons.

Lawler filed a claim for worker's compensation and a petition for a hearing before the Department on May 9, 1983. After an administrative hearing, the Department concluded that Lawler suffered a myocardial event on August 20, 1981, from which she later recovered. This event was precipitated by her employment at Windmill and constituted an "injury" within the meaning of SDCL 62-1-1(2). 2 As a result, Lawler was awarded temporary total disability benefits from August 20, 1981, to November 1, 1981. The Department further concluded that Lawler failed to prove that the myocardial event played any role in her disability after November 1, 1981. The preponderance of the medical evidence indicated this subsequent disability was attributable to a pre-existing coronary heart disease and other factors unrelated to work. The Department therefore denied Lawler's claim for permanent total disability benefits.

Both Windmill and Lawler appealed the Department's decision to the circuit court. The circuit court affirmed the Department's decision and Lawler now appeals from that decision to this court.

The only question before this court is whether the Department's determination that Lawler's permanent disability did not stem from her employment at Windmill is clearly erroneous. We hold that the factual determination made by the Department is not clearly erroneous.

Worker's compensation laws are remedial in character and entitled to a liberal construction. Wold v. Meilman Food Industries, 269 N.W.2d 112, 116 (S.D.1978). This rule of liberal construction, however, applies only to the law and not to the evidence offered to support a claim. Id. Issues of causation in worker's compensation cases are factual issues that are best determined by the Department. Newbanks v. Foursome Package & Bar, Inc., 201 Neb. 818, 272 N.W.2d 372, 376 (1978). Unless such factual determinations made by the Department are clearly erroneous, we will not disaffirm them. 3 SDCL 1-26-36(5); Permann v. Dept. of Labor, Unemp. Ins. D., 411 N.W.2d 113, 115 (S.D.1987); S.D. Wildlife Federation v. Water Mgt. Bd., 382 N.W.2d 26, 32 (S.D.1986) (Wuest, J., dissenting); Barkdull v. Homestake Min. Co., 317 N.W.2d 417, 418 (S.D.1982).

There is no presumption from the mere occurrence of an unforeseen or unexpected injury that the injury was in fact caused by an employment situation. Newbanks, 272 N.W.2d at 375. To recover disability benefits under the worker's compensation statutes, the claimant has the burden of establishing a "causal connection between the employment and the disability." Kirnan v. Dakota Midland Hosp., 331 N.W.2d 72, 74 (S.D.1983) (quoting Peterson v. Ruberoid Company, 261 Minn. 497, 499, 113 N.W.2d 85, 86 (1962)). See also SDCL 62-1-1(2). The testimony of "professionals" is crucial in establishing this causal relationship because the field is one in which laymen ordinarily are unqualified to express an opinion. Wold, 269 N.W.2d at 115; Podio v. American Colloid Co., 83 S.D. 528, 534, 162 N.W.2d 385, 388 (1968).

In the present case, the aforementioned principles mandate that Lawler demonstrate a causal connection between her work as a fry cook and her coronary heart disease. A careful review of the medical evidence reveals that Lawler failed to meet this burden. In their depositions, neither Dr. Dzintars nor Dr. Jackson stated that the myocardial event caused Lawler's permanent disability or that her work at Windmill caused or contributed to the heart disease she suffers. In fact, Dr. Dzintars testified that Lawler had recovered and was able to return to work. 4 Furthermore, Lawler submitted to a complete cardiovascular examination by Dr. Jorge Sanmartin on January 31, 1986. Dr. Sanmartin also reviewed the medical records relating to Lawler's hospitalization on August 20, 1981, and concluded that she had not suffered a myocardial infarction, but had endured an onset of angina pectoris. 5 Dr. Sanmartin later testified that Lawler was permanently disabled as a result of coronary heart disease and that the onset of this disease occurred at least ten years prior to the date of the myocardial event.

We conclude that Lawler failed to meet her burden of proving that her coronary heart disease arose out of and in the course of her employment at Windmill. The determination by the Department regarding the cause of Lawler's permanent disability is not clearly erroneous. 6 Accordingly, the order of the circuit court upholding the Department's decision is affirmed.

MORGAN and MILLER, JJ., concur specially.

SABERS, J., concurs in result.

HENDERSON, J., dissents.

MORGAN, Justice (concurring specially).

I concur in the views expressed in the majority opinion except with respect to our review of deposition testimony. In that regard, I agree with the view expressed by the dissent to the extent that it was previously stated by this court in Wold v. Meilman Food Industries, 269 N.W.2d 112, 115 n. 2 (S.D.1978).

It is my perception that the problem raised is not our review of deposition testimony de novo in administrative appeals. I believe that the real conflict is between the application of that review by the dissent and two tenets of appellate administrative review, namely: (1) the question is not whether there is substantial evidence contrary to the agency finding, but whether there is substantial evidence to support the agency finding. Application of Ed Phillips & Sons Company, 86 S.D. 326, 195 N.W.2d 400 (1972); and (2) the court shall give great weight to the findings made and inferences drawn by an agency on questions of fact. SDCL 1-26-36, Finck v. Northwest School Dist. No. 52-3, 417 N.W.2d 875 (S.D.1988).

In Wold, supra, where the trial court had reversed an agency decision awarding benefits, we affirmed the trial court decision, even though the doctor's deposition testimony was offered before the agency in support of the award. Thus the scope of our review is not necessarily the determining factor.

In this case, granted that there is testimony of Dr. Jackson that would support a view contrary to the agency decision, there is also other medical testimony, in the deposition of Dr. Sanmartin, that supports the finding of the agency. Therefore, applying the Phillips & Sons admonition along with the statutory directive that we give the findings and inferences of the agency great weight on questions of fact, I concur in the majority opinion.

I am authorized to state that Justice MILLER joins in this special concurrence.

SABERS, Justice (concurring in result).

Although I concur with the result reached by the majority, I agree with the scope of review expressed by Justice Henderson for deposition testimony.

HENDERSON, Justice (dissenting).

This is another exciting challenge to right a great wrong. A wrong perpetrated upon one of the most defenseless in our society, a kitchen worker in a truck stop earning $4 per hour. Under our statutes, under the settled law of this state, under foreign authorities (see, for example, Carpino v. Treasure Chest Restaurant, 106 A.D.2d 782, 483 N.Y.S.2d 817 (1984)), and under Larson's on Workmen's Compensation, she is entitled to win this appeal. I am reminded of words, found in St. John, that one must seek first the truth and it shall set you free. Passion and strength for that which is right and good and true must be the quest of the Law. By upholding this downtrodden lady's cause, I elevate the corpus and spirit of the law, not to mention my own spirit. And, it makes me free. Law is a majestic calling. It can make you soar, like the eagle. On its wings, as you fight for the right, it can exhilarate you like the mountain air. It is, unquestionably, one of the noblest efforts the world still affords.

Digesting the majority opinion will readily disclose a paucity of facts. Without facts upon which to build a conceptual platform, a case is difficult to put in perspective. Thus, the reader should be given some facts to consider. There is a finding below, which the majority opinion totally deletes, quite vital to an appreciation of why the circuit court should be reversed for affirming the Department of Labor. This lady is entitled, under the settled law of this state, and under the state of this record, to worker's compensation.

First of all, the decision of the Deputy Director of the Department of Labor is this: A "myocardial event" arose out of and in the...

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