Legakis v. Sultan & Sons

• Decision Date: 08 May 1980
• Docket Number: No. QQ-454,QQ-454
• Parties: Anna LEGAKIS, Appellant, v. SULTAN & SONS and Cosmopolitan Mutual Insurance Company, Appellees.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 938

383 So.2d 938

Anna LEGAKIS, Appellant, v. SULTAN & SONS and Cosmopolitan Mutual Insurance Company, Appellees.

No. QQ-454.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

May 8, 1980.

Rehearing Denied June 10, 1980.

James F. Johnson, Jr., Fort Lauderdale, for appellant.

Albert P. Massey, III of Pyszka, Kessler & Adams, Fort Lauderdale, for appellees.

ERVIN, Judge.

In this workers' compensation case, the claimant Legakis appeals an order of the judge of industrial claims holding that her head injuries, caused by a fall during the course of her employment, were not compensable because they did not arise out of her employment. We reverse. The narrow issue before us is whether Mrs. Legakis's employment conditions contributed to a risk personal to her in a manner substantially different from that which she would have encountered during her normal non-employment life.

Claimant, while operating a steam press for her employer, Sultan and Sons, inhaled vapor from a spray solution which was blown into her face by the press. The vapor caused a nauseous feeling and, when she turned her head abruptly to vomit, she fainted, and while falling backwards, struck her head on a desk. Claimant was examined by several physicians. One diagnosed a condition preexisting her accident, labyrinthitis, which manifests itself, among other things, by dizziness. Another, a neurologist, also testified she suffered from labyrinthitis, and with such a condition, a sudden turn of the head could produce vertigo, causing her to lose her balance and fall. Finally, an otolaryngologist stated that she might have allergic rhinitis which could have caused her to faint after inhaling a chemical starch spray. In denying the claim, the judge concluded:

(O)nly through speculation, could I conclude that the claimant's passing out was the result of her having inhaled a chemical spray and I find that it is more reasonable and logical that her passing out was the result of an idiopathic cause not arising out of her work.

The present case involves trauma brought about by an external force (a desk) as distinguished from internal failure "accidents" occurring during the course of employment which cause preexisting conditions to become suddenly symptomatic, such as those in Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company v. McCook, 355 So.2d 1166 (Fla.1977); Orange County Board of County Commissioners v. Jordan, IRC Order 2-3785 (April 25, 1979); Market Food Distributors, Inc., et al. v. Levenson, 383 So.2d 726 (Fla. 1st DCA, 1980). The general rule is that injuries caused by idiopathic falls do not arise out of employment unless the employment in some way contributes to the risk personal to the claimant or aggravates the injury. Foxworth v. Florida Industrial Commission, 86 So.2d 147, 151 (Fla.1955); Federal Electric Corp. v. Best, 274 So.2d 886 (Fla.1973); Southern Convalescent Home v. Wilson, 285 So.2d 404 (Fla.1973); Honeywell v. Scully, 289 So.2d 393 (Fla.1974). See also 1 Larson, Workmen's Compensation Law, § 12.10, 3-252 (1978). Common examples of employment conditions increasing a risk to employees include a fall from heights or onto dangerous objects, Foxworth, supra, at 151, or a requirement that the employee use a motor vehicle during his working hours. Pickens v. Sam L. Rudd Leasing U. S. A., IRC Order 2-3741 (March 21, 1979).

If the evidence showed...