Logan v. Poe's Hardware & Rentals, QQ-247
| Decision Date | 14 March 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. QQ-247,QQ-247 |
| Citation | 381 So.2d 1170 |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Bernard LOGAN, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. POE'S HARDWARE & RENTALS and American Casualty Company, Appellees/Cross-Appellants. |
John G. Tomlinson, Jr., of Williams & Tomlinson, Coral Gables, for appellant/cross-appellee.
H. B. Yandle, of Law Offices of Joel R. Teague, Coral Gables, for appellees/cross-appellants.
Appellant, Bernard Logan, brings this appeal from a final workmen's compensation order entered February 15, 1979. In that order, the judge of industrial claims found that appellant's alleged accident of April 11, 1977, did not arise out of his employment. Accordingly, the judge of industrial claims denied appellant's claim for benefits due to the alleged accident. Appellant brings the following point on appeal: Whether the judge of industrial claims erred in failing to find that appellant suffered a compensable injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment on April 11, 1977. Appellees bring the following point on cross-appeal: Whether the judge of industrial claims erred by rejecting the defense of misrepresentation of physical condition in obtaining employment, the defense of condition due to preexisting disease or anomaly, and the defense of injury due to idiopathic causes.
Appellant, aged 65, has the equivalent of a high school education and a job history in service station and mechanic work. Prior to the alleged date of accident, he suffered from various physical and psychiatric problems including depression, hypertension, sweating and dizzy episodes, and back and leg problems. On April 11, 1977, he had worked a day and a half at employer's hardware store, doing general delivery and clerk work. While pushing a dolly up a steep ramp to unload a group of chairs, he strained as hard as he could to prevent the chairs from falling. He testified he then felt chest pain and collapsed. He lost consciousness, fell and scraped himself on a wooden floor.
Appellant was taken by ambulance to a hospital, admitted to the intensive care unit, and told he had had a heart attack. However, later heart tests showed no abnormality and he was discharged about two weeks later. The treating doctor, Dr. DeLuca, diagnosed arthritis and a small hernia. Appellant testified he has suffered from chest and leg pain, headaches, shortness of breath, depression and nervousness since the incident.
Much conflicting medical testimony was presented. Dr. DeLuca stated he never found an adequate explanation for appellant's chest pain. However, he testified the physical stress of moving the chairs could have caused appellant to lose consciousness, and he had no better explanation for appellant's loss of consciousness. A psychiatrist, Dr. Gilbert, based his testimony on his treatments of appellant since August, 1977, and opined appellant still needed continuing psychotherapy and had not reached maximum medical improvement yet. Dr. Gilbert testified appellant was predisposed to traumatic nervous neurosis, and had suffered a neurotic reaction to being told he had had a heart attack, and to being put in the intensive care unit. Psychologically, appellant's chest pain had had the same impact as if he had had a...
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