McDonald v. International Paper Co.

• Decision Date: 16 November 1981
• Docket Number: No. 81-C-1379,81-C-1379
• Citation: 406 So.2d 582
• Parties: Linda H. McDONALD v. INTERNATIONAL PAPER COMPANY.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 582

406 So.2d 582

Linda H. McDONALD v. INTERNATIONAL PAPER COMPANY.

No. 81-C-1379.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Nov. 16, 1981.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 14, 1981.

J. Bachman Lee of Theus, Grisham, Davis & Leigh, Charles L. Hamaker of Madison, Garrett, Brandon, Hamaker & Tugwell, Monroe, for defendant-applicant.

John T. Campbell of Campbell, Campbell & Johnson, Minden, for plaintiff-respondent.

DENNIS, Justice.

This is a worker's compensation case involving a claim for benefits as a result of an employee's death caused by a myocardial infarction. The trial and intermediate appellate courts allowed recovery of benefits, penalties, and attorney's fees. McDonald v. International Paper Company, 398 So.2d 1182 (La.App.2d Cir. 1981). We affirm the award of death benefits, but reverse the penalty and attorney's fees decree.

After reviewing the evidence and considering the arguments of counsel, we conclude that the lower court's findings and decisions are correct on the issue of liability under the compensation statute for the reasons expressed by the court of appeal. It is well established that an unexpected and catastrophic effect upon an employee, such as death by heart attack, produced by extraordinary mental or emotional work-related stress, is compensable. Ferguson v. HDE, Inc., 270 So.2d 867 (La.1973). The character of the case does not change in kind, but only in degree when the stimulus takes the form of sustained anxiety or pressure leading to heart attack or cerebral hemorrhage. 1B A. Larson, The Law of Workmen's Compensation § 42.21 at 7-590 (1980). The vast majority of other jurisdictions hold that extraordinary anxiety and worry associated with employment constitute, without more, an accidental injury justifying an award of worker's compensation if the injury and anxiety has caused physical deterioration such as a myocardial infarction. Townsend v. Maine Bureau of Public Safety, 404 A.2d 1014 (Me.1979); Little v. Korber & Co., 71 N.M. 294, 378 P.2d 119 (1963); Coleman v. Andrew Jergens Co., 65 N.J.Super. 592, 168 A.2d 265 (1961); Klimas v. Trans Caribbean Airways, Inc., 10 N.Y.2d 209, 219 N.Y.S.2d 14, 176 N.E.2d 714 (1961); Insurance Dep't v. Dinsmore, 233 Miss. 569, 102 So.2d 691 aff'd on rehearing, 104 So.2d 296 (1958); Fireman's Fund Indem. Co. v. Industrial Acc. Comm'n., 241 P.2d 299 (Cal.App.1952), aff'd, 39 Cal.2d 831, 250 P.2d 148 (1952); Hoage v. Royal Indem. Co., 67 App.D.C. 142, 90 F.2d 387, cert. denied, 302 U.S. 736, 778, 58 S.Ct. 122, 82 L.Ed. 569 (1937); 1B A. Larson, supra, at § 42.21. As set forth in the trial and appeals court opinions, the employee in this case, for several weeks before his death, was subjected to extraordinary emotional and mental stress associated with the impending closure of his mill, the possible termination of his job, and the increased difficulty of his job because of shorthanded, dilatory workcrews and poorly maintained equipment. Dr. McCormick and Dr. Bridges testified that this work-related stress was a cause of the employee's terminal heart attack. For these reasons, we conclude that the evidence rationally supports a finding that the employee's myocardial infarction...