McWhorter v. South Carolina Dept. of Ins.

• Citation: 165 S.E.2d 365,252 S.C. 90
• Decision Date: 14 January 1969
• Docket Number: No. 18857,18857
• Parties: Mrs. Irene S. McWHORTER, Respondent, v. SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE and State Workmen's Compensation Fund, Appellants.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of South Carolina

Page 365

165 S.E.2d 365

252 S.C. 90

Mrs. Irene S. McWHORTER, Respondent, v. SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE and State Workmen's Compensation Fund, Appellants.

No. 18857.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

Jan. 14, 1969.

Atty. Gen. Daniel R. McLeod, Asst. Atty. Gen. James C. Anders, Columbia, for appellants.

Marchant, Bristow & Bates, Columbia, for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from an order of the Circuit Court, which will be reported herewith, affirming the opinion and an award of the South Carolina Industrial Commission in a Workmen's Compensation case.

The sole question for determination is whether there was any competent evidence to support the factual findings of the Industrial Commission that the deceased employee suffered a fatal heart attack arising out of and in the course of his employment as a result of overexertion in the performance of his duties due to unusual or extraordinary conditions and circumstances in his employment.

We have examined the record in this case and the order of the lower court in the light of the question posed and have concluded that a proper disposition of this case was In addition to the evidence of overexertion on the part of the employee, reviewed in the circuit court order, the medical evidence was to the effect that his heart attack was most probably caused by such overexertion.

There being competent evidence supporting the factual findings of the Commission the judgment below is affirmed.

The ORDER OF JUDGE CRIMBALL requested to be reported follows:

This matter comes before me by way of appeal by the Defendant-Appellants from an Order of the South Carolina Industrial Commission affirming the opinion and award of Commissioner Paul M. MacMillan, Jr., granting the Claimant benefits under the South Carolina Workmen's Compensation Act for the death of her husband.

In this case, the deceased employee suffered a heart attack and died. It is stipulated that his death occurred in the course of his employment. He had no previous history of a heart condition.

At the time of his death, the deceased was employed in Columbia as an investigator by the South Carolina Department of Insurance. The uncontradicted testimony showed that the deceased normally worked approximately thirty-six (36) hours per week, from nine (9:00) to five (5:00) each day, five (5) days per week, with one (1) hour for lunch, and a fifteen (15) minute coffee break in the morning and in the afternoon. His normal working conditions involved very little overtime work and very little travel.

While so employed, the deceased was required to investigate and aid in the preparation for trial of an extremely involved and complicated conspiracy case, to be tried in Greenville, involving a large number of defendants, and requiring the personal interviewing of, and conferences with a large number of witnesses from all over the State. In the last ten (10) days before the trial, he traveled by automobile, driving most of the way, over fifteen hundred (1500) miles, for the purposes of these interviews and conferences. For the last ten (10) days, up until approximately 1:00 o'clock P.M. on the day of his death, he worked in the preparation for this trial more than one hundred twenty-one (121) hours. Because of the time element involved, accusations by the defendants against him, and the importance of the case, the deceased was operating during all this time under conditions of extreme pressure, emotional strain and worry. The trial was to commence on Monday, and on the Saturday before the trial, normally a day off, the deceased worked for approximately eleven (11) hours. On the Sunday before the trial, also normally a day off, he worked about twelve (12) hours, from about 12:30 P.M. until about 12:30 A.M. the following Monday morning. On Monday morning, he arose about 3:30 A.M. and drove to Greenville, stopping on the way in Leesville to pick up a witness who had requested transportation. Upon arriving in Greenville, he proceeded to the Solicitor's office and participated in a conference with the Solicitor and others from 7:00 A.M. untill about 9:00 A.M., after which he proceeded to the Court room and assisted in the trial until the Court recessed at about 12:35 P.M. At that time, he assisted the Solicitor and another investigator in carrying voluminous files and records to the Solicitor's Office in the Court Hourse, then walked down three flights of stairs in the Court House, and shortly after emerging from the building he suffered a heart attack and died.

Appearing as witnesses for Claimant were the deceased's immediate superior, Mr. Asbury Shorter, the Solicitor for the Thirteenth Circuit, Mr. B. O. Thomason, Jr., and a fellow investigator with the Insurance Department, Mr. James E. Perry. All of these witnesses testified as to the highly unusual conditions under which this investigation was conducted as well as to the extraordinary strain and long hours in connection with it, which were very unusual for this line of work.

Thus, Mr. Shorter testified that, 'In my eighteen (18) years of law enforcement, it was one of the most complicated cases' that he had ever seen (Tr. p. 24). Mr. Shorter also testified: 'I couldn't put a new man in Mr. McWhorter's place, I knew that I was overworking him, but I couldn't put a new man in cold to do it. And, in fact, I couldn't have done it myself. And, therefore, Mr. McWhorter being very conscientious never complained about the overwork. * * *' (Tr., p. 27).

Solicitor Thomason testified that this case was 'unusual. Unusual in every sense of the word.' (Tr., p. 69), and that all of the investigators 'were under unusual strain or pressure.' (Tr., p. 61.)

Mr. Perry stated that in normal cases the investigators were never pushed for time as they were in this one (Tr., p. 79) and that they had never before had to work excessive hours (Tr., pp. 102--103). He said that the conditions of employment in this case were both 'unusual' and 'extraordinary.' (Tr., p. 97.)

Under this state of facts, the Hearing Commissioner found as a fact that the deceased 'suffered a fatal heart attack arising out of and in the course of his employment with the defendant-employer as the result of overexertion in the performance of his duties due to unusual and extraordinary conditions and circumstances in his employment.'

Upon review, the Full Commission adopted the Hearing Commissioner's Opinion and Award in its entirety, including the above quoted finding of fact.

The Supreme Court of South Carolina has considered the question of compensation in cases of heart attacks many times in the past. One of the most recent cases is that of Walsh v. United States Rubber Co., 238 S.C. 441, 120 S.E.2d 685 (1961). In that case, the Court quoted with approval from the case of Kearse v. South Carolina Wild Life Resources Dept., 236 S.C. 540, 115 S.E.2d 183 (1960), as follows:

'* * * A determination of this question necessitates a review of the cases where disability or death of an employee results as a consequence of exertions on the performance of his duties. It is now well settled in this State that a coronary occlusion or thrombosis suffered by an employee constitutes a compensable 'accident' if it is induced by unexpected strain or overexertion in the performance of the duties of his employment or by unusual and extraordinary conditions in the employment. Green v. City of Bennettsville, ...