Nix v. City of Houma

• Decision Date: 20 May 1986
• Docket Number: No. 85-C-2347,85-C-2347
• Citation: 488 So.2d 184
• Parties: Eva Agnes NIX et al. v. CITY OF HOUMA et al. 488 So.2d 184
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 184

488 So.2d 184

Eva Agnes NIX et al. v. CITY OF HOUMA et al.

No. 85-C-2347.

488 So.2d 184

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

May 20, 1986.

Rehearing Denied June 129, 1986.

Joseph W. Greenwald, Shreveport, for applicant.

Donald B. Ensenat, Gerolyn P. Roussel, Camp, Carmouche, Barsh, Gray, Hoffman & Gill, P.L.C., New Orleans, for respondent.

DIXON, Chief Justice.

Eva Agnes Nix and her children filed suit for workmen's compensation death benefits and for damages for wrongful death against the City of Houma, the City of Houma Electric, Water & Gas Utility Company and B.J. Hughes, Inc. after the death of Clifford William Nix, husband and father of the plaintiffs. This suit for workmen's compensation benefits was severed and tried separately.

There was judgment in favor of plaintiffs in the trial court, which was reversed in the court of appeal. 479 So.2d 546 (La.App. 1st Cir.1985).

Mr. Nix, a sixty-four year old diabetic, was a long time employee of defendant B.J. Hughes, Inc. His principal employment duties included the preparation and presentation of safety seminars. In January of 1980 he presented a seminar in Houma, Louisiana, some sixty miles away from his home in LaPlace. He drove to Houma the night before the seminar in order to avoid a drive in the early morning fog, and spent the night in a hotel. Mr. Nix presented the seminar the next day, although he appeared ill when he arrived in the morning. At lunchtime, in spite of his diabetic condition, he refused to eat the meal provided.

That afternoon, upon conclusion of the seminar, Mr. Nix began the drive back to Metairie in order to reach his office by 5:00 p.m., as was his custom. He was driving his Hughes company car during rush hour traffic at approximately 3:45 on that rainy afternoon. He had traveled only a few minutes, and was still within the city limits of Houma, when he was observed at an intersection slumped over the steering wheel of his car. The car drifted at a slow speed to the right, and collided with a utility pole. Testimony indicated that the principal cause of Mr. Nix's death was a myocardial infarction. However, it was uncertain whether the collision occurred before, during or after the heart attack, and it was never established whether the onset of a diabetic coma might have triggered the heart attack or the collision. The weight of the testimony did establish, however, that the principal cause of death was probably the myocardial infarction.

Shortly after the collision with the pole, a police officer arrived on the scene, and observing the symptoms of cardiac arrest, attempted to resuscitate Mr. Nix to no avail. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Terrebonne General Hospital.

The court of appeal reversed the trial judge, who had awarded benefits to Mrs. Nix, holding that "Mr. Nix's heart attack was [not] sufficiently work-related to entitle plaintiff to death benefits." Nix v. City of Houma, supra at 547.

R.S. 23:1031 provides requirements for recovery of workmen's compensation benefits "If an employee ... receives personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, his employer shall pay compensation in the amounts, on the conditions, and to the person or persons hereinafter designated.

..."

This statute and the cases interpreting it set forth two requirements for recovery. The accident must arise out of the worker's employment, and the accident must occur during the course of the worker's employment. Both of these requirements must be met.

It is undisputed that Nix had an accident in the course of his employment. He was driving from the seminar to his office when the accident occurred; his work day had not yet ended.

The occurrence of a heart attack and resulting death is viewed as an "accident" and resulting "injury" within the definitions in the Workmen's Compensation Act. R.S. 23:1021(1) and (7); Roussel v. Colonial Sugars Co., 318 So.2d 37 (La.1975); Bertrand v. Coal Operators...