Ozbolt v. Weber-King Mfg. Co.

• Decision Date: 30 January 1940
• Docket Number: 2092.
• Citation: 193 So. 383
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US
• Parties: OZBOLT v. WEBER-KING MFG. CO. ET AL.

193 So. 383

OZBOLT v. WEBER-KING MFG. CO. ET AL.

No. 2092.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

January 30, 1940

Appeal from Eleventh Judicial District Court, Parish of Vernon; Hal A. Burgess, Judge.

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Mrs. Oma Ozbolt individually and as tutrix for her minor children, claimant for the death of Jack Ozbolt, employee, opposed by the Weber-King Manufacturing Company, employer, and its insurance carrier. From a judgment awarding compensation, the employer and insurance carrier appeal.

Affirmed.

Cline Thompson, Lawes & Cavanaugh, of Lake Charles, for appellants.

Kay &amp Kay, of DeRidder, for appellee.

DORE Judge.

This is an appeal, by the defendant Weber-King Manufacturing Company and its insurance carrier, from a judgment granting compensation at the rate of $7.15 per week for a period of 300 weeks on behalf of the plaintiff and her two minor children, arising from the death of Jack Ozbolt, the husband of the plaintiff and the father of the two minor children.

It appears that Jack Ozbolt was engaged in the firing of a boiler or boilers for the defendant company on January 20, 1939, when, at just about 4 o'clock P. M. of that day, he fell dead. It is agreed that if compensation is due, it should be in the amount granted in the judgment below, and the only question presented to us in this case is whether or not the death of the decedent was an accident within the meaning of the Workmen's Compensation Act of this State (Act No. 20 of 1914).

The deceased was, and had been for a year or more, affected with heart trouble, hardening of the arteries and high blood pressure. The employer's physician had examined the deceased and was familiar with his condition. The deceased appears to have worked regularly up to the day of his death. He went to work on January 20, 1939, at about 12 o'clock noon and was on duty from that time until his death a few minutes after 4 o'clock P. M. There is some discrepancy in the testimony as to just how much work the deceased did from the time he came on duty until about 3:30 o'clock of that afternoon. One witness testifies that he shoveled fuel into the furnaces of the boilers at regular intervals of twenty or thirty minutes and rested and cooled off, as was usual with the firemen, between these fueling periods. There is other testimony to the effect that the boilers were fed, up until the planer stopped at 4 o'clock P. M., by a self-feeding system of blow-pipes which conveyed the shavings into the furnaces, and, during this period, the only duties a fireman had was to watch the water gauge, unchoke the fuel pipes and keep the fuel properly supplied by shoveling in the shavings whenever the pipes were choked.

There is testimony to the effect that the deceased stated to a fellow fireman, only a short time before his death, that he was tired; that he had been working hard. It is shown that the deceased left the boiler room around 3:30 that afternoon...