Pannell v. State Compensation Com'r
| Decision Date | 25 April 1944 |
| Docket Number | 9583. |
| Citation | 30 S.E.2d 129,126 W.Va. 725 |
| Parties | PANNELL v. STATE COMPENSATION COMMISSIONER et al. |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied June 6, 1944.
Syllabus by the Court.
Patrick J. Flanagan, of Welch, for appellant.
J Randolph Tucker, of Welch, for appellees.
The claimant has appealed from an order of the Compensation Appeal Board, denying her compensation as the widow of R. P Pannell, an employee of the Vera Pocahontas Coal Company, who died on the 19th day of January, 1942, from cerebral hemorrhage. The attack from which he died came while he was in the course of his employment as a coal miner; and it is contended by the claimant that the attack resulted from said employment because of the presence of carbon dioxide commonly called "black damp", in his working place in the mine. Specifically, her claim is that her husband had high blood pressure, and the presence of this poisonous gas operated to raise that pressure to the extent that it caused a breaking down of a blood vessel in the brain, which resulted in his death. There is no dispute as to the direct cause of his death. All the medical testimony is that he suffered what is termed a massive cerebral hemorrhage, which means that there was a rupture of a blood vessel and a diffusion of blood throughout the brain cavities. The employer questions the claim that decedent had high blood pressure, but in our view of the case it is of little importance whether he did or did not suffer from this ailment.
The decedent was working in what may be termed a dead end working place in a mine operated by his employer, and at a point near an abandoned portion of a mine which had been operated by another coal company. Air was forced into the mine though an air course which passed near, but not through the working place in which decedent was working. The air was diverted from its main course through another channel in which was constructed a curtain or brattice work for the purpose of checking the air in that course, and thereby forcing it back into the working place of the decedent. It is clearly shown that there was supposed to be danger of bad air in this dead end working place, and the mine foreman was cautioned to be on guard against this condition. This mine foreman, Snyder, testified that he examined the working place in question during the morning of January 19, and found no gas. Two other miners who worked some little distance from the point at which decedent worked, testify that there was some gas in their working place, but apparently not in dangerous quantities. Decedent's working place was inspected by the mine foreman the day following decedent's attack, and no gas was found, and on the day following the same working place was examined by an inspector of the State Mine Department, who found the air in a healthy condition. While there is some evidence indicating the existence of gas in the working place of the decedent, prior to the break-through into the abandoned mine hereafter to be discussed, we do not think such evidence is sufficient to establish that gas in dangerous quantities existed at that time. The evidence is that the decedent and his stepson, who was working with him, had suffered no apparent ill effects up to the time of the break through into the abandoned mine. They went to work at the regular time, and worked two or three hours until about the middle of the day when the decedent's attack came. The fact that, up to this time, they had suffered no ill effects from their work argues that, prior to the breakthrough into the abandoned mine, there was probably no gas in harmful quantities in their working place in the mine.
The decedent and Harold Spencer were working together in this mine. They were only a few feet apart. Decedent in working at the face of the coal broke through into the abandoned mine. He called Spencer's attention to the fact that he had made a break-through, and Spencer says that he had thrown two or three shovelfuls of coal when he noticed that decedent was running away from his working place, and then immediately fell to the floor of the mine. Spencer went to him, found him apparently unconscious, dragged him a short distance in the direction of the working place entry, and called for help. We may assume that when the break-through occurred, air was released from the abandoned mine and came into decedent's working place. Snyder, testifying as to this opening, says that when he examined it he felt the velocity of the air; so we think it cannot be questioned that the break-through caused a release of air from the abandoned mine into decedent's working place. We do not know what the character of this air was. We can only reason from cause to effect. The break-through came, the air was released, and immediately decedent suffered his attack. The physicians who testified say that the effect of contact with carbon dioxide is to raise blood pressure, and it is, of course, obvious that the raising of blood pressure at least contributes to the bursting of a blood vessel whether it be weak or strong.
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