Parks v. Insurance Co. of North America

• Decision Date: 08 November 1976
• Docket Number: No. 57797,57797
• Citation: 340 So.2d 276
• Parties: Mrs. Eric (Linda) PARKS v. INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA et al.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 276

340 So.2d 276

Mrs. Eric (Linda) PARKS v. INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA et al.

No. 57797.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Nov. 8, 1976.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 10, 1976.

John T. Bennett, Riddle, Bennett & Ryland, Marksville, for plaintiff-applicant.

John W. Scott, Stafford, Randow, O'Neal & Scott, Alexandria, Edwin L. Lafargue, Laborde, Lafargue & Kelly, Marksville, for defendants-respondents.

MARCUS, Justice.

Plaintiff, Mrs. Eric (Linda) Parks, instituted suit for workmen's compensation benefits against her employer, Marksville Industries, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as Garan, Inc.) and its insurer, Insurance Company of North America, seeking total and permanent disability payments for a condition allegedly resulting from a form of bronchitis caused, aggravated or precipitated by the working conditions at her place of employment. By supplemental petition, plaintiff made New York Life Insurance Company a defendant, alternatively alleging that if she could not recover under the Louisiana Workmen's Compensation Act, she was entitled to disability payments under a group insurance policy covering the employees at Marksville Industries, Inc. Plaintiff also prayed for penalties and attorney fees against all defendants.

The trial judge rendered judgment in favor of Garan, Inc. and its compensation insurer based on findings that the plaintiff was an unskilled worker, that her illness did not constitute an accident within the contemplation of the compensation law and that the conditions at her place of employment did not cause her illness. Judgment was rendered in favor of plaintiff and against New York Life Insurance Company in the amount of $40.00 per week for the period of plaintiff's disability, which the court determined to be from October 10, 1973 to November 30, 1973. The trial judge denied penalties and attorney fees and assessed costs to New York Life in the amount of $15.00. All other costs were taxed to plaintiff.

From this judgment, plaintiff appealed to the court of appeal ¹ whereupon the appeal court affirmed in all respects the findings of fact and conclusions of law reached by the trial court. 326 So.2d 535 (La.App.1976). We granted certiorari to review the correctness of this judgment. 330 So.2d 313 (La.1976).

FACTS

The record reflects that plaintiff, Linda Parks, is a twenty-one year old housewife living in a rural area near Marksville, Louisiana. After brief work experiences in a canning factory and nursing home, plaintiff applied for a position with Marksville Industries, Inc., a division of Garan, Inc., a company manufacturing ready-to-wear garments. Mrs. Parks began working in May, 1973 as a seamstress sewing pockets and yokes onto ladies pants. In the course of her work, plaintiff observed that the process of machine stitching pieces of fabric together generated large quantities of dust and lint which settled atop the sewing machines and on the clothes and bodies of the workers. At the end of each day, plaintiff and her fellow workers used an air vacuum hose provided by Garan, Inc. to remove the accumulated lint from the machines and themselves. The testimony of plaintiff and Mr. Don Fulton, manager of the Garan plant, revealed that, during the period of plaintiff's employment, the Garan facilities were housed in an old converted nightclub. There were no windows in the building and, although the plant was air conditioned, it was necessary to leave the doors of the building open to promote air circulation.

Mrs. Parks testified that in early September, 1973, after working for Garan for approximately four months, she began to experience a sore throat, running nose, and a nagging dry cough. She related that on blowing her nose, it was obvious to her from the content of the mucus discharged that she had been inhaling fabric lint. Although Mrs. Parks continued to work regularly throughout September, she began losing weight and felt gradually worse, until on October 10, 1973, she was stricken with a high fever and forced to consult a local general practitioner, Dr. Bryan C. McCann.

Plaintiff's medical history discloses that as a child she had several episodes of acute bronchitis and on one occasion suffered from whooping cough. While none of plaintiff's sisters had been troubled with respiratory ailments, her two brothers had asthma as children. Plaintiff began smoking in April, 1973 and has continued to do so at the rate of about one pack per day without apparent ill effects to her respiratory system. As an adult, plaintiff has apparently had occasional colds and related respiratory symptoms but she testified at trial that since childhood she has not experienced an attack of acute bronchitis such as she suffered in fall of 1973 while working at the Garan plant.

Dr. McCann testified that when he saw plaintiff on October 10, 1973 he found her to have a temperature of 100 . From a description of her symptoms over the last month and a physical examination, he diagnosed Linda Parks' condition as bronchitis with throat infection. Plaintiff was treated with penicillin. On October 12, 1973, Mrs. Parks returned to Dr. McCann; her condition was unchanged. She was administered a different antibiotic by injection for several days but by October 15 her condition had worsened to the extent that hospitalization was necessary. Plaintiff remained in the hospital for four days and was diagnosed as having chronic bronchitis and an unrelated urinary tract infection. Three days after her discharge from the hospital, on October 22, 1973, plaintiff again consulted Dr. McCann complaining of a hard dry cough and abdominal pain; she was treated with injections over the next four days. Dr. McCann testified that, when he next saw plaintiff on November 2, 1973, she had a fever of 101? and reported having had this temperature for five days. Dr. McCann referred her to a specialist in internal medicine, Dr. M. L. Godley, who immediately hospitalized plaintiff and treated her for allergic bronchitis. Four days later, plaintiff was again discharged from the hospital only to return once more to her physician, Dr. McCann, on November 15, 1973 with a fever of 101? , a cough, and congestion. Plaintiff was treated with yet another antibiotic supplemented by gamma globulin injections. Subsequent to this last treatment, Mrs. Parks' illness disappeared. On advice of both doctors who treated her, plaintiff did not return to work at Garan, Inc. on any occasion after the October 10, 1973 onset of her acute illness.

At trial, Dr. McCann was extensively examined concerning the nature of plaintiff's illness and its relation to the working conditions at Garan, Inc. He stated that Mrs. Parks' high fever and the presence of pneumococcus bacteria in her sputum indicated that, when she saw him on October 10, 1973, she was suffering from an acute infectious bronchitis. He testified that he did not believe plaintiff's acute episode was related to asthma (even if she did have an asthmatic condition) since he detected none of the characteristic wheezing usually present in an asthmatic attack. Dr. McCann explained that bronchitis is a general term describing an inflammation or infection of the bronchioles. He testified that, in his opinion and after consulting with Dr. Godley, plaintiff during early September and October had experienced a chronic bronchitis, a persistent condition of bronchial inflammation, caused or aggravated by the working conditions at Garan, Inc., and more particularly by inhalation of dust and fabric lint. Dr. McCann noted that these substances constituted non-specific irritants which caused plaintiff's lungs to be inflamed and secrete mucus. It was his testimony that this condition made plaintiff physically more susceptible to the bacterial infection which ensued producing her acute illness of October 10, 1973. Dr. McCann related that 'the infectious process was an end result of the inflammation or irritation' and that the exposure to lint and fabric dust was an 'aggravating factor if not the cause itself' of her bronchitis. Regarding plaintiff's smoking and other irritants which might have been present in her home environment, Dr. McCann noted that plaintiff's lack of symptoms prior to working at Garan and the non-recurrence of bronchial difficulties after she terminated her employment, suggested that working conditions triggered plaintiff's respiratory problems. In response to questioning concerning skin patch testing, Dr. McCann indicated that, even if plaintiff were non-allergic in a technical sense, fabric dust and lint could nevertheless precipitate irritation and inflammation in a person, such as plaintiff who had hypersensitive bronchial tubes and a predisposition to respiratory problems. He also testified that it was understandable that plaintiff suffered several relapses of her acute illness even without re-exposure to the irritants at Garan in view of her weakened physical condition. Dr. McCann confirmed that he had advised plaintiff against returning to work at Garan but he also stated, regarding plaintiff's disability, that having once recovered from the fall 1973 episode of acute bronchitis, plaintiff's physical condition returned to its pre-illness state with no residual effects.

Reports written by Dr. Godley, ² the physician who treated plaintiff during her second period of hospitalization, confirm Dr. McCann's evaluation of Mrs. Parks' illness in all material respects. While he stated that the fabric dust and lint at Garan did not cause plaintiff's Acute illness, he nevertheless agreed that such substances would aggravate her already overreactive bronchial tubes.

In anticipation of this litigation, plaintiff was referred for evaluation to two consulting specialists. ³ The first Dr. A. C. Dalton, a specialist in allergy and immunology, first saw plaintiff on March 8, 1974, at which time she was asymptomatic. Dr. Dalton performed a series of skin patch tests on plaintiff with various...