El Patio Motor Court, Inc. v. Long's Dependents

• Decision Date: 20 November 1961
• Docket Number: No. 42039,42039
• Parties: . et al. v. DEPENDENTS OF Jessie LONG, Deceased. Supreme Court of Mississippi
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 437

134 So.2d 437

242 Miss. 294

EL PATIO MOTOR COURT, INC. et al. v. DEPENDENTS OF Jessie LONG, Deceased.

No. 42039.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Nov. 20, 1961.

Melvin, Melvin & Melvin, Laurel, for appellant.

Beard, Pack, Ratcliff & Dillard, Laurel, for appellee.

RODGERS, Justice.

This case was appealed to this Court from the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Jones County, Mississippi, from an order affirming the decision of the Workmen's Compensation Commission reversing an order of the attorney-referee. The attorney-referee had denied the claim of dependents of Jessie Long and the Workmen's Compensation Commission allowed their claim for compensation.

It was stipulated that Jessie Long died on April 3, 1959, at the El Patio Motor Courts, Inc., Laurel, Mississippi; that the claimants are Inez Long, the widow, and the dependent children Jerome Long, Helen Marie Long, and Jacklen Long.

The testimony in this case shows that Jessie Long worked for the El Patio Motor Courts as a porter, that on the day of his death he had mowed the yard, moved a heavy baby crib from the basement to the room of a tourist and done other work about the court. It appears that the deceased had been suffering from pain, which he assumed to be indigestion, all during the day and had purchased Rolaids and Alka-Seltzer in an effort to relieve his pain. The testimony shows that about 8:30 P.M. a customer requested that the heat be turned up and the employee on duty at the desk called Jessie, but he failed to answer. The desk clerk then went down to the room where Jessie was working and found him sitting in a chair with a dishrag in his hand, his head against the dishrack. Some of the dishes had been washed and some were unwashed, there was a Rolaid on the floor and a package of Rolaids on a nearby table. Jessie was dead. A doctor was summoned and after he examined Jessie he pronounced him dead. Two doctors testified in their opinion Jessie Long died from a heart attack and that his condition had been aggravated by his work at the El Patio Motor Court. One doctor testified for defendant that he did not know what caused the death of Jessie Long and that his work would not have aggravated a heart condition.

The defendants appealed from the judgment of the Circuit Court and have offered one assignment of error to-wit, 'The trial court erred in affirming the decision of the Workmen's Compensation Commission.' Later, a brief was filed setting up two grounds of error on which reversal of the judgment of the Circuit Court is sought: (1) That the presumption of a causal connection between the work and death of Jessie Long is rebuttable and not conclusive and that this presumption has been rebutted by the evidence offered by the witness for the defense in this case. (2) That the evidence introduced showed that the work was not strenuous; that his work on the day of his death was lighter than usual; that at the time of his death the defendant was at rest, sitting in a chair.

The testimony in this case was submitted to the Workmen's Compensation Commission and they found from the evidence that the claimants and dependents of the deceased Jessie Long 'made out a prima facie case' and that the testimony introduced by the defendant did not 'overcome the presumptive factors in this cause'.

This Court has often held that where an employee is found dead at the place his duties required him to be, or where he might have been in the performance of his duties during the hours of his work, it is presumed that the accident arose out of his employment and within the Compensation Act, in the absence of evidence that he was not engaged in the master's business. See Pearson et al. v. Dixie Electric Power Ass'n, 219 Miss. 884, 70 So.2d 6; I. B. S. Manufacturing Co. v. Dependents of Mrs. Paul Cook, Miss., 130 So.2d 557; Majure et al. v. William H. Alsup & Associates et al., 216 Miss. 607, 63 So.2d 113; Winters Hardwood Dimension Co., Inc. et al. v. Dependents of Dave Harris, 236 Miss. 757, 112 So.2d 227; M. & W. Construction Co. et al. v. Dependents of Horace Victor Bugg, Miss., 129 So.2d 631; Russell v. Sohio Southern Pipe Lines, Inc., 236 Miss. 722,...