Polk Nursery Co., Inc. v. Riley

• Decision Date: 17 June 1983
• Docket Number: Nos. AM-284,AM-285,s. AM-284
• Citation: 433 So.2d 1233
• Parties: POLK NURSERY COMPANY, INC., and Florida Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company, Appellants, v. Connie L. RILEY and Carolyn L. Lord, Appellees.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 1233

433 So.2d 1233

POLK NURSERY COMPANY, INC., and Florida Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company, Appellants, v. Connie L. RILEY and Carolyn L. Lord, Appellees.

Nos. AM-284, AM-285.

District Court of Appeal of Florida First District.

June 17, 1983.

Rehearing Denied July 21, 1983.

A.H. Lane and John K. Vreeland of Lane, Trohn, Bertrand & Williams, Lakeland, for appellants.

Michael B. Murphy of Stanley, Wines, Bennett, Murphy & Spanjers, Auburndale, for appellees.

BOOTH, Judge.

This cause is before us on consolidated appeals from orders in workers' compensation proceedings, awarding compensation benefits for physical and psychiatric injuries claimed to have resulted from poisoning by the organic pesticide "Temik."

On July 20, 1981, Connie Riley and Carolyn Lord suddenly became ill while fertilizing potted plants which had been treated three and a half weeks previously with the highly toxic pesticide Temik. Claimants assert that they were exposed to the pesticide when their tennis shoes were soaked with water which had pooled on the black plastic placed under the potted plants.

There was no evidence introduced that there was Temik in the water which allegedly soaked claimants' shoes. However, claimants sought to establish these claims under the "logical cause" doctrine by showing the onset of symptoms of Temik poisoning following claimants' presumed exposure to that chemical during work.

The active ingredient in Temik is the organophosphate pesticide "aldecarb." Aldecarb is combined with an inert ingredient to form a granular substance which is placed on the soil at the base of the plant. Upon watering, the pesticide is leached into the soil surrounding the roots and is internally absorbed by the plant; the plant pest is destroyed as a result of eating some portion of the plant.

Expert testimony established that the action of Temik's active ingredient aldecarb is to reduce the body's cholinesterase level, thus interfering with the parasympathetic nervous system which controls the involuntary body functions. In humans, exposure to aldecarb results in the victim losing control over his body functions, with symptoms that include headache, nausea, abdominal cramps, tightness in the chest, pinpoint pupils and blurred vision, vomiting, excessive salivation and tearing, sweating, diarrhea, incontinence, weakness, muscle twitching, pulmonary edema, convulsions and, if the cholinesterase level is sufficiently reduced, coma and death. It is a unique feature of this pesticide that a minimal exposure, that is an exposure which does not result in a significant lowering of the cholinesterase level, is asymptomatic and is without physical consequences or residual effects. On the other hand, an exposure sufficient to produce a significant lowering of the cholinesterase level will typically cause the entire complex of symptoms to appear.

There was no testimony to support the deputy's apparent determination that claimants sustained a slight case of Temik poisoning. On the contrary, the expert testimony seemed to effectively negate the possibility of such a theory due to the unique action of the chemical in question.

Riley and Lord complained of weakness, headache, nausea, dizziness, blurred vision and abdominal cramps. Serum and whole blood tests showed both claimants' cholinesterase levels to be within normal limits. The physicians who examined them soon after they became ill found no objective physical evidence that they had been poisoned by Temik and concluded that they had suffered no physiological injury, but that there was some emotional component to their symptoms.

Both claimants were referred to Dr. Susac for neurological evaluation on the date of the accident. Dr. Susac found no objective evidence that they had been exposed to Temik poisoning and was of the opinion that any possible exposure would have had to have been minimal. Claimants were then seen by psychiatrists who attributed their continuing symptoms and depression to a psychological trauma produced by fear that they had been poisoned by Temik.

In September, 1981, both claimants were examined, at the request of the carrier, by Dr. Bergnes, an internist. He had before him the claimants' medical reports and the cholinesterase blood tests made on the date of the incident. He found the results of the blood tests to be within normal limits, indicating that any exposure to Temik was insignificant. Dr. Bergnes found no objective evidence of any residual physiological effects from any exposure to Temik.

Dr. Gessner, a clinical psychologist and clinical neuropsychologist, examined both claimants on several occasions in November, 1981, conducting a series of psychological and neuropsychological tests. He concluded that Riley's subjective symptoms were not caused by the presence of any toxic substance, but resulted from the fear that she had been poisoned. He found that Lord was a passive person who tended to be suggestible, that she suffered from an anxiety syndrome with depression which most probably related to a preexisting condition, and that there was no indication of any toxic condition caused by Temik which contributed physiologically to her subjective symptoms, concluding that she perceived that she was poisoned and thereafter developed the symptoms....