Railway Express Agency v. Hollingsworth

• Citation: 221 Miss. 688,74 So.2d 754
• Decision Date: 04 October 1954
• Docket Number: No. 39272,39272
• Parties: RAILWAY EXPRESS AGENCY, Inc. v. Mrs. Christine W. HOLLINGSWORTH et al.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 754

74 So.2d 754

221 Miss. 688

RAILWAY EXPRESS AGENCY, Inc. v. Mrs. Christine W. HOLLINGSWORTH et al.

No. 39272.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Oct. 4, 1954.

Byrd, Wise & Smith, Jackson, for appellant.

Travis & Moore, Jackson, for appellees.

HALL, Justice.

This case raises the question whether appellant is liable for workmen's compensation benefits to the widow and children of Mallory E. Hollingsworth, appellees here, on account of his death which occurred by reason of a heart attack while he was engaged in and about the discharge of his duties as an employee of appellant in the delivery of express shipments in the City of Jackson at 3:18 p. m. on January 3, 1953.

There is no substantial dispute as to the material facts except in the opinion of the two medical experts, both eminently qualified, one of whom gave it as his opinion that the emotional strain and the physical stress of the employee's work directly contributed to the attack and consequent death, the other maintaining that there was no causal connection between the work and the heart attack. Claimant's medical witness supported his opinion by quotations from the works of several outstanding medical writers, and the employer's medical witness supported his opinion by like quotations to the contrary. The latter was of that school of medical thought who believe that a heart trouble is never aggravated by physical exertion, though he admitted that he advised his patients not to engage in heavy physical activity. The former was of that school of medical thought who believe that heavy and unusual physical exertion, especially when accompanied by emotional stress or strain, will precipitate a fatal attack or at least contribute to its onset.

Deceased had been in his present employment for nearly ten years. His duties varied over the years but for more than eight months prior to his death he had worked as a chauffeur, his duty being to drive one of the company's trucks and make and collect for deliveries of express shipments. The shipments for each route were segregated at the station, and it was the chauffeur's duty to load the truck for his route and then go out and make deliveries. The work for the month of December was unusually heavy because of an increase in the number of shipments during the holiday season. Ordinarily the chauffeur worked five days of eight hours each and then rested for two days. During December, 1952, however, Mr. Hollingsworth worked every day from the 8th through the 26th except on the 14th when he had one day off. He had two days off from his work on the 27th and 28th, and was transferred to what is known as the perishable run. On this run he was required to deliver perishable shipments, many of which consisted of frozen food and are usually wet and slippery and are messy and difficult to handle. After resting on January 1st and 2nd, 1953, he resumed his duties on Saturday January 3rd, reporting for work at 2 p. m. The loading of his truck consumed about thirty minutes. He delivered several shipments of flowers at the terminal, being four boxes weighing 207 pounds, one carton weighing 48 pounds, and seven boxes weighing 192 pounds. Later he called at the place of business of the consignee thereof and collected the express charges. He delivered to a restaurant on Capitol Street a box of frozen fresh meat weighing 102 pounds. He delivered to Robt. E. Lee Hotel a 30 pound box of water cress and three boxes of frozen poultry weighing 324 pounds. The record does not show the weight of each box but obviously they could not have weighed less than 108 pounds each. In making this delivery deceased was required to carry these boxes up a flight of stairs and deposit them on a...