Reynolds Metals Co. v. Cash, 5-3544
| Decision Date | 24 May 1965 |
| Docket Number | No. 5-3544,5-3544 |
| Citation | 390 S.W.2d 100,239 Ark. 489 |
| Parties | REYNOLDS METALS COMPANY and the Travelers Insurance Co., Appellants, v. Lucille CASH et al., Appellees. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
McMillan, McMillan & Turner, Arkadelphia, for appellants.
McMath, Leatherman, Woods & Youngdahl and John P. Sizemore, Little Rock, for appellees.
This is a Workmen's Compensation case. Cecil Cash was an employee of Reynolds Metals Company, having been employed as an automobile mechanic for a number of years at the Jones Mill Plant near Malvern. According to the evidence, he attended church with his family on February 3, 1963, and, after lunch, complained of pains in his chest and arm, which continued until late afternoon. However, the pain subsided, and no medical aid was sought. Cash returned to his job on Monday morning, and worked through Wednesday noon. A short time after eating lunch, and while servicing a truck, he became ill, complaining of pains in the left arm and chest. He was taken to Hot Spring County Memorial Hospital, and, after the making of an electrocardiogram, his ailment was diagnosed as a coronary occlusion, and Cash was ordered to remain inactive. About fifteen or sixteen hours after admission, around 7:00 AM on Thursday, Cash suddenly died. Cause of death was determined as acute coronary occlusion due to atherosclerosis. Lucille Cash, widow, sought benefits for herself and an eleven-year-old son, contending that her husband had suffered a compensable injury. The claim was controverted by appellants, and a hearing was held before a commission referee. This referee held that the claim was compensable, and on appeal, the full commission sustained the award. Thereafter, the Circuit Court affirmed the commission's finding. From the judgment so entered, appellants bring this appeal.
Reduced to the concise contention, appellants' argument is that the atherosclerotic condition, suffered by Cecil Cash, was entirely responsible for the acute coronary occlusion. It is asserted that this condition resulted from a gradual body process, occurring over a long period of time, and the work being performed by Cash on Wednesday, had absolutely nothing to do with the attack that occurred at that time. Mrs. Cash testified that her husband complained on Sunday, after eating, of pain in his arm and side; however, it subsided, and he went to work on Monday, apparently entirely normal. The fatal attack then occurred on Wednesday. It is not known whether Cash suffered a heart attack on Sunday, since he was not attended by a physician. The medical evidence reflected that this occurrence could have been the beginning of a heart attack, but, on the other hand, pains sometimes represent a digestive disturbance of some type. The family physician, Dr. W. F. Barrier, testified that Cash had frequently had attacks of acute pain in the stomach and abdomen for the last several years before his death, and, at times, had to be relieved by morphine. However, under our view, the question of whether Cash actually suffered a heart attack on...
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...that the heart attack was, in fact, an accidental injury arising out of, and in the course of his employment. Reynolds Metals Co. v. Cash, 239 Ark. 489, 390 S.W.2d 100; Turner v. Lambert Construction Co., 258 Ark. 333, 524 S.W.2d 465; Arkansas Foundry Co. v. Cody, 251 Ark. 57, 470 S.W.2d 81......
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