Rother v. Merchants Refrigerating Co.
| Decision Date | 13 April 1939 |
| Docket Number | No. 259.,259. |
| Citation | 6 A.2d 404,122 N.J.L. 347 |
| Parties | ROTHER v. MERCHANTS REFRIGERATING CO. |
| Court | New Jersey Supreme Court |
Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Elizabeth Rother for the death of her husband, Paul Rother, opposed by the Merchants Refrigerating Company, employer. Judgment awarding compensation to claimant, and the employer brings certiorari.
Writ dismissed.
Argued January term, 1939, before TRENCHARD, PARKER, and PERSKIE,
Wilbur A. Stevens, of Newark (Reginald V. Spell, of Newark, of counsel), for prosecutor.
Ziegener & Brenner, of Jersey City (Robert H. Brenner, of Jersey City, of counsel), for respondent.
In this workmen's compensation case, the question we are called upon to decide is whether, as prosecutor, the employer claims, the employee, respondent's deceased husband, died solely as the result of a serious heart condition with which he was afflicted for several years prior to his death, or whether, as respondent claims, he died as the result of unusual effort necessarily expended in his work, thus aggravating his pre-existing condition and resulting in his death. In other words, respondent's claim is that decedent died as the result of an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment.
The proofs disclose substantially the following facts: Paul Rother, deceased, respondent's husband, fifty three years of age and afflicted with a heart condition since 1927, was employed by prosecutor and reported for work at 8 A. M., on May 4, 1936. Prosecutor sent him to a doctor to be, and he was, examined. He reported for work about 1 P. M., of the day of his employment. He was put to work unloading a freight car which contained crates of oranges. More specifically, his work consisted of placing the crates of oranges on a hand truck placed in the freight car and carrying 12 crates; each crate weighed, variously estimated, from 60 to 85 pounds. He worked at one end of the freight car and a fellow employee worked at the other end. Another employee pulled the hand trucks out as they were loaded. Sometime between 1:30 and 1:45 P. M., of his first hour of work, a fellow employee saw him lying face down on the floor of the car; no one saw him collapse or fall. He was "breathing hard in a shivery manner, shaking." He was taken outside the car for some air but died a few minutes thereafter. Additionally, each party offered medical proof in support of their respective claims as stated in the question requiring discussion in this cause.
Upon the proofs so adduced, it was determined in the Workmen's Compensation Bureau that ...
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Neylon v. Ford Motor Co.
...197 A. 281 (Sup.Ct. 1938); 'unusual effort' aggravating pre-existing heart condition, causing death, Rother v. Merchants Refrigerating Co., 122 N.J.L. 347, 6 A.2d 404 (Sup.Ct. 1939). Our cases for nearly 30 years based recovery upon the extraordinary causation. The requirement was In Hentz ......
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Bolger v. Chris Anderson Roofing Co.
...resulting disability. (at 500, 166 A.2d at 582) This iterated orthodox workmen's compensation doctrine. Rother v. Merchants Refrigerating Co., 122 N.J.L. 347, 6 A.2d 404 (Sup.Ct.1939), aff'd 123 N.J.L. 262, 8 A.2d 571 (E. & A. 1939); Bond, supra. That the contributing or predisposing factor......
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Rivers v. American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corp... Same
...read: ‘The heavy work the decedent was doing most of the day * * *, the more or less [extreme] exertion.’ In Rother v. Merchants Refrigerating Co., Sup., 122 N.J.L. 347, 6 A.2d 404, reference is made to ‘unusual effort’ as inducing ‘unusual exertion.’ And the same court in denying compensat......
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Ciocca v. Nat'l Sugar Ref. Co. of N.J.
...cases are Bernstein Furniture Co. v. Kelly, 114 N.J.L. 500, 177 A. 554, affirmed 115 N.J.L. 500, 180 A. 832; Rother v. Merchants Refrigerating Co., 122 N.J.L. 347, 6 A.2d 404, affirmed 123 N.J.L. 262, 8 A.2d 571. And, so too, it must be conceded, the fact that the employment subjected the e......