Russell v. Sohio Southern Pipe Lines, Inc.

• Decision Date: 25 May 1959
• Docket Number: No. 41151,41151
• Citation: 112 So.2d 357,236 Miss. 722
• Parties: Mrs. Gladys RUSSELL et al., Dependents of A. W. Russell, Deceased, v. SOHIO SOUTHERN PIPE LINES, INC.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 357

112 So.2d 357

236 Miss. 722

Mrs. Gladys RUSSELL et al., Dependents of A. W. Russell Deceased, v. SOHIO SOUTHERN PIPE LINES, INC.

No. 41151.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

May 25, 1959.

Henry & Barbour, Herman B. Decell, Yazoo City, for appellant.

Watkins & Eager, Jackson, for appellee.

McGEHEE, Chief Justice.

This suit involves the claim of Mrs. Gladys Russell, dependent widow of the employee A. W. Russell, deceased, and for the dependent minor child, John Steven Russell, for death benefits under the Mississippi Workmen's Compensation Act of 1948, as amended, Code 1942, Sec. 6998-01 et seq.

The said A. W. Russell died of a myocardial infarction--a heart attack--on January 30, 1956, he having collapsed while at work on his employer's premises in the course of his employment on the day of his death. His employer was the appellee, Sohio Southern Pipe Lines, Inc., a self-insurer.

The proof discloses that Mr. Russell began work with the said company as a manual laborer in 1939 and rose through the ranks to become supervisor of the Dixie area, which included the Tinsley Oil Field in Yazoo County, Mississippi, near the railroad station of Anding. His regular hours for work were from 7 A.M. to 3 or 3:30 P.M. from Monday through Friday, and he usually visited the office on Saturday and Sunday mornings. It is undisputed that he was a capable, loyal and very conscientious employee, and that he was about forty-six years of age. It is also undisputed that he had been suffering from pre-existing hypertension, shortness of breath, and nervousness, resulting in a rash or hives from time to time, beginning in the year 1947. He had been treated regularly from March 1947 by a capable physician with considerable experience in the treatment of heart ailments, Dr. R. J. Moorhead of Yazoo City, who characterized the principal illness of this employee as being 'moderately severe hypertension.'

According to the testimony of the claimant, Mrs. Gladys Russell, her husband had suffered from chest pains, shortness of breath, etc. during the period of time referred to by Dr. Moorhead, and that he had an episode in the Spring of 1955 while working in the yard of their home and cutting shrubbery, and that he then collapsed on account of shortness of breath when it became necessary for her to assist him to get into the house.

On Monday, January 30, 1956, this employee reported for work at the usual time and became engaged in his normal activities as supervisor of approximately fifteen other employees, and in which position he was responsible for the ascertainment of the cause of any shortage in the oil which was being transported from the Tinsley Field in Yazoo County through the pipelines to Mayersville in Issaquena County on the Mississippi River; that on that morning he drove his car from Yazoo City to the office at Anding, which is a distance of approximately fifteen miles; that about eight o'clock on that morning he drove to the pumping station, a distance of six or seven miles, to get the reports relating to the transportation of the oil, and then returned to the office at Anding (in the Tinsley Field).

The proof further discloses that this employee continued about the performance of his supervisory duties during the forenoon of that day, and that he prepared a lunch at the noon hour consisting of a can of tomatoes, okra and some soup; that soon thereafter, and while about the discharge of his duties, he complained of pain in his lower chest or stomach, and that about two o'clock that afternoon he had walked from the office a short distance to the warehouse or workshop on two occasions, and that he had done so two or more times during the forenoon; that on one of these occasions he returned from the warehouse or workshop with a report or something of similar nature in his hand; and that finally, while in the warehouse or workshop, where he had been for only five or ten minutes, he called out to Mr. Ed. Gary, one of his subordinates, and that the latter went to the warehouse or workshop where he found Mr. Russell sick and helpless; and Mr. Gary testified that Mr. Russell told him 'I am a sick man', and that thereupon Mr. Gary and another employee placed Mr. Russell in an automobile and carried him to the office of Dr. John V. James, a general practitioner in the Village of Bentonia, where he was examined, given temporary relief and sent to the hospital; that on the way to the hospital Mr. Russell expressed a desire to be taken first to the office of Dr. Moorhead, and he advised the doctor that he began suffering pain in his chest during the forenoon; that he was kept at this doctor's office approximately an hour, and then sent to the hospital at Yazoo City, where he died shortly after arrival. Mr. Russell had not advised the other employees of his illness during the forenoon, but the proof discloses that this employee was the superior of the other employees, and that hence there was no one in authority over him to whom he should have reported his illness. It was therefore not shown that any one in authority had been advised of Mr. Russell's pre-existing illnesses.

The medical testimony is in agreement that this employee died of a myocardial infarction. Dr. Moorhead and Dr. Thadius D. Labeki both testified that there was a causal connection between Mr. Russell's employment and the onset of the heart attack, the former testifying to such as a fact and the latter giving his opinion to that effect as a specialist in cardiac diseases. Dr. James, the general practitioner of Bentonia gave as his opinion that there was no causal connection between the employment and the fatal heart attack. Dr. W. H. Rosenblatt of Jackson, Mississippi, testified as an expert in heart diseases and gave as his professional opinion, in response to hypothetical questions, that there was no causal connection between Mr. Russell's employment and the onset of his heart attack. He was corroborated on behalf of the appellee by the answers of Dr. S. H. McDonnieal, Jr. of Jackson, in response to hypothetical questions.

Dr. Moorhead, as a witness for the claimants, in testifying as to what occurred during the time that Mr. Russell was at his office on the afternoon of his death, said: 'Well, in the history he revealed that he had had some discomfort during the morning and had not seen a doctor and he had taken no medicine or anything of the sort. He thought it was primarily indigestion, and after dinner he saw Dr. James when his pain began to get so severe and I asked him why didn't he see Dr. James at first when he first got into trouble, and he said well, he was trying to get everything in order before he could go to the doctor because he thought maybe he'd be waiting all afternoon or something.

'Q. And he said he was trying to get everything in order. What was he referring to? A. I presume it was his work. He was trying to get somebody informed as to what he was trying to do so they could take over while he came in. * *...