Speaks v. Hoage

• Decision Date: 06 May 1935
• Docket Number: No. 6389.,6389.
• Citation: Speaks v. Hoage, 78 F.2d 208, 64 App.D.C. 324 (D.C. Cir. 1935)
• Parties: SPEAKS v. HOAGE, Deputy Com'r, et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

64 App. DC 324, 78 F.2d 208 (1935)

SPEAKS v. HOAGE, Deputy Com'r, et al.^*

No. 6389.

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Argued April 9, 1935.

Decided May 6, 1935.

I. Irwin Bolotin and Charles I. Kaplan, both of Washington, D. C., for appellant.

Arthur J. Phelan, of Washington, D. C., for appellees.

Before MARTIN, Chief Justice, and ROBB, HITZ, and GRONER, Associate Justices.

MARTIN, Chief Justice.

This is a case arising under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (44 Stat. 1424; 33 USCA §§ 901-950 made applicable to the District of Columbia 45 Stat. 600; D. C. Code (1929) tit. 19, c. 2, §§ 11, 12).

The deputy commissioner rejected the claim for compensation in the case. Appellant, as plaintiff, then brought suit in the lower court to set aside the deputy commissioner's ruling. The lower court denied the plaintiff's prayer, whereupon this appeal was taken.

It appears from the record that on January 17, 1934, Harvey Speaks was an employee of the National Capital Press, Inc.; that on that day he was sent by one of his superiors to a gasoline station to get a five-gallon can filled with gasoline. He went on the errand, had the can filled, and brought it back to his place of employment. The can weighed between 30 and 35 pounds, and the distance which Speaks carried it was about 240 feet. Speaks apparently after bringing the can back, put it upon an electrically controlled elevator which he operated himself, and brought the elevator up to the third floor. He took the can off the elevator, set it down upon the floor within a few feet of the elevator shaft after closing the elevator door behind him, and afterwards was found lying upon the floor apparently suffering great pain. These facts are practically undisputed although no one saw Speaks while bringing the gasoline from the filling station, nor while he was on the elevator, nor after he got off the elevator until he was found lying upon the floor near to the can. A doctor was called who examined him and ordered his removal to the hospital, which was done. Speaks remained in the hospital for two days. On the 19th he died. An autopsy was performed on his body by Dr. Murphy, the deputy coroner.

It is claimed by appellant that the physical effort made by Speaks in carrying the can of gasoline subjected his heart to a strain which was a contributing cause of his death; and that the injury was accidental and occurred in the course of and grew out of his employment and was compensable.

The deputy commissioner, however, found upon the evidence that Speaks was suffering from a long-standing disease of the heart; that his death was caused by this disease; and that the evidence failed to establish that he suffered sufficient strain while at work to bring about the acute condition of the heart which caused his death.

The question therefore arose whether the death of the employee was caused by an attack of heart disease brought on in whole or in part by the strain of carrying the can of gasoline, or whether the heart attack was coincidental with but not caused by that exertion.

It is disclosed by the record that Speaks was about 45 years of age. His wife testified that he was possessed of good health, and that on the morning of January 17 he left for his work without complaining of any illness. On the other hand, it appears by the testimony of the coroner that Speaks' body exhibited evidence of subcutaneous medication of the left side.

The autopsy was performed by Dr. Murphy, the deputy coroner, who testified that there were no marks of violence or evidence of trauma or injury to the body, but that on opening the abdomen and chest of the deceased he found that deceased had plastic or sticking adhesions to the right auricle and aorta; that there was an exudate purulent in character; that there was septic pericarditis, which is an infected involvement of the pericardium, this being the outside lining of the heart; that there was marked distention of the intraventricular blood vessels between the right and left blood chambers of the heart; that the left lung was collapsed and there was venous engorgement of both lungs. He found that the patient had a fixed pericardium with numerous plaques about the heart; that the right heart was dilated markedly; that there was advanced, thickened, sloughing, degenerated aortitis, which is an advanced inflammation of the arch of the aorta; that the spleen was diseased showing a free or hyperactivity, and was markedly enlarged, showing marked engorgement of the blood vessels. The liver showed advanced cirrhosis, which was purple in color, corrugated throughout. And finally that the cause of death was a cardial renal hepatic disease; that is, a disease of the heart, kidneys, and liver, advanced in type, associated with the terminal condition of an acute cardiac dilatation.

When asked whether or not in his opinion the action of the deceased in carrying the can of gasoline precipitated the acute onset which resulted in his death, the doctor said: "Mr. Hoage, I can't answer that that way. We have numerous occasions, and I am talking from experience on autopsies, where people's hearts were not as bad as his will die in bed where they are under no exertion." The doctor stated that there was a diseased condition of the heart sufficient to cause such dilatation without any exertion whatsoever. When asked if there was any evidence of immediate strain he replied: "None, because of the fact that, I say, he had a sloughing condition in his heart. He had a pericarditis which is not due to injury but is just a natural existing thing from some effects of infection of the deposits in the heart setting up a pericarditis. In other words, the man was dead walking around." When asked if he found sufficient evidence that there could have been death at any moment, he replied: "Yes. Whether this additional strain had anything to do with hastening the termination, I don't know how I could tell...