Staab v. Laclede Gas Co., 48744

• Decision Date: 02 April 1985
• Docket Number: No. 48744,48744
• Citation: 691 S.W.2d 343
• Parties: Raymond R. STAAB, Deceased and Shirley M. Staab, Dependent, Plaintiffs- Appellants, v. LACLEDE GAS COMPANY, Defendant-Respondent.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 343

691 S.W.2d 343

Raymond R. STAAB, Deceased and Shirley M. Staab, Dependent Plaintiffs- Appellants, v. LACLEDE GAS COMPANY, Defendant-Respondent.

No. 48744.

Missouri Court of Appeals,

Eastern District,

Division One.

April 2, 1985.

Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer to

Supreme Court Denied May 17, 1985.

Application to Transfer Denied

June 25, 1985.

Daniel K. Atwill, Columbia, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Raymond J. Flunker, Evans & Dixon, St. Louis, for defendant-respondent.

PUDLOWSKI, Presiding Judge.

The issue in this case is whether an employee's death during the continued performance of his duties constitutes grounds for worker's compensation death benefits. We find that it does not.

This action arose subsequent to the death of Raymond Staab, an employee of Laclede Gas Company. Staab sustained a fatal heart attack while on the job and a claim for compensation was later filed by appellant, Staab's widow, pursuant to Missouri's Worker's Compensation Statute. This case is one involving the question of whether the Circuit Court of St. Louis County properly found that the Industrial Relations Commission's decision denying compensation was supported by competent and substantial evidence.

On April 8, 1980, at approximately 7:00 a.m., Staab arrived at work. His assignment was to drive a single axle dump truck and pull a trailer of tri-axle design, which was used for the hauling of equipment. At approximately 8:00 a.m., William Stewart, a crew supervisor for Laclede, passed Staab and his equipment. Staab was parked with his vehicles half way off the pavement. He was alone with his truck. Stewart observed Staab standing on the running board of the truck.

Stewart turned his vehicle around and pulled behind the trailer. He direct Staab to align the truck with the trailer. He then waived to Staab to come back and see if the alignment was accurate. Staab did not appear. Stewart then looked around the truck and saw Staab lying in the street.

Appellant, Shirley M. Staab, contends the trial court erred in affirming the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission's decision denying her death benefits because the weight of the evidence establishes that the decedent died as a result of job related cardiac arrest.

Respondent, Laclede Gas, has conceded that all of the basic elements of a compensable worker's compensation claim are present except for the causal relationship between the death of the employee and his employment. Respondent argues that it is the lack of this causal relationship that compels denial of the claim.

The Missouri Supreme Court en banc recently expounded on the history of worker's compensation in Missouri. See, Wolfgeher v. Wagner Cartage Service, Inc., 646 S.W.2d 781 (Mo. banc 1983). The end result of Wolfgeher was to abandon a narrow construction of the term "accident" and attain congruency with the majority of states which have eliminated the abnormal or unusual strain requirement. Wynn v. Navajo Freight Lines, Inc., 654 S.W.2d 87, 89 (Mo banc 1983). All that is required to entitle an employee to compensation benefits is that the injury be work induced and occur during the performance of an employee's usual duties. Wolfgeher; Wynn.

This test holds true for those employees whose injury is in the form of a fatal heart attack. As stated in Wynn:

It is probable that in most cases of heart attack on the job, the claimant can produce evidence of job relatedness. But...