Tintera v. Armour & Co.
| Decision Date | 21 September 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 52514,52514 |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
| Parties | Henry Robert TINTERA, Petitioner, v. ARMOUR & COMPANY et al., Respondents. |
Ted L. Wells and Howard C. Hadden, Tampa, for petitioner.
Ernest L. Currin and Gwynne A. Young, of Carlton, Fields, Ward, Emmanuel, Smith & Cutler, Tampa, for respondents.
We have for review by petition for writ of certiorari the decision of the Industrial Relations Commission reversing the order of the Judge of Industrial Claims who had found claimant's heart attack to be an injury by accident arising out of, and in the course of, his employment. The Industrial Relations Commission reversed the judge because he had failed to follow the decision of this Court in Victor Wine & Liquor, Inc. v. Beasley, 141 So.2d 581 (Fla.1962). We approve the decision of the Industrial Relations Commission and deny certiorari.
Relating to compensability of heart attacks precipitated by strain and exertion, this Court adopted the following rule in Victor Wine :
When disabling heart attacks are involved and where such heart conditions are precipitated by work-connected exertion affecting a pre-existing non-disabling heart disease, said injuries are compensable only if the employee was at the time subject to unusual strain or over-exertion not routine to the type of work he was accustomed to performing.
Thus, if there is competent substantial medical testimony, consistent with logic and reason, that the strain and exertion of a specifically identified effort, over and above the routine of the job, combined with a pre-existing non-disabling heart disease to produce death or disability sooner than it would otherwise have occurred from the normal progression of the disease, the employee has a right to some compensation.
In his finding that the heart attack was compensable, the Judge of Industrial Claims found:
On March 6, 1975, the claimant was employed by the employer at an average weekly wage of $230.50, and on that date sustained a compensable injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment with the employer when he sustained a myocardial infarction resulting from the emotional stresses of his employment. The testimony of the claimant, which I accept as true, shows that he was under severe emotional stress for several weeks immediately prior to March 6, 1975. He was concerned about being laid off from work and had been working exceptionally long hours. He was late to work on March 6, 1975, which further contributed to his anxiety. The testimony of Dr. Matthew L. Carr, his treating physician, shows that these stresses precipitated his myocardial infarction. Therefore the claim is compensable under the Florida Workmen's Compensation Law. See Barlow v. Harbor Island Spa, F.I.C. Dec. No. 4-977 (1960), cert. den. Fla., 139 So.2d 879 (1962).
The Judge of Industrial Claims made no finding that the type of activity or emotional stress precipitating claimant's heart attack constituted unusual strain or overexertion not routine to the type of work he was accustomed to performing.
Explaining that Barlow has been superceded and overruled by Victor Wine, the ...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Zundell v. Dade County School Bd., 91-1848
...no cases which hold that an employer has an initial burden of proof prior to applying the Victor Wine standard. In Tintera v. Armour & Co., 362 So.2d 1344, 1346 (Fla.1978), the supreme court approved the reasoning of the Industrial Relations Commission which found Victor Wine is premised up......
-
Jones v. D.C. Dept. of Employment Services
...heart attacks which did not result from physical exertion did not arise out of or in the course of employment. Tintera v. Armour & Co., 362 So.2d 1344 (Fla. 1978); In re Korsun's Case, 354 Mass. 124, 235 N.E.2d 814 (1968); Chapman v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 221 Tenn. 376, 426 S.W.2d 76......
-
University of Florida v. Massie
...system and the claimant's employment. 362 So.2d at 1342. We have not deviated from that principle since. In Tintera v. Armour & Co., 362 So.2d 1344 (Fla.1978), released the same day as Mosca, this Court agreed with the Industrial Relations Commission's denial of coverage to a claimant who h......
-
State, Division of Hotels/Restaurants, Division of Risk Management v. Chester J. Cole
...death or disability sooner than it would otherwise have occurred from the normal progression of the disease.' " Tintera v. Armour & Co., 362 So.2d 1344, 1346 (Fla.1978). "[A]bsent proof of some identifiable effort on the job which within reasonable medical probability can be said to have a ......