Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd.

• Decision Date: 11 April 1983
• Citation: 190 Cal.Rptr. 560,141 Cal.App.3d 778
• Parties: 20TH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION, Petitioner, v. WORKERS' COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARD of the State of California and Kevin Conway, Respondents. Civ. 65903.
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 560

190 Cal.Rptr. 560

141 Cal.App.3d 778

20TH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION, Petitioner, v. WORKERS' COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARD of the State of California and Kevin Conway, Respondents.

Civ. 65903.

Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 5, California.

April 11, 1983.

Rowen, Swanson, Rose & Simon and Joel D. Swanson, Van Nuys, for petitioner.

Geffner & Satzman and Stephen Schwartz, Los Angeles, for respondent Conway.

No appearance for respondent Board.

HASTINGS, Associate Justice.

Petitioner Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, permissibly self-insured, seeks review of the findings and annulment of an award by respondent Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB or Board) finding that respondent Kevin Conway sustained an injury to his psyche arising out of and occurring in the course of his employment with petitioner from September 1977 through December 11, 1977 with subsequent

temporary disability. Petitioner argues that there is not substantial evidence to support the findings of industrial injury and temporary disability. As we shall explain, petitioner is entitled to relief. In annulling the Board's decisions for lack of sufficient findings on the issue of injury, we do not reach the issue of temporary disability.

FACTS

Applicant/respondent Kevin Conway alleged an injury to his psyche due to stress and strain in the course of his employment from September 1977 to December 11, 1977, as a studio transportation driver and accountant for petitioner Twentieth Century Fox. Petitioner denied industrial injury, claiming applicant's nervous breakdown was the result of applicant's screenplay having been rejected by Twentieth Century Fox, which was unrelated to his employment duties for petitioner.

The applicant testified that the stress at Fox was due to his having to work for "a very dangerous alcoholic" who was often inebriated at work and drove erratically. The applicant had to do the other man's work as well as his own. The applicant became aware of irregularities in purchase orders, billings and receipts in the Transportation Department, finding that he was expected to sign purchase orders for materials eventually put to private use. The demands of his work increased as his supervisor's condition deteriorated in December 1977. The applicant was then involved in a minor traffic accident, and on the same day his screenplay was rejected by the Story Department.

Dr. Alfred Bloch, a psychiatrist reporting on behalf of the applicant, diagnosed the applicant's psychiatric condition as:

"1. Anxiety neurosis in a passive aggressive personality with obsessional features.

"2. Rule out schizophrenia, paranoid type."

Dr. Bloch explained the onset of applicant's disability as follows:

"Mr. Conway provides an extremely complex history of events in the course of his employment at 20th Century Fox Studios. His recollection of these events is confused at best, but he appears to have faced stresses in his dealings with his immediate supervisor, in maintaining various invoices and receipts and in the submission of a screenplay for production considerations. This last situation did not develop as the result of his duties as a Driver, but it is inextricably involved in the other stresses from a psychological viewpoint. Apparently, Mr. Conway's primary motivation in obtaining work as a Studio Driver was to further his career as a Screenwriter. Thus, his sense of success or failure at work and his psychological adjustment to employment was largely predicated on his ability to further his hoped-for career.

"Unfortunately, my commentary on this case is limited by inadequate information, the presence could confirm the patient's allegations regarding his work situation. The situations he described of alcoholism and embezzlement that he attributes to coworkers, are certainly not unheard of in industry, but it is possible that, to some degree, his recollections of the situation have been infused with a fertile (and distorted) imaginative process. Although it is difficult to separate the facts from fiction, information presented in the patient's deposition tends to substantiate the validity of some of the events he has described.

"Apparently, Mr. Conway worked fairly consistently for Ralphs Supermarkets prior to employment in the film industry. He also seems to have worked satisfactorily as a Studio Driver for about one year before his assignment to 20th Century Fox Studios. There is, therefore, no evidence of disability prior to December 1977, although the psychological events which occurred at that time are likely to have some basis in the patient's previous adjustment. Based on his report, I believe Mr. Conway underwent a psychotic decompensation, marked by delusional thinking and withdrawal, and this led to a breakdown in his ability to function at work and more than a year of disability.

"...

"Mr. Conway became over-involved in his work at the studio, unconsciously placing much of the hope for personal success in the acceptance of his screenplay. Anxiety over this situation became generalized to his employment duties in the transportation section. He became obsessively concerned with the demands of 'covering up' both the behavior of his immediate supervisor and what he believed was evidence of ongoing embezzlement. He gradually became overwhelmed. With the initial rejection of the screenplay, his efforts at binding anxiety collapsed, as did his ability to maintain impulse control.

"It seems that, a few days later, he misinterpreted what might have been a minor crisis in his department and aggressive impulses, arising in defense of the ego in face of a preceived personal rejection, became unleashed. His reality perception was blurred and confused. Probably, the degree of agitation contributed to the automobile accident December 11, 1977; certainly, it precipitated his leaving work."

Based on Dr. Bloch's report and applicant's testimony, the workers' compensation judge (WCJ) found that applicant's psychiatric disease arose out of and occurred in the course of his employment.

CONTENTION

Whether the Finding of Industrial Injury Is Supported by Substantial Evidence.

DISCUSSION

The determination of an industrial injury is governed by Labor Code section 3600, which requires that an injury arise out of employment, occur in the course of employment, and be proximately caused by the employment. ¹ The conditions for a compensable injury are met where " 'the employment [is] one of the contributing causes without which the injury would not have occurred' " (Albertson's Inc. v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (Bradley) (1982) 131 Cal.App.3d 308, 316, 182 Cal.Rptr. 304, quoting from Madin v. Industrial Acc. Com. (1956) 46 Cal.2d 90, 292 P.2d 892.) To be a "contributing cause" of the injury, the employment itself must be a " 'positive factor influencing the course of disease' [citation]" (Bingham v. Workmen's Comp. App. Bd. (1968) 261 Cal.App.2d 842, 848, 68 Cal.Rptr. 410), or must play an "active role" in the development of the condition. (Albertson's, supra, 131 Cal.App.3d at 317, 182 Cal.Rptr. 304.)

In evaluating injuries caused by stress, a subjective test is appropriate based on the concept that "[i]ndustry takes the employee as it finds him" (Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Ind. Acc. Com. (1946) 73 Cal.App.2d 555, 559, 166 P.2d 908). "The proper focus of inquiry, then, is not on how much stress should be felt by an employee based on a 'normal' reaction to it, but how much stress is felt by an individual worker reacting uniquely to the work environment." (Albertson's Inc. v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd., supra, 131 Cal.App.3d at 314, 182 Cal.Rptr. 304.) However, it is not sufficient for purposes of finding industrial causation "if the nature of the employee's duties merely provided a stage" for the injury (Transaction Inc. v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (1977) 68 Cal.App.3d 233, 238, 137 Cal.Rptr. 142), "if the employment were an after the fact rationalization" (Albertson's, supra, 131 Cal.App.3d at 315, 182 Cal.Rptr. 304), or if "the evidence established that the employment was a mere passive element that a non-industrial condition happened to have focused on." (Albertson's, supra, at 315, 182 Cal.Rptr. 304.) A finding of...