W.W. Fowler Oil Co. v. Hamby, A89A0286
| Decision Date | 11 July 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. A89A0286,A89A0286 |
| Citation | 385 S.E.2d 106,192 Ga.App. 422 |
| Parties | W.W. FOWLER OIL COMPANY et al. v. HAMBY. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Cone & Shivers, Benjamin J. Johnson, Atlanta, for appellants.
John F. Sweet, Atlanta, for appellee.
The issue presented in this workers' compensation appeal is whether the mere touching of the head of an employee with a gun by an armed robber, without any physical injury, is a sufficient discernible physical occurrence to support compensation for the resulting emotional and psychic problems experienced by the employee. The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) and the Board found that it was not sufficient; the superior court found that it was and reversed the Board. We granted this discretionary appeal to consider the issue. The ALJ found the following facts:
Claimant's theory is that her emotional and psychic problems stem not from the fright of the robbery as a whole, but rather from the act of the robber putting the gun against her head. Claimant argues that this touching is a sufficient discernible physical occurrence to meet the requirements of Georgia law as outlined in Hanson Buick v. Chatham, 163 Ga.App. 127, 292 S.E.2d 428 (1982). The superior court agreed and found that claimant's testimony that "[w]hen the gun hit my head, it ... my nerves went all to pieces" showed a "discernible physical occurrence" from which claimant's psychological problems directly flowed.
We find that claimant and the superior court have mistaken our meaning in the phrase "discernible physical occurrence." The court's discussion of authorities in Chatham, supra, shows that "discernible physical occurrence" means a physical injury or harm, not merely a touching that can be fixed in time. The cases relied upon by the court in Chatham are couched in terms of "physical injury." On motion for rehearing, the court explained that it defined "accident" in terms of "discernible physical occurrence"...
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