Wallen v. Salon of Music, Inc., AG-256
| Decision Date | 23 August 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. AG-256,AG-256 |
| Parties | Richard C. WALLEN, Appellant, v. SALON OF MUSIC, INC., and Shelby Mutual Insurance Company, Appellees. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Richard A. Kupfer of Cone, Wagner, Nugent, Johnson, Hazouri & Roth, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Harry D. Robinson, West Palm Beach, for appellees.
Appellant appeals a workers' compensation order ruling that his heart attack is not compensable. We reverse.
In September 1979, appellant injured his back and hip in a work-related accident. About eight months later, while he was still temporarily totally disabled from that accident, he suffered a heart attack. The deputy commissioner based his finding that the heart attack was noncompensable on the deposition testimony of Dr. Gerard and the testimony of Dr. Ray, both of whom are internists and cardiologists. Both doctors testified in essence that, although appellant had pre-existing atherosclerosis, within a reasonable degree of medical certainty the increased anxiety which appellant suffered as a result of the accident could have contributed to the onset of his heart attack. In denying the claim the deputy commissioner stated:
I accept the opinion of Dr. Gerard and of Dr. Ray that the additional stress from the compensable accident could have contributed to the myocardial infarction suffered by the claimant, but I do not feel there is competent substantial evidence to indicate that this probable additional stress did in fact contribute to the myocardial infarction suffered by the claimant.
We find that the deputy commissioner placed too great a burden of proof as to causation upon appellant.
In Reynolds v. Whitney Tank Lines, 279 So.2d 293 (Fla.1973), the Industrial Relations Commission had found that the causal relationship between an accident and the claimant's heart attack was not established by competent substantial evidence because the doctor in that case "did not unequivocably testify that within a reasonable medical probability that either of the accidents caused the myocardial infarction." The Commission went on to say that "[T]he only evidence in support of the Judge of Industrial Claims' ruling in the instant case was that of Dr. Armstrong who merely attributed claimant's myocardial infarction to both his prior accidents and named other causative factors." Dr. Armstrong's testimony was in part as follows:
I feel that there is absolute medical certainty that this...
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