Walton v. Normandy Village Homes Ass'n, Inc.

• Decision Date: 10 September 1985
• Docket Number: No. 85-C-0034,85-C-0034
• Citation: 475 So.2d 320
• Parties: Sidney Rice WALTON v. NORMANDY VILLAGE HOMES ASSOCIATION, INC., et al. 475 So.2d 320
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 320

475 So.2d 320

Sidney Rice WALTON v. NORMANDY VILLAGE HOMES ASSOCIATION, INC., et al.

No. 85-C-0034.

475 So.2d 320

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Sept. 10, 1985.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 10, 1985.

Donald R. Miller, Shreveport, for plaintiff-applicant.

Charles G. Tutt, Cook, Yancey, King & Galloway, Shreveport, for defendant-respondent.

DENNIS, Justice.

This is a worker compensation case in which an employee, who suffered from a preexisting diabetic kidney disease, fell from a height of twenty feet to a concrete surface. Before the accident he did not suffer from any disabling symptoms and was able to perform fully the manual labor functions of his job. Since the accident he has been unable to do manual labor due to the progression or aggravation of his kidney dysfunction. A kidney transplant recommended eleven weeks after the accident and successfully performed five months post accident has restored his kidney function, but drugs administered to prevent organ rejection prevent him from doing heavy labor. The work-related accident and the disability which resulted from the aggravation or progression of the kidney dysfunction are undisputed. Whether the work injury accelerated or aggravated the kidney condition was the crucial question. Both previous courts rejected the employee's compensation and medical expense claim finding that the accident had not contributed in any way to his disability but that his diabetic kidney disease had progressed naturally and independently to cause disability which commenced coincidentally with the accident. We granted certiorari, 462 So.2d 1254 (La.1985), and now reverse. The trial court and court of appeal, 460 So.2d 1166 (La.App.1984), either failed to apply or misapplied the presumption of causation established in the employee's favor upon proof of the accident and his ensuing disability. The defendants clearly failed to carry their burden under the presumption to prove that it is more probable than not that the work injury did not accelerate, aggravate or combine with the preexisting disease to produce the employee's disability.

Sidney Walton worked for Normandy Village Homes Association, Inc. and had been employed by that company as property manager for approximately one year prior to his accident on April 23, 1981. He performed managerial, maintenance and manual labor duties. While he was climbing to the roof of a two-story building to replace the cover on an air conditioner, the ladder supporting him collapsed and he fell twenty feet to a concrete surface. The force of the fall caused Walton to lose bowel and bladder control and rendered him unconscious. He was taken to a hospital, treated and released. His injuries included massive hematomas in the lumbosacral and left buttock area, hemorrhage in his left eye, visual disturbances, hearing difficulty and back pain.

Walton attempted to return to work but was unable to perform most of his duties. Because his condition failed to improve, he was hospitalized from April 29, 1981 until May 3, 1981. He was examined by two physicians who checked his hearing and neurological functions, as well as his kidney function. Upon discharge, he was released to return to office duties but his estimated length of disability for significant physical work was six to eight weeks.

Plaintiff returned to work but was only able to perform office duties. He was not able to do any physical work and had to stay off his feet. He took pain medication and had extreme nausea and diarrhea. After experiencing no improvement, plaintiff was rehospitalized on June 4 and 5, 1981 for nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and gastroenteritis. Plaintiff's gastrointestinal condition improved, prompting his discharge.

Plaintiff again returned to work, although he apparently still was unable to perform all of his former employment duties. Although plaintiff continued to feel ill, he performed the managerial functions of his job until he returned to his physician, Dr. Herold, in July, 1981. After performing tests, his doctor determined that his kidney dysfunction had progressed, indicating that dialysis or a kidney transplant should be considered. Dr. Herold referred plaintiff to Drs. Youngberg and Kottle, nephrologists, for their evaluation and recommendations. They diagnosed him as being in progressive renal failure and recommended a kidney transplant because he had a sister who was an eligible and willing organ donor.

In August, 1981, plaintiff went to the University of Minnesota for evaluation for kidney transplant surgery. At the University of Minnesota, one of the few institutions where kidney transplants were performed at that time, plaintiff was attended by Dr. Sutherland, his surgeon, and Dr. Barbosa, who treated his diabetic condition. After tissue typing and further testing of kidney function, plaintiff's transplant surgery was planned for October. He returned to the University of Minnesota on October 3, 1981, and had successful transplant surgery on October 6. His new kidney functioned normally at the time of trial, although he faces the prospect of increased susceptibility to infections for the rest of his life due to his need to take drugs which suppress the body's natural immune system.

Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company, Normandy Village Home Association's workmen's compensation insurer, paid plaintiff $69.85 in compensation for the period of disability immediately after the fall and also paid plaintiff's medical expenses incurred during his initial hospitalization from April 29 to May 3, 1981. However, the defendants have refused to pay any other compensation or medical expenses relating to the April 23, 1981 accident.

Legal Precepts

As in other civil suits the employee in a worker compensation proceeding initially has the burden of establishing his disability and its causal relation with the employment accident by a preponderance of the evidence. Lucas v. Ins. Co. of N.A., 342 So.2d 591 (La.1977); Prim v. City of Shreveport, 297 So.2d 421 (La.1974). Malone & Johnson, 13 Louisiana Civil Law Treatise, Worker's Compensation (2d ed.) Sec. 256, p. 562. In order for the employee to recover, it must be determined that the employment somehow caused or contributed to the disability, but it is not necessary that the exact cause be found. Lucas v. Ins. Co. of N.A., supra; Malone & Johnson, supra. A claimant's disability is presumed to have resulted from an accident, however, if before the accident the injured person was in good health, but commencing with the accident the symptoms of the disabling condition appear and continuously manifest themselves afterwards, providing either that there is sufficient medical evidence to show there to be a reasonable possibility of causal connection between the accident and the disabling condition, Allor v. Belden Corp., 393 So.2d 1233 (La.1981); Lucas v. Ins. Co. of N.A., supra, or that the nature of the accident, when combined with the other facts of the case, raises a natural inference through human experience of such a causal connection. Haughton v. Fireman's Fund American Ins. Cos., 355 So.2d 927 (La.1978); Cf. Thomas v. U.S. Cas. Co., 218 Ga. 493, 128 S.E.2d 749 (1962); Malone & Johnson, supra.

Preexisting disease or infirmity of the employee does not disqualify a claim if the work-injury aggravated, accelerated, or combined with the disease or infirmity to produce death or disability for which compensation is claimed. Lucas v. Ins. Co. of N.A., supra; Johnson v. Travelers Ins. Co., 284 So.2d 888 (1973); Larson, Workmen's Compensation Law, Sec. 12.21, p. 3-336. Correlatively, when an employee proves that before the accident he had not manifested disabling symptoms, but that commencing with the accident the disabling symptoms appeared and manifested themselves thereafter, and that there is either medical or circumstantial evidence indicating a reasonable possibility of causal connection between the accident and the activation of the disabling condition, the employee's work injury is presumed to have aggravated, accelerated or combined with his preexisting disease or infirmity to produce his disability. Haughton v. Fireman's Fund American Ins. Cos., supra; Hammond v. Fidelity & Cas. Co. of New York, 419 So.2d 829 (La.1982).

Once the disabled employee establishes the presumption of a causal relationship, the party denying the existence of the presumed fact assumes both the burden of producing evidence and the burden of persuasion on the issue. See McCormick on Evidence (2d ed.) Sec. 342, p. 802. In other words, in order for the party denying the existence of the presumed causal relationship to prevail on the issue, he must produce evidence and persuade the trier of fact that it is more probable than not that the work-injury did not accelerate, aggravate or combine with the preexisting disease or infirmity to produce his disability. See McCormick, supra, Sec. 345, at p. 826.

The effect of the presumption is not so slight and evanescent that it is spent and disappears upon the mere production of evidence by the adversary. It is a true presumption which has been created for policy reasons that are similar to and just as strong as those that underlie the compensation principle itself: the probability of the causal connection under the circumstances which give rise to the presumption, the difficulty of proving causation with testimony by medical experts often sharply divided by differing schools of opinion, and the desirability of reducing the margin of error inherent in litigation as to a disabled employee, both because he has at stake an interest of transcending value--his and his family's livelihood--and because those persons who enjoy the product of a business should ultimately bear the cost of injuries or deaths that are incident to the manufacture, preparation and distribution of the product. See Malone & Johnson, supra, at Sec. 32, p. 38; McCormick, supra, Sec. 345, at p. 822; Cf. Speiser v. Randall, 357...