Wilkinson Cnty. Bd. of Educ. v. Johnson

• Decision Date: 06 September 2012
• Docket Number: No. A12A0996.,A12A0996.
• Parties: WILKINSON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION et al. v. JOHNSON.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

317 Ga.App. 565
732 S.E.2d 765

12 FCDR 2797

WILKINSON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION et al.
v.
JOHNSON.

No. A12A0996.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Sept. 6, 2012.

[732 S.E.2d 766]

Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers, Robert R. Potter, Atlanta, Ketsia Martine Cumbermack, for appellants.

Edwards & Youmas, Lonzy F. Edwards, Macon, for appellee.

DILLARD, Judge.

[317 Ga.App. 565]Following the death of her husband, Violet Johnson sought dependent's benefits from her husband's employer, the Wilkinson County Board of Education. After an administrative-law judge (ALJ) and the State Board of Workers' Compensation (the “Board”) denied her claim, Mrs. Johnson appealed to the superior court, which reversed the Board's ruling and remanded the case to the ALJ for further consideration. Wilkinson County now appeals, arguing that the superior court erred in ruling that Mrs. Johnson was entitled to the presumption that her husband's death arose out of and in the course of his

[732 S.E.2d 767]

employment, in finding that Mr. Johnson's death occurred when he was performing his job duties, and in remanding the case to the ALJ for a determination of whether Mr. Johnson's death was the result of his employment aggravating a pre-existing medical condition. Because the superior court, the Board, and the ALJ misapplied the law in determining whether Mrs. Johnson was entitled to the presumption that her husband's death arose out of his employment, we vacate the superior court's order, as well as the Board and the ALJ's rulings. Accordingly, we remand the case to the ALJ for further consideration consistent with this opinion.

At the outset, we note that in reviewing a workers' compensation award, this Court must construe the evidence “in the light most [317 Ga.App. 566]favorable to the party prevailing before the appellate division.” ¹ In addition, the findings of the State Board of Workers' Compensation, when supported by any evidence, are “conclusive and binding, and neither the superior court nor this Court may substitute itself as a factfinding body in lieu of the State Board.” ² But erroneous applications of law to undisputed facts, as well as decisions based on erroneous theories of law, are “subject to a de novo standard of review.” ³ And when it is determined that the Board or the ALJ decided the case on an erroneous legal theory or improperly applied the law to the facts, the proper course of action is for this Court to remand the case to the ALJ for further findings and consideration.⁴

In the case sub judice, the record shows that Harold Johnson was employed as the principal and athletic director for the Wilkinson County High School. His medical history included diagnoses of hypertension, obesity, renal insufficiency, and gout. On the morning of December 16, 2008, Johnson and a school volunteer traveled in Johnson's pickup truck to the Veterans Administration Hospital in Dublin, Georgia, to inspect, and possibly transport, computers that were being donated to the high school. While at the VA, Johnson walked 300 or 400 yards to the warehouse where the computers were stored and then, after determining that there were more computers than they could transport at that time, he walked 300 or 400 yards back to the front of the VA building, where his truck was parked.

As they began their trip back to the high school, Johnson and the volunteer first stopped briefly to buy lunch at a nearby fast-food restaurant, and Johnson ate two sandwiches as he drove. About ten minutes after Johnson finished eating, the volunteer noticed that Johnson was driving erratically, fidgeting, and sweating profusely. A minute or so later, the volunteer noticed Johnson attempting to loosen his tie and unbutton his shirt as if to get air. Shortly thereafter, at the volunteer's request, Johnson stopped his truck so that the volunteer could take over driving, which he did for the remainder of the trip.

When they arrived back at the high school, Johnson immediately went to the restroom in the teachers' workroom and, shortly thereafter, to his office. In his office, Johnson's secretary observed that he was sweating profusely, and Johnson asked her to help him unbutton and remove his shirt. The school nurse was then called, and when she [317 Ga.App. 567]arrived at the office, Johnson was propped up on a small sofa, and he asked the nurse to help him because he was “ hurting really bad” and “burning up.” The nurse measured Johnson's blood pressure, and upon determining that it was significantly elevated, she asked that an ambulance be called. While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, the assistant principal, who was also present in Johnson's office, asked Johnson whether he had been taking his prescribed blood-pressure medicine, and Johnson replied that he had not.

Several minutes later, paramedics arrived on the scene and transported Johnson to the hospital. There, Johnson's blood pressure was noted as being 196/60, and a CT scan

[732 S.E.2d 768]

revealed that he had suffered an acute aortic dissection extending from the root of the aorta down the common iliac. Johnson then underwent emergency surgery to repair the artery. Although the surgery was successful, within a few days, Johnson began suffering from metabolic acidosis due to his weakened kidneys. Ultimately, on December 21, 2008, Johnson went into abrupt respiratory arrest and died. A subsequent autopsy indicated that the cause of death was complications of the aortic dissection, specifically an ischemic bowel.

Thereafter, Violet Johnson filed a claim seeking dependency benefits, medical expenses, final expenses, and attorney fees from Wilkinson County on the grounds that her husband's death arose out of and in the course of his employment. Wilkinson County denied Mrs. Johnson's claim for benefits. And following a hearing, the ALJ agreed with Wilkinson County's decision, finding that Mrs. Johnson failed to show by a preponderance of the evidence that her husband's aortic dissection was “attributable to the performance of his usual work of employment.” Additionally, the ALJ held that Mrs. Johnson was not entitled to the presumption that her husband's death arose out of and in the course of his employment because he was not found dead in a place where he could reasonably be expected to be in the performance of his job duties. Mrs. Johnson then appealed the denial of benefits to the appellate division of the State Board of Workers' Compensation, which affirmed the ruling of the ALJ.

Consequently, Mrs. Johnson appealed to the Superior Court of Wilkinson County. After the parties filed briefs on the issues, the superior court held that the ALJ erred in concluding that “[b]ecause the deceased employee was not found dead in a place where he could reasonably be expected to be in the performance of his job duties, the claimant is not entitled to the presumption that the deceased employee's death arose out of and in the course of his employment.” To the contrary, the superior court held that the incident that resulted in Johnson's death did, in fact, occur at a time and place when he was in the performance of his job duties, and thus, Mrs. Johnson was [317 Ga.App. 568]entitled to the presumption that her husband's death arose out of and in the course of his employment. In addition, the court held that the ALJ should have considered, in light of this presumption, whether a preponderance of the competent and credible evidence showed that the condition which resulted in Johnson's death was an aggravation of a pre-existing condition. In accordance with these holdings, the court reversed and remanded the case for further consideration. Thereafter, Wilkinson County filed an application for discretionary appeal, which we granted. This appeal follows.

As previously noted, Wilkinson County now contends that the superior...