Wood v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 42933
| Decision Date | 07 September 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 2,No. 42933,42933,2 |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Mildred WOOD v. AETNA CASUALTY & SURETY COMPANY et al |
Syllabus by the Court
1. The trial court did not err in affirming an award of the Deputy Director and full Board of Workmen's Compensation denying compensation on appellant's claim for compensation and death benefits as there was evidence to support the finding that the assault and resulting homicide of claimant's husband, a supermarket employee, was caused by the wilful act of a third person directed against the employee for personal reasons.
2. Findings by the Deputy Director and the full Board of Workmen's Compensation that a claimant has or has not carried the burden of proving an accidental injury, such as is contemplated by the Act, are binding on the court if there is any evidence to sustain them. There was evidence to support the finding that the claimant did not carry the burden of proof.
3. Proof that an employee sustained injuries while employed in a public service occupation requiring contact and association with all types of people, such as assistant manager in a grocery store, is not alone sufficient to show that such injuries arose out of the employment, as the fact of public service occupation does not dispense with the requirement that there be a causal connection between the employment and the injury.
The appellant, Mildred Wood, filed with the State Board of Workmen's Compensation a claim in behalf of herself and her minor children for compensation and death benefits on account of the death of her husband, Arvil Denny Wood. A hearing on the claim was had by a deputy director, following which he made a 'Finding of facts.' Based upon such facts and upon certain conclusions of law, the deputy director made an award which denied the appellant's claim. Upon appeal to the full board, the findings of fact were approved and the award of the deputy director was made the award of the full board. This award was appealed to the Superior Court of Fulton County where an order of affirmance was entered. The present appeal is from the order of the superior court affirming the award of the full board.
The facts found by the deputy director may be summarized by the following excerpt from his findings: 'In the case at hand, there is ample evidence to show what occurred and I find as a matter of fact that the employee was on his lunch hour and was shot by a man who for all intent and purposes was a stranger in the store, not a customer, and the assailant being jealous and intent on revenge, whether justified or not, killed Mr. Wood because of his association with the assailant's wife, which, according to the testimony, was not brought on by the employment but brought on by the assailant's wife and Mr. Wood having had lunch together and arousing the suspicion of the assailant.
'The Georgia Code Annotated, Section 114-102, clearly defines injury and personal injury which arise only by accident out of and in the course of employment as being compensable and excluding any injury caused by the wilful act of a third person directed against the employee for reasons personal to such employee.
R. Larry Turner, Atlanta, for appellant.
Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy, Frank Love, Jr., Warner R. Wilson, Jr., Atlanta, for appellees.
1. The first and second enumerations of error can be discussed together. The first enumeration assigns as error the findings of the full board that the death of the appellant's husband arose for personal reasons. The second enumeration is that there are 'no substantial facts of probative value upon which the deputy director, full board and trial court could have found for the defendants.' Consideration of these enumerations requires a review and consideration of the evidence introduced at the hearing.
The evidence shows that at the time of his death Wood was employed as an assistant manager of Alterman Brothers-Big Apple Store on Cascade Road in Fulton County, Ga. and that there was a parking lot which was a part of the store premises and was used by customers and employees of the store for parking purposes.
James Howard Roland, a fellow employee, testified that:
Alma Rebecca Pratt testified that she was working at Big Apple on Cascade on May 19, 1964, as a cashier checker and on further examination testified as follows: * * *'
Murray J. Bolt testified that on May 19, 1964 he was relief manager of the Big Apple Store at 938 Cascade at which Mr. Denny Wood was employed as assistant manager; that he didn't notice anything until he heard shooting in the lot and he looked out the window and
The wife of the assailant, Mrs. Margaret Joyce Andrews, testified that Wood worked for a couple of months at the same Big Apple Store where she worked, on Gordon Street, before he was transferred. She further testified as follows: ...
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