Case ID: mass_342/html/0777-02.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Roderick MacDonald’s Case.
    April 3, 1961.
    
      Austin M. Pinkham, for the self insurer.
    
      Laurence S. Locke, (Samuel B. Sorovitz with him,) for the employee.
   Decree affirmed. The self insurer appeals from a decree awarding compensation for disability which the single member and the reviewing board found was due to the acceleration of a preexisting heart disease produced by the physical exertion of the employee while performing duties arising out of and in the course of his employment as a freight car loader. It is settled thait the acceleration of a preexisting heart disease to the point of disablement may be found to have been a personal injury under the workmen’s compensation act. Griffin’s Case, 315 Mass. 71, 74. Whether the employee’s disability was caused by a gradual deterioration of his heart or was accelerated by exertion or strain was a question of fact for the board to decide. Brzozowski’s Case, 328 Mass. 113, 116. There was evidence, which need not be recounted, to support the finding of the board. A finding supported by evidence will be upheld unless vitiated by error of law, Brown’s Case, 334 Mass. 343, 346, and no such error appears. Costs under G. L. c. 152, § 11A, shall be allowed by the single justice.