Case Name: James Ivy SEALS, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. POTLATCH FORESTS, INC., Defendant and Appellee
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1963-03-05
Citations: 151 So. 2d 587
Docket Number: No. 780
Parties: James Ivy SEALS, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. POTLATCH FORESTS, INC., Defendant and Appellee.
Judges: Before FRUGÉ, HOOD and CULPEP-PER, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 151
Pages: 587–595

Head Matter:
James Ivy SEALS, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. POTLATCH FORESTS, INC., Defendant and Appellee.
No. 780.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana. Third Circuit.
March 5, 1963.
Rehearing Denied March 27, 1963.
Dissenting Opinion April 11, 1963.
Certiorari Refused April 30, 1963.
Parker & Parker, by A. B. Parker, Jena, for plaintiff-appellant.
John G. Miller, Jr., New Orleans, for defendant-appellee.
Before FRUGÉ, HOOD and CULPEP-PER, JJ.

Opinion:
CULPEPPER, Judge.
This is a workmen's compensation case. Plaintiff contends he is totally and permanently disabled as a result of a compensable heart attack. After trial on the merits the district judge held that plaintiff had failed to prove an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment. Plaintiff appeals.
The substantial issues are whether plaintiff suffered a compensable accident and, if so, is there any causal connection between the accident and his present disability.
The facts show that plaintiff had been employed by the defendant for many years as a lumber inspector. His duties were to travel about to the various lumber companies, from whom his employer had purchased lumber for the manufacture of flooring and furniture, to ascertain, when the lumber was loaded for shipment, that it was of the proper grade. Normally the work was not strenuous, requiring- only that he measure and inspect the boards and keep a tally sheet as an employee of the lumber yard turned the boards over for this purpose.
In about 1956 plaintiff began to have pains in his chest on exertion. In 1957 he went to Oschner's Clinic in New Orleans, where his condition was diagnosed as arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease with angina. (A condition in which the blood vessels supplying the heart muscles have become partially closed by a fatty substance progressively building up over the years inside the vessels. The angina, or chest pain, is caused by a spasm of these partially occluded vessels when the heart muscles, due to exertion, require greater amounts of blood.) Oschner's Clinic prescribed nitroglycerine tablets (which dilate momentarily the blood vessels) to be taken during attacks of angina. The doctors at the clinic did not recommend that plaintiff stop working as a lumber inspector.
Plaintiff continued to work until Tuesday, August 12, 1959. On that hot summer day at about 9 o'clock a. m. he was in Krotz Springs, Louisiana, inspecting lumber. Mr. Barrilleaux, an employee of the lumber yard, was turning the boards over for plaintiff's inspection. Mr. Barrilleaux left for a few minutes to wait on another customer and while he was gone plaintiff turned over 25 or 30 of these boards, each weighing anywhere from 10 to about 60 pounds. Plaintiff testified he then experienced a severe pain in his chest and sat down. He took one of his nitroglycerine pills and after a few minutes went to the office of the lumber company where he remained for about an hour and a half. He then decided he would drive back to his home in Jena, Louisiana. On his way home he took two more nitroglycerine pills and, on arriving in Jena, went to bed. The next day, Wednesday, August 13, 1959, he telephoned his physician, Dr. M. B. Pearce in Alexandria, Louisiana, and it was decided that plaintiff would enter the hospital in Alexandria on Sunday, August 17, 1959 for tests, examinations and any treatment necessary. Plaintiff was in the hospital about ten days during which time he suffered another attack of angina. On his release, he went home and stayed in bed another two weeks. When he asked if he could return to work he was advised not to try for at least six months. However, Dr. Pearce, as well as Dr. Rufus Craig, a heart specialist who was called in consultation, testified that plaintiff was totally and permanently disabled from working as a lumber inspector.
The purpose of the bed rest in the hospital and at home was to allow "collateral circulation", that is, other heart vessels taking over part of the function of the arteriosclerotic vessels. Dr. Pearce and Dr. Craig also prescribed anti-coagulants, which plaintiff was still taking at the time of the trial of this case. The purpose of these anti-coagulants was to thin the blood to prevent the formation of clots which might occlude one of the thickened vessels. At the time of trial Dr. Craig thought the progress of the disease had at least been retarded.
Both Dr. Pearce and Dr. Craig testified positively that the several electrocardiograms examined by them showed no infarct (dead tissue) or other damage to the heart muscles or vessels.
The first issue is whether plaintiff suffered an accident under our workmen's compensation law. LSA-R.S. 23:1021(1) defines an accident as "an unexpected or unforeseen event happening suddenly or violently, with or without human fault and producing at the time objective symptoms of an injury." In the recent case of Prejean v. Bituminous Casualty Co., La.App., 125 So.2d 221, this court called attention to the following language from the often cited heart attack case of Nickelberry v. Ritchie Grocer Co., 196 La. 1011, 200 So. 330 (La.Sup.Ct.1941):
"The case therefore presents a situation where the plaintiff admittedly is suffering from a disease of the heart. When the disease began, what was its origin, and the rapidity with which it has progressed, are all matters of pure speculation. There mere fact that a workman develops heart disease while employed by another does not entitle him to compensation. The employer is not the insurer of his employees. There must be an accident to furnish the basis of any such claim, that is to say, something sudden, undesigned or unexpected and that accident must either cause or aggravate the disease which is the cause of the disability."
Later cases, particularly Hemphill v. Tremont Lumber Co., 209 La. 885, 25 So. 2d 625 (La.Sup.Ct.1946) make it clear that the requirements of a compensable accident are met where excessive heat or strenuous effort cause, contribute to or accelerate the occurrence of a heart attack, even though the excessive heat or strenuous effort were nothing more than the usual and customary conditions encountered by the claimant in the course of his employment. See also McKnight v. Clemons, La.App., 114 So.2d 114 (1st Cir., App. 1959) and the many cases cited therein.
Under this jurisprudence we think it is clear that Mr. Seals suffered a com-pensable accident on August 12, 1959. The evidence shows that on this hot summer day Mr. Seals, who was suffering from progressive arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease had "flipped" 25 or 30 boards when he had a very painful attack of angina. The expert medical witnesses testified that such activity probably caused the attack, that is, the exertion resulted in a spasm of the narrowed vessels, when the overworked heart required an additional blood supply. The attack was sudden and unexpected and was caused by heat and exertion which were a part of Mr. Seals' employment. Clearly there was an accident.
The case of Prejean v. Bituminous Casualty Corp., 125 So.2d 221 (3rd Cir., App. 1960) cited by defendant is distinguishable in that there a police patrolman suffered a heart attack while riding in a car and there was no preceding physical or mental strain. Likewise, Fontenot v. Camden Fire Ins. Ass'n, La.App., 124 So.2d 640 (3rd Cir., App. 1960) is distinguishable because in that case there was no proof of any preceding activity sufficient to cause a rice mill foreman's coronary occlusion.
The plaintiff is unquestionably permanently and totally disabled. The next issue is whether this permanent disability was caused by the normal progressive nature of the disease, that is, the continued build up of fatty substance inside the vessels, or was it caused, contributed to or accelerated by the specific attack of angina on August 12, 1959. See Malone's, Louisiana Workmen's Compensation Sections 254 through 256 for the citation of many cases holding the fundamental proposition that the accident must have a causal connection with the disability.
Although plaintiff actually continued to work up until August 12, 1959, and, on the advice of his physicians, has not worked since, there is not one shred of expert medical testimony in the record to show that after this attack of angina and the period of recuperation therefrom, plaintiff's condition was in any way worsened by the episode of chest pain in question. Only two physicians testified in this regard. Dr. Rufus Craig, a specialist in internal medicine, summarized his opinion as follows:
"Q And he is — every attack is he not a little more susceptible or easier for him to have another attack by virtue of having had one
"A Not necessarily—
"Q In other words if you have the flu you are easier to have it again ?
"A No sir.
"Q Not necessarily?
"A No sir. In other words with each attack it is a self limited thing once he is over it with this particular emity there is no damage done to the heart.
"Q What about the vessels?
"A No sir."
Dr. Craig made it clear in other parts of his testimony that if an attack of angina is caused by an occlusion of the vessel, resulting in an infarct, there would be permanent damage to the heart muscle. But, in this case Dr. Craig found no infarct and was of the opinion that the arteriosclerosis was not in any way caused, contributed to or accelerated by this episode of angina.
Dr. Pearce, plaintiff's treating physician, testified to the same effect as follows:
"Q Having had some attacks of that kind that may be mild everytime you have one doesn't that weaken the vascular system to where you are more in danger of having another one?
"A Not necessarily.
"Q When you have these kind of Angina Attacks aren't you more in danger of having a coronary occlusion ?
"A Not necessarily no sir."
Nowhere in their testimony did either Dr. Craig or Dr. Pearce, or any other doctor, express the opinion that as a result of having had this particular attack of angina, plaintiff had any heart damage or was any more likely to have another attack. This attack gave the doctors the knowledge that plaintiff's disease had progressed to the point where he should no longer work as a lumber inspector, but his condition was in no way worsened by the attack.
We find no causal connection between the accident and plaintiff's permanent disability. But, it is our opinion that plaintiff is entitled to compensation for the period of disability attributable to this particular episode of angina on August 12, 1959. The question of the duration of this causally connected temporary disability is not without difficulty because the chest pain did not last very long and there were, as the doctors later determined, no residual effects of the accident. However, we think plaintiff is entitled to benefits for the period of medical examinations and bed rest prescribed by the doctors as a result of this particular attack. This period lasted through September 18, 1959. Otherwise, his disability is not shown to have been caused by the accident, but by the normal progressive nature of the disease.
This case is similar to Andrepont v. Calcasieu Paper Co., La.App., 131 So.2d 585 (3rd Cir., App.1961) where a paper mill laborer, who had suffered for some time with hypertension and high blood pressure, suffered an attack of greatly elevated blood pressure and resulting heart pain, while doing strenuous work in a hot room. This court held plaintiff's temporary disability for six months was causally connected with the accident but that there were no residual effects and hence no causally connected permanent disability.
For the reasons assigned, the judgment appealed is reversed and set aside. It is now ordered, adjudged and decreed that there be judgment herein in favor of the plaintiff, James Ivy Seals, and against the defendant, Potlatch Forests, Inc., for compensation payments in the sum of $35 per week for the period, August 12, 1959, through September 18, 1959, together with legal interest on each unpaid installment from its due date until paid. It is further ordered, adjudged and decreed that defendant pay to plaintiff the medical expense incurred during this period, including the Baptist Hospital bill of $464.04 and the bills of Dr. Pearce and Dr. Craig in the sum of $125. It is further ordered, adjudged and decreed that defendant pay all costs of these proceedings, including the expert witness fee of Dr. Pearce in the sum of $65 and the bill of Mrs. Virgie Middleton in the sum of $67.50 for taking depositions. All costs of this appeal are assessed against the defendant.
Reversed and rendered.