Title: In the Matter of the Death of Garland
Citation: 1998 OK 72, 69OBJ2508, 968 P.2d 1214
Docket Number: 
State: Oklahoma
Issuer: Oklahoma Supreme Court
Date: July 7, 1998

In the Matter of the Death of Garland Annotate this Case In the Matter of the Death of Garland 1998 OK 72 968 P.2d 1214 69 OBJ 2508 Case Number: 89637 Decided: 07/07/1998 Mandate Issued: 11/05/1998 Supreme Court of Oklahoma IN THE MATTER OF THE DEATH OF EARL GARLAND. DARLENE MAE GARLAND, Petitioner, v. PILGRIM'S PRIDE CORPORATION, OLD REPUBLIC INSURANCE COMPANY and THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION COURT, Respondents. [968 P.2d 1215] CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS, DIVISION II, APPEAL FROM THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION COURT; HONORABLE SUSAN WITT CONYERS, TRIAL JUDGE. ¶ 0Petitioner filed a death claim for compensation based upon her husband's on-the-job demise from a heart attack. The employer successfully defended against the Form 3-A claim, alleging that its employee's death did not arise out of his employment but rather was attributable to medical conditions personal to him. The Court of Civil Appeals [COCA] reversed and remanded the cause with instructions that the claimant be awarded a death benefit. On certiorari previously granted, THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS' OPINION IS VACATED AND THE TRIAL COURT'S DECISION IS AFFIRMED Harry J. Kouri III and Sidney A Musser, Jr. of Abel, Musser, Sokolosky, Mares & Kouri, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for the petitioner. Daniel K. Zorn and Laurie A. Fong of Collins, Zorn, Jones & Wagner, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for the respondents. LAVENDER, J. ¶ 1 The principle issue presented on certiorari is whether petitioner [claimant or decedent's wife] properly preserved for appellate review her objection to the medical report submitted by Pilgrim's Pride [968 P.2d 1216] Corporation and Old Republic Insurance Corporation [respondents]. I FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY ¶ 2Petitioner's husband [Garland] while in Pilgrim's employ drove a truck and delivered frozen chicken to various establishments. On December 23, 1994 Garland suffered a myocardial infarction and died while making deliveries. The record demonstrates that Garland suffered from hypertension, high cholesterol, smoked two to three packs of cigarettes a day and that his father died at 55 years of age from a heart attack. The record also evidences that Garland worked long hours [60 to 70 hours per week], his job was physically demanding, and he was fatigued. He was often required to unload boxes of frozen chickens weighing 70 to 90 pounds during his deliveries. On the morning Garland suffered his fatal heart attack, he had unloaded approximately seven of these boxes ¶ 3During the hearing petitioner and respondents offered medical reports from their respective experts. When respondents offered Dr. McCambell's narrative report, claimant's counsel objected to its probative value. ¶ 4The petitioner appealed, arguing that McCambell's narrative report should not have been given probative value because it contains an incomplete work history. Claimant contends that McCambell's narrative does not reveal that he considered the physical stress Garland was working under on the day he died. The Court of Civil Appeals [COCA] agreed with petitioner and reversed the trial judge's decision ruling that it was error to have accorded probative value to McCambell's report. We granted certiorari and now reverse the COCA's decision. II THE STANDARD OF REVIEW ¶ 5When this Court examines a workers' compensation court's factual resolutions, we apply the any-competent-evidence standard. ¶ 6When on appeal a petitioner asserts error in the probative value either accorded or denied to a medical report, sans an appropriate and timely objection [during trial] - stating the specific ground of objection - that error will not have been properly preserved for appellate review. [968 P.2d 1217] III PETITIONER'S FAILURE TO OBJECT WITH THE REQUISITE SPECIFICITY TO McCAMBELL'S NARRATIVE REPORT DOES NOT PRESERVE FOR APPELLATE REVIEW THE TRIAL COURT'S ERROR, IF ANY THERE WERE, IN DETERMINING THAT THE REPORT HAD PROBATIVE VALUE ¶ 7 Workers' Compensation Court Rule 23(C), IV THE TRIAL COURT'S FINDINGS ARE SUPPORTED BY COMPETENT EVIDENCE ¶ 8 If there is any competent evidence in the record which supports the trial court's findings of fact, then that tribunal's decision must be upheld for this Court will not re-weigh the evidence. Respondents' medical report was admitted with no objection to its competency V SUMMARY ¶ 9 Because petitioner failed to object with specificity to McCambell's narrative [ 968 P.2d 1218 ] report, the trial court's error, if any, regarding the probative value accorded the report is not properly preserved for appellate review. The only thing remaining on review is an assessment of the record to determine if competent evidence exists to support the trial court's decision. When McCambell's narrative is considered in light of its reference to Harper's report, the facts necessary to afford respondents' doctor a complete work history for the date of death is found . Hence, there is competent, record evidence to support the tribunal's finding that Garland's heart attack was not related to his work but rather was a product of his personal medical history. ¶ 10On certiorari previously granted, THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS' OPINION IS VACATED AND THE TRIAL COURT'S DECISION IS AFFIRMED. ¶ 11 KAUGER, C.J., HODGES, LAVENDER, SIMMS, HARGRAVE and WATT, JJ., concur. ¶ 12 SUMMERS, V.C.J., OPALA and WILSON, JJ., concur in result. FOOT