Court Opinion

ID: 9560954
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:00:06.267558+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:13:23.005739
License: Public Domain

STRUCKMEYER, Justice and FARLEY, Superior Judge
(dissenting).
The Honorable Gordon Farley and I view this case in a different light than our colleagues. As a predicate we assume that even when the facts are undisputed, if uncertainty arises because fair-minded men may honestly draw different conclusions from them, the question is not one of law but of fact to be settled by the jury. Best v. District of Columbia, 291 U.S. 411, 54 S.Ct. 487, 78 L.Ed. 882; Figueroa v. Majors, 85 Ariz. 345, 338 P.2d 803.
The incident complained of occurred in summer at Gila Bend, Arizona, a small community located in the heart of the southwestern desert.1 Heat stroke occurs in the presence of high environmental heat under *381conditions of exertion.2 One who is unaccustomed to working in the presence of high environmental heat is more likely to suffer heat stroke than a person who is used to it.3 Augustin had been living in California, About 10 a. m., July 28, 1955, on the second day of employment, he became sick and, although obviously sick to his fellow-employees, continued on the job for a period of nearly five hours before seeking permission to leave.4 He was then pale and shaking.5 However, the foreman made no effort to ascertain the extent of his illness,6 but directed' him to check in with the time*382keeper and then leave.7 No apparent concern was shown for his physical condition,' even though an automobile was available to assist employees to a doctor.8
It is the well-established rule of law that the standard of care to be exercised by an employer must be commensurate to the dangers of the business. Tiller v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 318 U.S. 54, 63 S.Ct. 444, 87 L.Ed. 610, 143 A.L.R. 967. We believe that the circumstances of high environmental heat, together with hard labor, compels the employer in the exercise of due care to recognize certain elemental facts about heat stroke. A charge of negligence is sustainable alone on the failure to recognize its outward manifestions.
Heat stroke is a true medical emergency requiring immediate action if the person’s life is to be saved.9 Paleness, shakiness and vomiting are symptoms.10 A person does not pass out right away, although he even*383tually goes into a coma.11 The exertion of walking one-quarter or one-half mile would tend to aggravate or to bring on the final state of heat stroke.12
The rule of law to be applied in examining the foregoing evidence is “simply whether the proofs justify with reason the conclusion that employer negligence played any part, even the slightest, in producing the injuries or death for which damages are sought.” Rogers v. Missouri Pacific R. Co., 352 U.S. 500, 77 S.Ct. 443;' 448, 1 L.Ed.2d 493. The question is whether Augustin’s death was due in whole or in part to failure of appellant’s agent to do what a reasonable and prudent man would ordinarily have done under the circumstances of the situatxon. Anderson v. Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co., 333 U.S. 821, 68 S.Ct. 854, 92 L.Ed. 1108.
Wholly independent of the appellant’s duty to furnish medical assistance, and preliminary to any consideration of that question, the jury could conclude that a reasonable and prudent man would suspect the possibility of heat stroke under the circumstances of the situation, and hence that due care was not used in failing to make some reasonable effort to determine the nature and extent of Augustin’s illness; in failing to direct him to the doctor’s office rather than ordering him to check in with the timekeeper-; in failing to make some reasonable effort to place Augustin in a *384position where he could obtain medical attention if necessary by using the available automobile, or sending a fellow-employee along to see that Augustin arrived at the doctor’s office safely. There are other possible inferences from which a conclusion of negligence could be drawn.
It is also our opinion that the duty to furnish medical attention does not alone spring from a moral certainty. If an employer in the exercise of due care would or should have known that an employee might suffer loss of life or serious bodily harm unless medical aid was provided, the duty to take affirmative action arises. Therefore, the jury could conclude that where, as here, there was an apparently healthy male in the prime of life working in the presence of high environmental heat who developed nausea, circulatory collapse and motor disorder, a reasonable and prudent man would believe that the employee was suffering from heat stroke. In order to hold as a matter of law that there was no negligence, it must be said that where men are being worked in the sun in temperatures of 100 degrees or higher, a reasonable and prudent man would not anticipate heat stroke. We think that fair-minded men could believe to the contrary and with reason find that loss of life or serious bodily harm would be suffered unless medical aid was provided.
We have considered the remaining questions not passed upon by the majority, and in our opinion they are wholly without merit; accordingly we would affirm' the judgment.
J. MERCER JOHNSON, Justice, being disqualified, the Honorable GORDON FARLEY, Judge of Superior Court, Santa Cruz County, was called to sit in his stead and participated in the determination of this appeal.

. Dr. Bogel J. Jeffrey testified:
“ * * * the only claim to fame that we have at Gila Bend is that we top the nation about three days out of five throughout five months of the year.
“Q. Do you mean so far as the heat is concerned? A. Yes, that’s all. That is heat, that is all that I am talking about.”

. Dr. Nathan S. Kolins, a specialist in internal medicine, testified:
“Q. Now, Doctor, I wonder if you would give the Court and the jury an explanation of what can or what does bring about heat stroke in the usual case? A. Well, heat stroke is a relatively unusual condition. It occurs in the presence of high environmental heat, under conditions of a good deal of exertion on the part of the patient.”
Dr. Jeffrey testified:
“Q. Doctor, what are the conditions that will lead to a person suffering an attack of sun stroke? A. Well, the outside climate would probably be the number 1 cause, and your number 2 cause would possibly be hard work or over-extension of work, and number 3, the general health of your patient, or your general health of the person that died, let’s say.”

. Dr. Nathan Kolins testified:
“Q. * * * In other words, a person who is used to working in that kind of heat and doing that kind of labor is not as likely to suffer heat stroke as a person who is not used to that, is that correct? A. That is right.”

. A fellow-employee, Trujillo, testified:
“Q. Now do you know whether or not Augustins had been sick during the day? A. Yes, in the morning.
“Q. What had been wrong with him? A. He was vomiting and some kind of shaking cramps was what he told me. *****
“Q. So along in the morning he became sick at his stomach? A. Yes.
“Q. And he went over and vomited? A. Yes.
“Q. Then he sat down, the foreman told him to sit down over in the shade of one of those boxcars on one of those tracks, didn’t he? A. Yes.
“Q. And he sat down over there— A. He didn’t stay very long.
*****
“Q. * * * just about, he sat down there about 20 minutes and on his own he came back to work, didn’t he? A. Yes.
“Q. Then he worked up until lunch time? A. Yes.”
The water boy for the section gang testified:
“Q. Now during the time that you were working around there on the day that Augustine died, did you see him at any time when he appeared to be sick? A. Well, I see him sick a little bit like this.
“Q. You mean he had his arm over his forehead? A. Yes.
“Q. Put your arm that way. A. Up?
' “Q. And was that in the morning or in the afternoon? A. The afternoon.”

. Trujillo further testified:
“Q. Now, Mr. Trujillo, can you describe what Augustine looked like when he walked up to Mr. Jantz [the foreman] ? A. He was a little shakey and pale.
“Q. He was pale and shakey? A. Yes.
“Q. Now was his whole body shaking? A. Just his arms. He was standing like this (witness indicates) he was shaking this way.”

. The foreman testified:
“Q. Did you ask him what was wrong with him? A. No, I didn’t.”

. The foreman testified:
“Q. And what was the conversation? A. He told me he wasn’t feel [sic] too well, he wanted to take off the rest of the day.
“Q. What did you say? A. I told him to go tell the timekeeper to check in with the timekeeper and he could take off.”

. The foreman testified:
“Q. A man gets sick, Mr. Jantz, on the job, what is the procedure for getting him to go to the doctor at that hospital? A. Well, we make arrangements to take him. We have an automobile there. We will take him in the automobile, or if we are working out on the road where we just have a motor car, we will take him on the motor car. We will get him to the doctor someway.”

. Dr. Jeffrey testified:
“Q. Now, a true heat stroke, Doctor, is «ne of the real true medical emergencies, isn’t it? It is something that you have to take fast steps to do something about in order to have a chance to save the life of the person who is having that stroke? A. That’s right.
“Q. Because if you said you have this paralysis of the heat control up here and the body is getting hotter and hotter— A. Yes.
“Q. It requires immediate action if you are going to have much of' a chance at all to save that person’s life, isn’t that true? A. Yes.”

. Dr. Kolins testified:
“Q. Now, Doctor, would paleness of an individual be symptoms of— A. Yes, that would be a late symptom after they have got into collapse.
“Q. Would shakiness on the part of the individual— A. Yes, that is a symptom.”
* ❖ * * *
“Q. Would vomiting or upset stomach be a symptom of this? A. It could be, yes.
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“Q. Doctor, I think you said that the paleness is a late symptom of heat stroke, generally present after the collapse, is that right? A. The paleness is part of the collapse.
“Q. And by collapse do you mean a— what it does mean to me — I mean that you fall to the ground? A. No, I mean circulatory collapse.
“Q. Circulatory collapse? A. Yes.
“Q. In other words, blood is not circulating through the body in the normal fashion? A. That’s right.
5s* ‡
“Q. Now, Doctor, one other question: Here, these symptoms, such as inability to walk, mental confusion and inability to speak and I believe Mr. Evans said, or you brought out, that these are symptoms of heat stroke, is that correct?
*383A. That’s right.
“Q. Now, are those symptoms that occur just before collapse? A. That’s right.
“Q. The other symptoms, the paleness, the trembling, the vomiting, or [sic] early symptoms, is that right, Doctor?
A. Yes, trembling.
“Q. Earlier than the others? A. Yes.”

. Dr. Kolins testified:
“Q. Does a person, Doctor, suffer an attack of heat stroke immediately? In other words, does he just walk out and start doing this work under this kind of heat? Does he — does the attack come on immediately? Does he pass out right away? A. No, it takes time to develop.
“Q. Let me ask you this: Doesn’t the person eventually go into a coma, or pass out, from heat stroke? A. Yes.”

. Dr. Kolins testified:
“Q. * * * Doctor, given this situation this hypothetical question, a man at approximately two-forty-five is in a condition where he is pale, he is trembling, and he has been working all day long at hard physical labor and he walks, about, say a quarter of a mile, or a half mile, would that walking that exertion tend to aggravate or to bring on the final state of heat stroke? A. It would, yes.”
Dr. Jeffrey testified:
“Q. Doptor, Mr. Evans asked you if the mere walking from this area to over here where this man was found would do anything that might have caused the death of this man. Giving you the same set of facts that this man walks up to his foreman and assume that he is on the verge of collapsing from heat stroke, would the walk from here to here tend to aggravate that condition at all? A. Certainly it would aggravate it, it aggravates anything.
“Q. In other words, walking in that intense heat is just more exercise, isn't that correct? A. Yes, the entire picture is a picture of exertion.”