Court Opinion

ID: 9715453
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:06:06.039704+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:35.153909
License: Public Domain

M. J. Kelly, P.J.
(dissenting). I respectfully dissent.
While I accept the WCAB’s factual findings and conclude that in both cases plaintiffs experienced dizziness or faintness prior to falling, I subscribe to the minority legal position regarding compensation of injuries sustained in idiopathic falls at work. I would hold that plaintiffs may be compensated for any injuries directly attributable to the fall itself though not for the underlying condition which caused the fall.
As noted by the majority in this case, "unexplained falls” at work which are caused by some neutral origin of mishap are compensable under the workers’ compensation laws of most states. Larson, Workmen’s Compensation Law, § 12.12. Where, however, the fall is idiopathic or caused by some condition personal to the claimant, rules governing compensation vary from state to state. If the employment increases the dangerous effects of the fall, most states will grant compensation. Larson, § 12.11. Where, as here, the injury is sustained as the result of an idiopathic fall to the level ground, a split of authority has developed on whether compensation is appropriate. The majority view is that unless the plaintiff comes forth *733with proofs establishing that the condition which caused the fall is work-related, compensation is not available. This view has been followed in the only other Michigan appellate decision addressing compensation for idiopathic falls. See Ledbetter v Michigan Carton Co, 74 Mich App 330; 253 NW2d 753 (1977).
I prefer the position taken in Guidry v Serigny, 378 So 2d 938 (La, 1980). In that case, evidence was introduced to establish that plaintiff fell either because she fainted, experienced a heart attack or slipped on a freshly waxed floor. Compensation was initially denied because plaintiff had failed to establish a causal relationship between her employment and the cause of her fall. The Louisiana Supreme Court reversed, holding that where a fainting spell, heart attack or slip causes an employee to fall, injuries resulting from the fall, though not the underlying condition, are compensable. The Court reasoned that since the Louisiana worker’s compensation statute applies where the "employee * * * receives personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment”, La R S 23:1031, the critical inquiry is whether the fall occurred in the course of employment rather than whether the underlying cause of the fall was related to employment.
I would adopt a similar analysis in Michigan. I would inquire whether the fall arose out of and in the course of employment rather than whether the underlying cause of the fall was work-related. MCL 418.301; MSA 17.237(301). Since in these cases plaintiffs’ falls occurred in the course of employment, I find it unnecessary to consider whether the underlying causes of the falls were work-related and I would instead remand for hearings to determine damages suffered as a result of the falls.