Opinion
No. 27299
Decided June 14, 1939.
Workmen's compensation — Death from heart attack not compensable, when — Causal connection.
CERTIFIED by the Court of Appeals of Franklin county.
Bernard Haviland had been employed in the. Columbus street repair department at light labor or prying up, weighing and cleaning bricks. About nine days before his death he was transferred to the refuse collection division, his work consisting of gathering refuse, ashes, brush and rubbish, and loading them by shovel, boxes, or barrels into a trailer or wagon for carting away. On the morning of July 15, 1935, he died of angina pectoris after assisting two other employees to empty the contents of a barrel, weighing from 400 to 600 pounds, into a trailer, the decedent and another employee handling the barrel from opposite sides and the third employee handling the bottom or end. There is a disagreement in the testimony, varying from a few to ten minutes, as to the interval between the time when the barrel was emptied and death ensued, but there is agreement that the decedent gave no expression of pain or suffering preceding his death and that he had visited a medical clinic where his complaint had been diagnosed as coronary heart disease.
His widow filed an application for workmen's compensation, which was denied by the Industrial Commission upon the original hearing and upon rehearing.
On appeal to the Court of Common Pleas a verdict was directed for the defendant at the conclusion of plaintiff's testimony, a motion for new trial was overruled and judgment entered for the commission.
The Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment, but finding a conflict with Industrial Commission v. Gillard, 41 Ohio App. 297, 179 N.E. 514, certified the record to this court for review and final determination.
Mr. Bernard Murray and Messrs. Wardlaw, Gertner Armstrong, for appellant.
Mr. Herbert S. Duffy and Mr. Thomas J. Herbert, attorneys general, Mr. Eugene Carlin, Mr. E.P. Felker, Mr. Ralph J. Bartlett, prosecuting attorney, Mr. David B. Sharp and Mr. Edmund B. Paxton, for appellee.
In the instant case the Court of Common Pleas at the conclusion of plaintiff's testimony, upon due consideration thereof, directed a verdict for the defendant. The Court of Appeals considered the evidence, came to the same conclusion and affirmed the judgment of the trial court. Upon examination of the record we fail to find prejudicial error. Nor do we find any substantial conflict between the rule of law applied in the instant case and the rule applied in the case of Industrial Commission v. Gillard, supra.
While in the Gillard case the Court of Common Pleas and the Court of Appeals both found there was a causal connection between the cranking of the truck and the death of Gillard, in the instant case the Court of Common Pleas and the Court of Appeals both found as a matter of law from the facts disclosed that there was no such causal connection resulting in the death of Haviland. Both are borderline cases in respect to claims involving internal injuries. In such circumstances each case must be decided according to its own particular facts. In the instant case, from the evidence set forth in the record, the Court of Common Pleas and the Court of Appeals could well have reached the conclusion which they did, and by reason thereof such finding will not be disturbed.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals will be affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
WEYGANDT, C.J., DAY, ZIMMERMAN, WILLIAMS, MYERS, MATTHIAS and HART, JJ., concur.