Bill Gover Ford Company v. Roniger

1967 OK 65, 426 P.2d 701
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 7, 1967
Docket41869
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 1967 OK 65 (Bill Gover Ford Company v. Roniger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bill Gover Ford Company v. Roniger, 1967 OK 65, 426 P.2d 701 (Okla. 1967).

Opinion

DAVISON, Justice.

This is an original proceeding to review an award of the State Industrial Court in favor of Alma V. Roniger, claimant, against her employer, Bill Gover Ford Company, and its insurance carrier.

Petitioners’ sole contention on appeal is that the evidence before the trial court was insufficient to sustain the award and that the award is based on inconsistent and contradictory evidence.

It was stipulated by the parties that on the date of the accident claimant was employed by respondent Bill Gover Ford Company as credit manager and accountant at its automobile agency in Clinton, Oklahoma; that claimant’s wages were included in premiums paid by the employer to its insurance carrier and claimant’s wages were sufficient to entitle her to the maximum benefits provided in the Workmen’s Compensation Act.

Epitomized the evidence submitted at the trial is as follows:

Claimant testified that she had been working for the respondent for more than six years prior to November 24, 1.964, her duties consisting of general clerical work; that for a period of three years and up to approximately two weeks prior to November 24, 1964, the date of the alleged accident,' Mrs. Gover, the wife of Bill Gover, worked in the office about six hours each day and did the daily posting of the accounts; that after Mrs. Gover left she (the claimant) was required to do all the work previously done by Mrs. Gover and at the end of each day’s work felt tired; that the additional work was a “strain, a different strain” than she had previously experienced; that on the date of the accident she was running statements through the Thermofax machine *703 which was work other than her regular duties and work which must be done during the last few days of each month;- that “a sharp pain in my chest hit me and I had to drop the statement and stooped over to pick it up and when I straightened out, why this sharp pain hit me in the chest, it was a terrific pain;” that she was immediately removed to the hospital where she was given oxygen and a shot of demcrol; that several electro-cardiograms were made of her heart and her difficulty was diagnosed as a heart attack; that she remained in the hospital for 10 days and did not return to work until February 1, 1965; that upon returning to work she could work only about three and one-half hours per day and has continued such part time work at least to the date, of hearing on September 21, 1965; that she is unable to do as much work as she did prior to the occurrence; that she tires easily and experiences periodic pains in her chest; that she carries nitroglycerin tablets with her and places one under her tongue when tired or when she has pains in her chest; that prior to the accident she had had no heart trouble.

A fellow employee confirmed testimony of the claimant regarding the occurrence of the accident and the heavy work claimant was doing.

The attending physician in his Form 4 report found claimant’s disability to be a “Myocardial insufficiency due to angina pectoris.”

Dr. P testified as a medical expert for the claimant that as a result of the occurrence on November 24, 1964, claimant sustained “a sub-endocardial myocardial infarction in the inferoseptal area of the heart” and has a permanent partial disability of 30%. He further testified that the “stress and strain” claimant was under was the “precipitating factor” causing the heart attack. He described the stress and strain as being both mental and physical. In this regard he testified: “I think it’s a combination of mental and physical. When anyone is rushing about and dealing with a lot of figures and books and papers and answering the telephone and dealing with customers, there’s quite a bit of physical strain to it as well as mental and nervous strain.”

Dr. D filed reports of two examinations made of the claimant at the request of the respondent. He found that claimant sustained some heart disability on November 24, 1964, which he diagnosed as a “coro1 nary insufficiency” but not a “coronary thrombosis or myocardial infarction.” tie states that claimant “is not able to work even half time” — has a permanent disability of 20% but finds that her disability was “not caused by any work she (claimant) was doing, or any nervous or mental strain that she says is associated with her work.”

The trial court awarded the claimant temporary partial disability from the date of the accident to February 1, 1965, and permanent partial disability of 30 per cent to the body as a whole.

This court is definitely committed to the rule that where a disability attributable to a heart condition is caused or pre-cipated by an antecedent strain or exertion which occurred while the employee was doing his work in the usual and customary manner as an employee coming within the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act such disability is compensable although nothing unusual occurred to cause the strain or exertion. H. J. Jeffries Truck Line v. Grisham, Okl., 397 P.2d 637; Safeway Stores, Inc. v. Evans, Okl., 376 P.2d 336; Farmers Cooperative Association v. Madden, Okl., 356 P.2d 741; Young v. Neely, Okl., 353 P.2d 111; Merrill v. State Industrial Commission, Okl., 290 P.2d 1095.

The heart disability need not be attributable to one strain or exertion but may arise progressively from the cumulative effect of a series of strains and exertions. H. J. Jeffries Truck Line v. Grisham, supra; Farmers Cooperative Association v. Madden, supra; and Merrill v. State Industrial Commission, supra.

In H. J. Jeffries Truck Line v. Grisham, supra, a truck driver, over a period of about a week engaged in various activities requir *704 ing unusual exertion. At the culmination of these activities he sustained a heart attack. His doctor testified that there can be little doubt that claimant’s coronary attack was precipitated by prolonged working periods, stress of long travel and lack of adequate sleep but it would be awfully hard to isolate any single effort or strained activity as being the critical “stressful phenomenon.” We upheld and sustained the award of the State Industrial Court finding that such employment activities as shown was sufficient in degree to and did, in fact, produce the strain which culminated in coronary occlusion. We held the award was based on competent evidence reasonably tending to support it.

There are cases from other jurisdictions holding a disability to the heart caused by nervous, emotional stress, strain or anxiety is compensable under the Workman’s Compensation Act.

In Monahan v. Sceds and Durham, 134 Pa.Super. 469, 3 A.2d 998, the facts are quite similar to those presented here. The claimant in the case cited was employed as a timekeeper and as a part of his duties was required to report payroll figures to Washington within five days before the end of each month. A mistake had occurred in the payroll figures and claimant had been working long hours each day for a period of a week attempting to locate the mistake. On the day the disability occurred he had worked almost all day and all night. He finally located the mistake at 6 o’clock in the morning and collapsed at his desk. The cause of his death was diagnosed by the doctor as a “cerebral hemorrhage” brought about by over exertion. The Pennsylvania court held the claim compensable.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Carlile v. City of Oklahoma City/Public Information Service
1993 OK CIV APP 77 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 1993)
Fenwick v. Oklahoma State Penitentiary
1990 OK 47 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1990)
Hughes v. City of Oklahoma City
1989 OK 56 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1989)
Decker v. Oklahoma State University
1988 OK 152 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1988)
Workers' Compensation Court v. State Insurance Fund
1984 OK CIV APP 28 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 1984)
Lee Way Motor Freight, Inc. v. Harlow
1983 OK CIV APP 27 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 1983)
Wilson Foods Corp. ex rel. Wilson v. Noble
1980 OK CIV APP 20 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 1980)
K. P. Construction Co. v. Death of Parrent
562 P.2d 501 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1977)
Vernon v. Seven-Eleven Stores
1976 OK 34 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1976)
Oklahoma City v. Schoonover
1975 OK 52 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1975)
Black, Sivalls & Bryson v. Bass
1973 OK 9 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1973)
Ideal Cement Co. v. Oklahoma State Industrial Court
1971 OK 75 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1971)
Liebmann Arctic Ice Company v. Henderson
1971 OK 35 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1971)
Avco Corporation v. Swartzlander
1970 OK 96 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1970)
BOARD OF COUNTY COMM'RS OF TULSA COUNTY v. Parker
1969 OK 64 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1969)
Farmers Co-Op Exchange of Weatherford v. Krewall
1969 OK 27 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1969)
Flint Construction Company v. Downum
1968 OK 103 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1968)
H. Perilstein, Inc. v. Stewart
1968 OK 5 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1968)
Robertson v. Fo-Mac Enterprises
1967 OK 134 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1967)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1967 OK 65, 426 P.2d 701, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bill-gover-ford-company-v-roniger-okla-1967.