Jordan v. Southern Natural Gas Co.

455 So. 2d 1217
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 22, 1984
Docket16399-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 455 So. 2d 1217 (Jordan v. Southern Natural Gas Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jordan v. Southern Natural Gas Co., 455 So. 2d 1217 (La. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

455 So.2d 1217 (1984)

James JORDAN, Appellee,
v.
SOUTHERN NATURAL GAS COMPANY and Home Insurance Company, Appellants.

No. 16399-CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

August 22, 1984.

*1218 Culpepper, Teat, Caldwell & Avery by Bobby L. Culpepper, Jonesboro, for appellee.

Lunn, Irion, Switzer, Johnson & Salley by Frank M. Walker, Jr., Shreveport, for appellants.

Before HALL, MARVIN and NORRIS, JJ.

NORRIS, Judge.

Southern Natural Gas Company and Home Insurance Company appeal a judgment awarding worker's compensation benefits for total and permanent disability and penalties. The pivotal issue presented by this appeal is whether a claimant who has a disabling mental condition caused by job conditions and more particularly a job transfer comes within the contemplation of the Louisiana Worker's Compensation Act, specifically the provisions of La.R.S. 23:1021(1) and (6).

James Jordan filed a petition for worker's compensation benefits alleging that on March 27, 1981 he was employed by Southern Natural Gas Company when he became disabled. Specifically, he alleged:

That petitioner was required to work under stressful conditions which caused him to experience stomach trouble, chest pains and depression and other related problems.

These symptoms were further alleged to be work-related.

Defendants answered the petition generally denying its allegations. Thereafter, defendants filed an exception of no cause of action claiming that the petition did not state a cause of action because Jordan did not allege that he suffered a "physical injury" as a result of an accident within the contemplation of the Louisiana Worker's Compensation Act and more particularly that he did not show that a particular incident caused him an injury by violence to the physical structure of his body resulting in the alleged psychological disability.

Jordan amended his original petition to reword the above quoted paragraph to read:

*1219 That on or about the 27th day of March, 1981, the petitioner was backfilling ditches, undoing pipes, digging ditches, climbing in and out of ditches, when he accidentaly (sic) injured himself and experienced stomach trouble, chest pains, and depression, and other related problems.

After trial on the merits, in written reasons, the trial court found that Jordan was totally and permanently disabled thereby entitling him to compensation benefits, stating:

* * * However, in this case, the medical testimony (from the first general practitioner who saw him to the last psychiatrist who saw him) agrees that plaintiff has a disabling mental condition that manifested itself in serious physical problems. The only question is whether that condition is job connected.
The Court concludes that plaintiff is (and from March 27, 1981, has been) disabled from performing any type of work. Plaintiff's disability is an emotional or mental one, caused by stress and anxiety he encountered when he began to perform heavy, physical work after having done less physically demanding work for many years. The Court, therefore, feels plaintiff's present disability is job related. [Emphasis added.]

Accordingly, the trial court awarded worker's compensation benefits for total and permanent disability, penalties for arbitrary and capricious refusal to pay benefits, medical expenses, costs, and $5000 attorney's fees.

Our review of the evidence presented at trial reveals the following context facts. Jordan, who had been employed by Southern Natural Gas for 24 years, had been the operator of its dehydration plant in Bienville Parish from 1966 until one week prior to March 21, 1981. One week prior to that date, Jordan was informed by his supervisor that he was being transferred from the dehydration plant to a maintenance gang which worked out of Ruston. Jordan worked at the dehydration plant for the remainder of the week following the notification and took a week's vacation. On March 21, 1981, Jordan reported to work on the maintenance gang which was at the time laying a pipeline in Bienville Parish near the location of Jordan's home. Despite the location of the pipeline under construction, Jordan was required by his employer to drive to Ruston each morning and then ride back with the gang to the job site. During this week, Jordan performed regular maintenance pipeline crew work, e.g., moving skids, shoveling, and connecting, doping and testing pipe. Admittedly, this type of work was of a more physical nature than the duties which he had formerly performed as operator of the dehydration plant.

It is uncontradicted that the fact of his being transferred caused Jordan great emotional stress in that he felt the move was a "demotion." This stress was further heightened by the fact that the company required him to travel to Ruston prior to reporting to the job site which was near his home, his requests to the contrary notwithstanding. According to the testimony of Jordan, on either Wednesday or Thursday of the week in question he experienced cramping in his stomach, pain in his chest, side, leg and left shoulder and some dizziness. Jordan further testified that at some point during the week he was forced to lie across the hood of a truck to rest and reported these symptoms to Larry Penuell. Although Jordan worked from Monday to Friday of that week, he called his superintendent, Billy Taylor, on Saturday informing Taylor of his stomach problems. Jordan has not worked since.

Taylor's testimony is corroborative of Jordan's transfer, his having worked for a week, and his phone call on Saturday with complaints of stomach problems. However, Taylor's testimony is further indicative that Jordan never reported any physical injury which occurred on the job.

Crew leader, Larry Penuell's testimony is to the effect that while Jordan did complain that his stomach was "growling," he did not relate this complaint to any job activity. Penuell had no recollection of any *1220 incident when Jordan had to rest by lying across the hood of a truck.

There is no testimony that Jordan ever complained to any of his co-workers or his employer of his having suffered any injury to his body which was job related. The extent of the testimony of the co-workers of Jordan relating to his difficulties is that there was some general discussion of Jordan's having had stomach problems and a complaint of stomach problems on his last day of work around the lunch break. In fact, a review of this record reveals that prior to the filing of the exception of no cause of action, Jordan did not contend that his alleged disabling condition was a result of any accidental job-related injury or that it was even caused by any physical exertion connected with his work on the maintenance gang.

It is obvious and clear from the extensive medical evidence [based to a great extent on the revelations of Jordan] and the testimony of Jordan himself that the cause of Jordan's disability was the emotional impact of his transfer from the position of operator of the dehydration plant to the maintenance gang.

Dr. John S. Robinson's report states that Jordan talked excessively about his work, was preoccupied with his job and was worried about not only its stresses but also his various hostilities toward certain individuals and his employer. Dr. Robinson's impression was that "Mr. Jordan has a severe psychiatric problem complicated by hypertension and gastritis."

The report of Dr. J.V.

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455 So. 2d 1217, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jordan-v-southern-natural-gas-co-lactapp-1984.