Montgomery Lincoln-Mercury, Inc. v. Neal

423 So. 2d 846, 1982 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 1140
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedMarch 17, 1982
DocketCiv. 2838
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 423 So. 2d 846 (Montgomery Lincoln-Mercury, Inc. v. Neal) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Montgomery Lincoln-Mercury, Inc. v. Neal, 423 So. 2d 846, 1982 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 1140 (Ala. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinions

BRADLEY, Judge.

This is a workmen’s compensation case.

The employer, Montgomery Lincoln-Mercury, Inc., appeals from a judgment awarding compensation to Perry David Neal, administrator of the estate of deceased employee, Cameron M. Neal.

The evidence shows that Cameron M. Neal, deceased, was employed by Montgomery Lincoln-Mercury, Inc. on April 8, 1980 as lease manager. His compensation was based on a salary of $250.00 per week plus commission based upon the gross volume of the company’s lease department.

In the early part of July 1980 the company opened a new branch car lot in Pratt-ville. Neal was temporarily assigned to the Prattville office as manager of the lot. His job consisted of supervising salesmen and overseeing car sales.

On Saturday, July 12, 1980, Neal was to report to work at the Prattville car lot. The weather that day was extremely hot and humid; the temperature at 9:00 a.m. was 88° F., 96° F. at noon, and 99° F. at 3:00 p.m. During the month of July Montgomery had been plagued by a heat wave, which peaked a few days after the date in question.

Neal was forty-five years old, a diabetic and overweight, but otherwise his health was good. Testimony indicates that on the morning of July 12, 1980 Neal followed his normal routine. He ate breakfast with his mother and left for work apparently in good health. K.C. Wright, a salesman assigned to the Prattville lot, arrived at work around 8:00 o’clock that morning. Neal arrived shortly thereafter. Upon his arrival Neal complained to two salesmen that he was not feeling well, and that he was having chills in the air-conditioned office. Neal apparently sat in the office for a while, then went outside to lie down in his car, which was parked in the shade of some trees. Testimony indicates that Neal did not perform any work during this time.

One of the salesmen later went out to the ear and suggested to Neal that he go home. Neal left the lot around 2:00 that afternoon. When Neal arrived at his mother’s house, he complained that he was feeling hot and was too sick to eat. He thereafter went to his air-conditioned room to lie down. The next morning Neal’s mother found him extremely ill, and Neal was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. He died shortly thereafter.

Dr. Lightfoot, the examining physician, first saw Neal on the morning of July 13, 1980. He testified that it was his impression that Neal had suffered a heatstroke. Dr. Lightfoot’s opinion was admittedly based upon the history obtained from members of Neal’s family as to his health and the conditions of his work. Dr. Lightfoot was told that Neal “was selling used cars on an asphalt car lot during a severe heat wave .... He became heat stricken and was sent home from work due to his reaction to the heat.” Dr. Lightfoot could not express an opinion as to whether Neal’s job caused his illness and death.

A claim for workmen’s compensation benefits was brought against Montgomery Lincoln-Mercury, Inc. on October 2, 1980 by Perry David Neal, administrator of Neal’s estate and guardian of Neal’s minor dependent, a daughter. The court heard evidence ore tenus and found that Neal’s death was caused by an accident which arose out of and in the course of his employment. The court further found that:

Decedent, while working at his regular employment during normal working hours, and while on the job, suffered a heat stroke which the Court finds to be an accident within the meaning of the aforesaid Workmen’s Compensation Act.... On the date of the accident, decedent was exposed to conditions of risk or hazard to which he would not have been so exposed had he not been performing his job.

[848]*848The court found that Neal’s average weekly wage equalled $400.00, and awarded Neal compensation in the amount of $148.00 per week and burial expenses in the amount of $1,000.00.

Montgomery Lincoln-Mercury, Inc. appeals from the award of compensation, alleging that the court erred (1) in finding that Neal’s death was caused by a heatstroke arising out of and in the course of his employment, (2) in finding that Neal’s average weekly wage was $400.00, and (3) in awarding Neal’s estate $1,000.00 in burial expenses.

The standard of review in workmen’s compensation cases is limited to a determination of whether there is any legal evidence to support the trial court’s findings of fact. This court will not weigh the evidence. If any reasonable view of the evidence supports the findings of the trial court, we may then determine if the correct legal conclusions have been drawn therefrom. Newman Brothers, Inc. v. McDowell, 354 So.2d 1138 (Ala.Civ.App.1977), cert. denied, 354 So.2d 1142 (Ala.1978).

In order for an employee to recover benefits under Alabama’s workmen’s compensation laws, his injuries or death must be “caused by an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment.” § 25-5-51, Code 1975. The employer contends that the evidence presented to the trial court does not sufficiently meet the test for causation set out for heat exposure cases so as to render Neal’s death an “accident” within the meaning of the workmen’s compensation statute. The two-pronged test applied to heat exposure cases was first set out in Gulf States Steel Co. v. Christison, 228 Ala. 622, 154 So. 565 (1934):

[T]he harmful condition does arise out of the employment, if, in the performance of the duties for which he was engaged, in the manner required or contemplated by the employer, it is necessary for the employee to expose himself to a danger, materially in excess of that to which people commonly in that locality are exposed, when not situated as he is when thus performing his service, and that such excessive exposure may be found to have been the direct cause of the injury, though operating upon other conditions of common exposure.
That principle has been specifically thus applied to sunstroke or heat prostration or heat exhaustion in many varying conditions. [Citations omitted.]

This standard has been followed in subsequent similar cases, notably Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Co. v. Lively, 239 Ala. 684, 196 So. 870 (1940), and Pow v. Southern Construction Co., 235 Ala. 580, 180 So. 288 (1938).

This two-pronged test has been cited as controlling in the more recent cases of City of Tuscaloosa v. Howard, 55 Ala.App. 701, 318 So.2d 729 (1975), and Newman Brothers, Inc. v. McDowell, supra. These cases deal with death or injury arising from a heart attack allegedly caused by strain or exertion on the job. In Newman Brothers, this court attempted to clarify its decision in Howard, citing the two-pronged test as set out in Pow v. Southern Construction Co., supra. This court then restated that test:

If in the performance of his job [the employee] has to exert or strain himself or is exposed to conditions of risk or hazard and he would not have strained or exerted himself or been exposed to such conditions had he not been performing his job and the exertion or strain or the exposure to the conditions was, in fact, a contributing cause to his injury or death, the test whether the job caused the injury or death is satisfied.

Appellant contends that this language constitutes a less restrictive standard than that originally set out in Christison. However, we interpret the above language to be a mere clarification of the original Christison

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Related

Stebbins Engineering & Manufacturing Co. v. Tullis
505 So. 2d 1230 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 1986)
Montgomery Lincoln-Mercury, Inc. v. Neal
423 So. 2d 850 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1982)
Ex Parte Neal
423 So. 2d 850 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1982)

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423 So. 2d 846, 1982 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 1140, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/montgomery-lincoln-mercury-inc-v-neal-alacivapp-1982.