Panther Valley School District v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board

318 A.2d 403, 13 Pa. Commw. 178, 1974 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 914
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 18, 1974
DocketAppeal, No. 1394 C.D. 1973
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 318 A.2d 403 (Panther Valley School District v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Panther Valley School District v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board, 318 A.2d 403, 13 Pa. Commw. 178, 1974 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 914 (Pa. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge Mencer,

Russell L. Neyer (Neyer), at the time of his death on October 24, 1971, was employed by the Panther Valley School District (School District) as a custodian assigned to look after the school’s athletic field and stadium. He had worked for the School District approximately 29 years and had taken care of the stadium for more than 20 years.

His duties at the stadium included keeping the grass mowed, sweeping out the dressing rooms, cleaning the rest rooms, and general maintenance. On those days when football games were scheduled at the stadium, he was required to set up the amplifying system, place markers on the field, open the gates, turn on the lights, unlock doors, and be in attendance at the game. Following the game — usually the next day, as most games were played in the evening — he was required to clean the stadium, a task which included sweeping up all the rubbish from under the bleachers and the grandstand. The Panther Valley football stadium could accommodate 3200 persons, and Neyer would often arrange to have someone assist him in his after-game cleanup responsibilities.

From April to November each year Neyer would work at the stadium from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. except on days when a football game would be played, on which days he would return to the stadium for the period of 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. From December until April he would work an 8-hour day shift during 5 days each week at the high school building.

Panther Valley High School usually played its home football games on Saturday evening, and Neyer would go to the stadium on Sunday morning after each Saturday evening home game to fulfill his cleanup duties. It was not unusual to have more than one game played at the stadium during any given weekend since it served as the home field for the Marian High School football [181]*181team as well as the Panther Valley Freshman, Panther Valley Junior Varsity, and Panther Valley Varsity football teams.

During the weekend in question, the Marian High School team played at the stadium on Friday evening, October 22, 1971, and the Panther Valley Freshmen played there on Saturday morning, October 23, 1971. The record is unclear as to whether there was a game played in the stadium on Saturday evening, October 23, 1971. The Director of Athletics for the School District testified that a game had been scheduled for that evening but had been postponed until Monday evening. The Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (Board), in its opinion, states that the “Saturday night game was postponed to Monday.” However, Mark McHugh, who often helped Neyer clean the stadium after games, testified that he had attended the game on Saturday evening, October 23, 1971, and had seen Neyer in attendance at the game. Neyer’s wife testified that she thought her husband had gone back to work on Saturday evening, October 23, 1971, and returned home at 10 p.m. after the football game. The referee made no finding on this important fact.

However, it is undisputed that Neyer left home at 6:45 a.m. on Sunday morning, October 24, 1971, and went to the stadium to clean up debris from the Saturday morning game that was played or, perhaps, debris from both of the Saturday games if, in fact, there was a Saturday evening game played. Also, it is undisputed that Neyer’s helper, Mark McHugh, arrived at the stadium at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday morning and found Neyer sweeping the stands. Upon McHugh’s arrival, Neyer stated that he “didn’t feel good” and McHugh told him to take a little rest. Neyer at first sat down on the bleachers and then shortly announced that he was going over to the refreshment stand. McHugh continued to work, and in 10 or 15 minutes he observed [182]*182Neyer returning from the refreshment stand and coming up over the steps of the stands. McHugh turned to sweep again and heard a thud and looked around and saw Neyer lying “on the steel, on the first layer.” McHugh rushed to Neyer, who had lost consciousness, and was unable to detect any pulse. Help was immediately summoned and Neyer was soon taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.

It is undisputed that Neyer worked during the hours of 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday, October 22, 1971. Also, no one disputes that he worked from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 23, 1971. Whether or not he worked from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday is uncertain since the referee made no finding of fact on this question, and the testimony and the Board’s statement are in conflict, both as between witnesses and as between some witnesses and the Board. Further, it is admitted that Neyer worked from 7 a.m. to the time of his death (a period of approximately 1 hour) on Sunday, October 24, 1971. Thus, Neyer worked a total of 22 hours during the 3 days in question and possibly 5 additional hours on Saturday evening if the Saturday evening game was not postponed. The Board, in its opinion, states that Neyer died at 8 p.m. on October 24, 1971 and worked 37 hours during the 3-day period in question, while stating that the Saturday evening game was postponed. We are unable, from a study of the record, to comprehend these conclusions reached by the Board. The total number of hours worked by Neyer during the 3 days in question would have been 27 hours if the Saturday evening game was played and 22 hours if that game was postponed, and all of the testimony indicates that Neyer died at approximately 8 a.m., not 8 p.m., on Sunday, October 24, 1971.

On February 2, 1972, Alvenia M. Neyer, widow of Russell L. Neyer, filed a fatal-claim petition under The [183]*183Pennsylvania Workmen’s Compensation Act,1 alleging that her husband had suffered a heart attack due to overexertion during the course of his employment and this resulted in Ms death. The referee made an award to the claimant on October 30, 1972. The Board, without taMng additional evidence, affirmed the award and dismissed the School District’s appeal. TMs appeal followed and we reverse.

Our scope of review is limited to ascertaining whether or not constitutional rights were violated, an error of law was committed, or any necessary finding of fact was unsupported by substantial competent evidence. Arnold Coal & Supply Co., Ino. v. Markle, 8 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 107, 300 A. 2d 916 (1973).

This is yet another case where the essential issue is whether or not a compensable “accident” occurred. We stated in A. P. Green Refractories Co. v. Luclcey, 8 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 172, 177-78, 301 A. 2d 914, 917 (1973), that “ ‘[disability overtaking an employe at work is not compensable unless it is the result of an accident. . . . While the Workmen’s Compensation Act should be liberally construed, its purpose is to compensate for accidental injuries and not to insure the life and health of an employe.’ Betew v. Graybill, 193 Pa. Superior Ct. 564, 567-68, 165 A. 2d 424, 425-26 (1960). The burden of proving that an accident has occurred, moreover, is on the claimant. Hurlburt v. Fidelity Window Cleaning Co., 192 Pa. Superior Ct. 152, 160 A. 2d 251 (1960). An accident is any unforeseen, untoward happening wMch was not to be reasonably anticipated. Litman v. Litman, 185 Pa. Superior Ct. 69, 137 A. 2d 918 (1958); Lacey v. Washburn & Williams Co., 309 Pa. 574, 164 A. 724 (1933).

“In Hinkle v. H. J. Heinz Co., 7 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 216, 222, 298 A. 2d 632, 635 (1972), we found that [184]

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

Related

Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board v. Bernard S. Pincus Co.
388 A.2d 659 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1978)
Korn v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board
371 A.2d 574 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1977)
Szcykalski v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board
348 A.2d 442 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1975)
Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board of the Commonwealth v. Auto Express, Inc.
346 A.2d 829 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1975)
Unemployment Compensation Board of Review of the Commonwealth v. Sanchez
346 A.2d 390 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1975)
Butler County Memorial Hospital v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board
333 A.2d 490 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1975)
Airco-Speer Electronics v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board
333 A.2d 508 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1975)
Ricciuti v. City of Philadelphia Civil Service Commission
329 A.2d 330 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1974)
G.T.E. Sylvania, Inc. v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board
327 A.2d 390 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1974)
Banks v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board
327 A.2d 404 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1974)
B. G. Coon Construction Co. v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board
326 A.2d 656 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1974)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
318 A.2d 403, 13 Pa. Commw. 178, 1974 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 914, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/panther-valley-school-district-v-workmens-compensation-appeal-board-pacommwct-1974.