Woodburn v. Industrial Commission

181 P.2d 209, 111 Utah 393, 1947 Utah LEXIS 82
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedMay 23, 1947
DocketNo. 7008.
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 181 P.2d 209 (Woodburn v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Woodburn v. Industrial Commission, 181 P.2d 209, 111 Utah 393, 1947 Utah LEXIS 82 (Utah 1947).

Opinion

WOLFE, Justice.

Certiorari to review an order of the Industrial Commission denying compensation to the plaintiff.

The facts out of which the controversy arose are as follows : The plaintiff testified without contradiction that he was 55 years of age, was by occupation a structural iron worker and rigger, but for several years before the incident involved in this case his work had been largely that of supervising. As a supervisor he had little occasion to engage in heavy manual work nor had he worked at high altitudes. He was employed on July 16, 1945, by the defendant Ora Bundy Company as superintendent of construction on the ski-lift construction job at Snow Basin, near Ogden, Utah.

The plaintiff further testified that on July 21, 1945, in the course of his employment, he rode on a tractor up to a point representing the upper terminal of the proposed ski-lift, tíe then descended the mountain on foot, following the proposed line of the lift until he reached the lower terminal. As he descended he located the surveying pegs which marked the' course. • He chopped away the weeds that had grown over the pegs. The weather was extremely hot and there was neither shade nor a breeze to assuage the heat. On his descent he perspired profusely and became very thirsty. When he got to the lower terminal, he was weak and stiff and felt a soreness around his left breast and under his armpit.

The upper terminal of the lift is 8040 feet above sea level; the lower terminal 6540 feet above sea level, and the distance oh the ground between the two terminals is from 4600 to 4800 feet.

From July 21st, the date of the above described event, until July 31st the plaintiff did little work of a strenuous nature, but merely supervised operations from the lower level. This was for the reason that his climb on the 21st *395 had made him so stiff and sore that he felt disinclined to exert himself.

On July 31st he arrived at work at about 8:30 a. m. He climbed the hill from the lower terminal to the “parking' area.” The ground distance between those two places is approximately 9'00 feet. The parking area is 30 feet higher than the lower terminal. He stayed at the parking area for about 40 minutes and then walked back to the lower terminal. He then proceeded to climb on foot from the lower terminal up to tower No. 4. The horizontal distance from the lower terminal to tower No. 4 is 1140 feet, and the vertical distance is 215 feet. He stayed at tower No. 4 for a few minutes then descended on foot to the lower terminal. The ground between the lower terminal and tower No. 4 was not marked by a trail or path and was covered with weeds and brush. On his way up plaintiff perspired profusely and became very fatigued. There is some evidence, which will be discussed hereinafter, that he suffered pain in his chest on the way up. The entire trip up and down took about half an hour.

From the lower terminal he proceeded directly to the parking area. Upon his arrival there he, desiring to get some papers from his brief case, sat down on a log, put on his glasses, took the papers from the case and handed them to one of the workmen. Immediately thereafter he was seized by a severe pain under the breastbone. The pain was intense and tended to increase rather than to diminish. It radiated across his upper chest. He was taken to his home where he remained in a semi-conscious state until that evening when Dr. Strandquist examined him. The attack came upon the plaintiff at approximately 10:30 a. m. The interval between the time he sat down on the log and the time the pain hit him did not exceed two minutes.

A hearing was held by the Industrial Commission of Utah on January 8, 1946, to determine whether the attack constituted an accident arising out of or in the course of the plaintiff’s employment. The Commission decided that the plaintiff was totally disabled as a result of a coronary oc- *396 elusion suffered as a result of extreme physical exertion on July 31, 1945, and awarded compensation to him.

On February 23, 1946, upon the application of the defendant Ora Bundy Company and the insurance carrier, the Industrial Commission granted a rehearing which was held on April 24, 1946.

The medical testimony before the Commission was supplied by four doctors. All agreed that plaintiff suffered an attack of either coronary occlusion or coronary thrombosis. Doctors Stranquist, Olson and Zeman testified that in their opinion physical exertion could constitute a contributing factor in coronary occlusion or thrombosis. The fourth medical expert, Dr. Walker, testified that there is no causal connection between physical exertion and coronary occlusion or thrombosis and that strenuous exercise does not cause such conditions. Dr. Stranquist was of the opinion that the physical exercise the plaintiff underwent on his job on the 31st of July did contribute to the attack. Dr. Zeman went no further than to testify that “there is a very good possibility” that it contributed. As Dr. Walker did not think there is any connection between such conditions and physical exertion, he testified that plaintiff’s condition was in no way caused by the physical exertion on his job. Dr. Olson was of the opinion that the physical exercise did not conribute to the plaintiff’s condition though he indicated that if plaintiff had suffered pain under the breastbone co-incidental with the physical exertion there probably would be a causal connection between the exertion and the injury.

Dr. Olson’s opinion on the causual connection between the plaintiff’s exertion and the injury is dependent on whether or not pain indicative of the condition was suffered by him during the exertion. It therefore becomes important to examine the evidence as to whether or not the plaintiff suffered such pain on his hike to tower No. 4 on July 31st. That evidence is as follows:

At the first hearing, in answer to the leading question by his counsel, “Is that where you noticed your heart pain?” the plaintiff testified that when he arrived at tower No. *397 8 on the way up he put his hand on his chest “and it seemed like it was a little relief from the pain.”

Dr. Strandquist was asked:

“I believe your original history from Mr. Woodburn indicated he suffered this pain while he was in the act of exerting himself climbing?”

The doctor answered:

“That evening after office hours I was in a hurry and they phoned for me and I didn’t go into his history very close until afterwards he did tell me he was sitting down when this happened. But at the time I was under the impression he got it climbing. But later on he did tell me it came on while he was sitting down.”

Dr. Olson testified that when he examined the plaintiff some forty days after the heart attack he was very interested in the question of pain prior to the attack. He testified that the plaintiff did not mention having pain on the hike to No. 4 on the day of the attack.

At the rehearing additional testimony as to pain on the hike to Tower No. 4 was given as follows:

The plaintiff testified in reference to the climb:

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Bluebook (online)
181 P.2d 209, 111 Utah 393, 1947 Utah LEXIS 82, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woodburn-v-industrial-commission-utah-1947.