Fireman's Fund Indemnity Co. v. Industrial Acc. Com'n

3 Citing cases

  1. McDonald v. Intern. Paper Co.

    406 So. 2d 582 (La. 1981)   Cited 26 times
    In McDonald the court recognized that the absence of extraordinary mental or emotional stress associated with an unexpected and catastrophic event does not exclude compensation benefits; rather, the character of the case changes only in degree when the stimulus takes the form of sustained anxiety or pressure leading to a heart attack or a cerebral vascular accident.

    The vast majority of other jurisdictions hold that extraordinary anxiety and worry associated with employment constitute, without more, an accidental injury justifying an award of worker's compensation if the injury and anxiety has caused physical deterioration such as a myocardial infarction. Townsend v. Maine Bureau of Public Safety, 404 A.2d 1014 (Me. 1979); Little v. Korber Co., 71 N.M. 294, 378 P.2d 119 (1963); Coleman v. Andrew Jergens Co., 65 N.J. Super. 592, 168 A.2d 265 (1961); Klimas v. Trans Caribbean Airways, Inc., 10 N.Y.2d 209, 219 N.Y.S.2d 14, 176 N.E.2d 714 (1961); Insurance Dep't v. Dinsmore, 233 Miss. 569, 102 So.2d 691 aff'd on rehearing, 104 So.2d 296 (1958); Fireman's Fund Indem. Co. v. Industrial Acc. Comm'n., 241 P.2d 299 (Cal.App. 1952), aff'd, 39 Cal.2d 831, 250 P.2d 148 (1952); Hoage v. Royal Indem. Co., 67 App.D.C. 142, 90 F.2d 387, cert. denied, 302 U.S. 736, 778, 58 S.Ct. 122, 82 L.Ed. 569 (1937); 1B A. Larson, supra, at § 42.21. As set forth in the trial and appeals court opinions, the employee in this case, for several weeks before his death, was subjected to extraordinary emotional and mental stress associated with the impending closure of his mill, the possible termination of his job, and the increased difficulty of his job because of shorthanded, dilatory workcrews and poorly maintained equipment.

  2. Seitz v. L & R Industries, Inc.

    437 A.2d 1345 (R.I. 1981)   Cited 19 times
    Denying compensation under the workers' compensation statute for worker's mental injury produced by mental stimulus in which there are neither physical causes nor physical results

    1B Larson, supra at § 42.21.See, e.g., Hoage v. Royal Indem. Co., 90 F.2d 387 (D.C. Cir.), cert. denied, 302 U.S. 736, 58 S.Ct. 122, 82 L.Ed. 569 (1937); Lamb v. Workmen's Compensation Appeals Bd., 11 Cal.3d 274, 520 P.2d 978, 113 Cal.Rptr. 162 (1974); Firemen's Fund Indem. Co. v. Indus. Accident Comm'n, 241 P.2d 299 (Cal.Dist.Ct.App.), aff'd, 39 Cal.2d 831, 250 P.2d 148 (1952); Tracy v. Americana Hotel, 234 So.2d 641 (Fla. 1970); J. Norman Geipe, Inc. v. Collett, 172 Md. 165, 190 A. 836 (1937); Weiner's Case, 345 Mass. 761, 186 N.E.2d 603 (1962); Egan's Case, 331 Mass. 11, 116 N.E.2d 844 (1954); Klimas v. Trans Caribbean Airways, Inc., 10 N.Y.2d 209, 176 N.E.2d 714, 219 N.Y.S.2d 14 (1961). The second broad type of psychic injury is that caused by physical trauma.

  3. Jackson v. H.D. Lee Co., Inc.

    772 S.W.2d 742 (Mo. Ct. App. 1989)   Cited 9 times

    Admittedly there was medical evidence from which the Commission could have concluded the claimant's injury was job related; the question is whether the evidence to the contrary, which the Commission accepted, is admissible and substantial. See also Fireman's Fund Indemnity Co. v. Industrial Acc. Comm'n, 241 P.2d 299 (Cal.App. 1952), aff'd, 39 Cal.2d 831, 250 P.2d 148 (1952) (65 days of tension and anxiety while negotiating a labor contract caused a stroke and paralysis); Insurance Department of Mississippi v. Dinsmore, 233 Miss. 569, 102 So.2d 691 (1958), aff'd on rehearing, 233 Miss. 569, 104 So.2d 296 (1958) (mental and emotional strain of employment aggravated employee's preexisting hypertension and caused a stroke, which was held to be a compensable injury); see generally, A. Larson, Workmen's Compensation Law § 42.21, pp. 7-586-7-601 (1987). Two physicians who attended the claimant at one time or another testified unequivocally to a causal link between the claimant's employment and his disability.