Opinion
November 22, 1961
Present — Bergan, P.J., Gibson, Herlihy, Reynolds and Taylor, JJ.
Appeal from a decision and award of the Workmen's Compensation Board. Decedent worked in a liquor warehouse where he made up orders. The Workmen's Compensation Board has found that his death from myocardial infarction was precipitated by work activity of March 23, 1959. There is proof that within a half hour after the beginning of that day's work decedent in filling orders lifted, carried, and placed on a skid from 15 to 20 cases of liquor, each case weighing from 35 to 45 pounds. The foreman described this morning work as being under pressure, i.e., as "rush, rush orders * * * and he proceeded to put them on the floor; in a fast way in a rush to get it out. We didn't want to hold the truck up * * * We get them out mighty fast." Appellants argue on appeal that "While they were designated as rush or special orders, it merely meant that they were mail orders which were to be gotten out that morning." The proof indicates, and the board could find, that although the orders came in by mail, the early morning rush in filling them was to get the cases of liquor on the truck which was waiting to start on a delivery route. There is, therefore, sufficient evidence to sustain a finding that the physical effort was strenuous. A physician, who is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and a fellow of the American College of Physicians, testified that "this man's death was caused by this heart attack which was unquestionably aggravated and accelerated by the work that he did on the morning he died." Award unanimously affirmed, with costs to the Workmen's Compensation Board.