177 N.E. 843 | Ohio Ct. App. | 1931
This is a workman's compensation case. The action was brought against the plaintiffs, Sam Rosichan and others, as noncomplying *26 employers, and the remedy pursued is under Section 27 of the Workmen's Compensation Act, Section 1465-74, General Code. John Coleman was employed by the plaintiffs in error to haul baled paper. At the time of the accident he was engaged in the process of loading some baled paper and was standing upon a row of bales with his feet about 8 feet from the ground. While in that position he fell and as a result died the evening of the same day at the St. Elizabeth Hospital. The case was tried before the Industrial Commission and resulted in a finding for the employers, the plaintiffs in error. An appeal was taken to the court of common pleas, where the case was tried before Judge Cecil. The judgment in the court of common pleas was in favor of the plaintiff, the widow of John Coleman, and against plaintiffs in error. From this judgment a petition in error has been filed in this court.
The first question that necessarily arises is as to the finding of the court of common pleas in respect to the cause of death. The following is the written finding of facts of the trial court: "The Court finds that he (decedent) died as a result of a fracture of the skull with cerebral hemorrhage. The Court does not find that there is any credible evidence in the record as to what caused the fall. There is some evidence introduced by defendants to the effect that prior to the date of the accident John Coleman may have had some heart trouble, but there is nothing in the record on which the Court could base a finding that his fall was occasioned by heart trouble. The Court finds that the conditions of John Coleman's employment required him to assume a position standing on bales of paper with his feet 8 feet *27 from the ground; that from the nature of the bales and the height from the ground his employment occasioned certain necessary hazards; that the work done by John Coleman on the morning of the accident was of such a nature as to be a possible contributing factor in causing a failure of his heart action, if that condition were found to exist."
Taking these findings as a whole upon the subject of the cause of death, we cannot escape the view that death must have resulted from the employment, and as a result thereof. A number of cases have been cited tending to prove that where death results from a constitutional disease, such as heart failure, and where the same is in no way connected with the employment, the injury is noncompensable. A number of cases in the Supreme Court have been decided to that effect. Renkel v. Industrial Commission,
On the contrary, it has been held in perhaps an equal number of cases that, where the death is occasioned by some disease which is in some way connected with and aggravated by the employment, it is entirely immaterial that the decedent may have suffered from, and the death may have to some extent resulted from, a disease known as heart trouble. In the case of IndustrialCommission v. Polcen,
In the early case of Industrial Commission v. Roth,
Judgment affirmed.
KUNKLE, P.J., and HORNBECK, J., concur.