NC Court of Appeals Decisions on Workers’ Compensation — Part 2
The third workers’ compensation decision that the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued last week was Reaves v. Industrial Pump Service, a case that had already been to the Court last year. Under the Pickrell presumption, “When an employee is found dead under circumstances indicating that death took place within the time and space limits of the employment, in the absence of any evidence of what caused the death, courts should indulge a presumption or inference that the death arose out of the employment.” The defendant must then show that the death occurred due to a non-compensable cause; otherwise the plaintiff prevails. In addition, if an employee suffers a heart attack while conducting his work in the usual way, the injury is not compensable. But, a heart attack can be a compensable accident if it “is due to unusual or extraordinary exertion . . . or extreme conditions.” Here, plaintiff was working in extreme heat in repairing a basement pump. Not feeling well, he went to his truck, where is partner found him dead from a heart attack not long afterward. The Court concluded that the Industrial Commission correctly applied the presumption, that defendant had not rebutted it, and thus that plaintiff’s death was the result of a compensable accident, entitling his wife to workers’ compensation death benefits.
The last workers’ compensation case in this batch is a 2-1 split decision, Shay v. Rowan Salisbury Schools. The plaintiff, a 15-year teacher, had always used the elevator to get to her second floor classroom. The elevator broke, and for a month, she had to use the stairs to get to the classroom. One day, while climbing the stairs, her knee “popped,” and she eventually had to have surgery for a meniscus tear. Plaintiff did not stumble, fall, trip, slip, or twist her knee causing her injury. The Commission found this to be a compensable accident, over Commissioner Ballance’s dissent. The Court reversed, finding the injury was not from an “accident.” Continue for more on case: Read more…
Categories: Judicial Decisions
