Winter v. Atkinson-Frizelle Co.

A finding by the Common Pleas in a workmen’s compensation case that an employe’s death resulted from an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, will not be reversed if there was evidence to support it.

On appeal from the Supreme Court. The judgment oE the Pleas was affirmed by «the Supreme Court, in which the following opinion was filed: ' ’ “Per-curiam.—-The trial court found that the deceased came to his death as the result of an accident arising out of arid in the course of his employment. The only question is-whether this finding is justified by the evidence, and we think that it was. There were two accidents, or occurrences, one in October, when deceased fell into an excavation and sustained bruises of the chest and ribs; the second, in November, when he fell dead while doing some heavy lifting. Both were in the course of regular employment. After the first accident he was examined by the employer’s doctor, who found heart irregularity and aneurism of the aorta. The trial judge was inclined to. the view that the accident, in October, produced a condition that brought on decedent’s death under the strain of November, though he held that it could reasonably be found that the strain of November in his diseased condition was the cause of death. The latter theory is sufficient for our purposes, and brings the case directly in line with Voorhees v. Smith Schoonmaker Co., 86 N. J. L. 500. We, therefore, find it unnecessary to examine into the other alternative suggested by the trial judge, viz., that the October accident produced a condition which caused him to succumb under the after strain. The judgment will be affirmed.”