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Wilson v. Good Will Publishers11/13/2003
On review from the Iowa Court of Appeals.
Employee appeals from denial of workers' compensation benefits in heart attack case. DECISION OF COURT OF APPEALS VACATED; JUDGMENT OF DISTRICT COURT AFFIRMED.
David Wilson suffered a heart attack while on a road trip for his employer, Good Will Publishers, Inc. Believing his heart attack arose out of his employment, Wilson filed a claim against Good Will for workers' compensation benefits. The industrial commissioner and the district court denied benefits. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that Wilson had proved a sufficient nexus to his job to recover benefits. We vacate the decision of the court of appeals and affirm the judgment of the district court.
I. Facts and Prior Proceedings
David Wilson worked as a sales trainer for Good Will, traveling across the country from his home in Tabor, Iowa. Good Will publishes "Judeo-Christian material," sponsored by private advertisers and distributed primarily through hospitals and doctors' offices. Wilson left home on the afternoon of Sunday, April 16, 1995, to meet a trainee in Dexter, Missouri, at 8 a.m. the next day. He planned to travel partway, sleep for a few hours, and resume the trip. He drove as far as Columbia, Missouri, where he rented a motel room. He awoke between 1 and 2 a.m. with what he thought was indigestion, the result of having eaten a "nice Easter meal with his family" on the day he left Tabor. Apparently unable to sleep any longer, Wilson left the motel, stopping for antacids on the way to Dexter. Immediately after he checked into a motel in Dexter, he sought medical attention. At a local clinic, a nurse diagnosed a possible heart attack, and he was transported to a hospital in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. He was then flown to St. Louis, where he ultimately had open-heart surgery. Wilson had a history of "significant underlying coronary artery disease," largely due to his heavy cigarette smoking.
Following his surgery, Wilson filed this claim for workers' compensation benefits. Good Will resisted on the ground it was not an injury that arose out of and in the course of his employment. A deputy workers' compensation commissioner denied benefits on the ground the claimant failed to establish his work was the legal or medical cause of his heart attack, as required by our cases. This decision was affirmed by the commissioner. The district court affirmed the denial of benefits but substituted its own findings for those of the agency as to the question of legal causation: whether Wilson was "impelled to continue" working after experiencing the first symptoms of a heart attack. The district court nevertheless affirmed the commissioner on the ground the claimant did not show medical causation.
The court of appeals reversed on the basis that Wilson produced substantial evidence on both legal and medical causation and remanded to the commissioner to determine benefits.
II. Legal Principles
Heart attack cases may be compensated under Iowa's workers' compensation statute under special rules adopted by this court. The parties agree that a claimant must prove both "legal" and "medical" causation. Riley v. Oscar Mayer Foods Corp., 532 N.W.2d 489, 492 (Iowa 1993) (citing Briar Cliff College v. Compolo, 360 N.W.2d 91, 94-95 (Iowa 1984); Sondag v. Ferris Hardware, 220 N.W.2d 903, 905-06 (Iowa 1974)).
We review rulings by the commissioner under Iowa Code chapter 17A. See Iowa Code ยง 86.26 (2001); Cargill, Inc. v. Conley, 620 N.W.2d 496, 500 (Iowa 2000). Review by the district court, and by this court, is limited to correction of legal errors. Second Injury Fund v. Shank, 516 N.W.2d 808, 812 (Iowa 1994). T
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