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Feltman v. Transistor Devices11/12/2002
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
Argued October 8, 2002
Pauline Feltman filed a dependency claim in October 1996 based on her husband Stanley Feltman's death in December 1994. Feltman's employer, Transistor Devices, Inc., filed an answer to Mrs. Feltman's claim in January 1997. Following a hearing held between March 2000, and January 2001, a judge of compensation dismissed her claim on May 29, 2001. The judge of compensation set forth his reasons in a written decision dated May 9, 2001. Petitioner appeals from the dismissal, and we affirm.
I.
The evidence at the hearing included the following. Stanley Feltman worked as a vice president for respondent Transistor Devices, Inc., of Cedar Knolls, New Jersey (Transistor). According to his death certificate, he died of a myocardial infarction at his home on December 16, 1994. His heart attack occurred within hours of his return from a business trip he took for respondent to Lockheed Aircraft Services in Ontario, California.
Pauline Feltman of West Milford, New Jersey, Feltman's widow, petitioned the Division of Workers' Compensation of the State of New Jersey Department of Labor in October 1996. Her claim petition alleged that her husband's fatal myocardial infarction arose out of and in the course of his employment with Transistor.
Feltman, a designer of power tools, became a vice president of Transistor when it acquired his company, ACDeCo, in 1983. He continued as vice president of power supplies -- managing people, designing tools, executing designs, and meeting with investors and customers. Transistor's CEO called Feltman's job a "desk job" and described him as a talented electrical engineer. Feltman traveled overnight about once a year on business.
Beginning in December 1993, Feltman worked primarily to establish Transistor as a subcontractor to Lockheed. Transistor would design hardware to be used in planes Lockheed hoped to produce for the Air Force. Lockheed had been awarded the engineering phase of the Air Force contract and hoped to win the production portion, which would amount to eighty-five million dollars or more for Lockheed. During the summer of 1994, Transistor won the first of six potential one-year option contracts with Lockheed. This first contract represented a net profit of two million dollars for Transistor, which stood to gain up to thirty million dollars if retained as a contractor throughout the project.
Feltman was responsible for Transistor's bid and for negotiations with Lockheed. According to petitioner, the project could be described as Feltman's "baby." During his last year, he worked weekends and overtime on this matter, or about fifty to sixty hours a week according to his co-worker Kathleen Thornton.
The parties dispute the extent to which a potential award of subsequent contracts hinged on the December 1994 meetings at Lockheed. Feltman traveled to Ontario, California as Transistor's principal representative, accompanied by Thornton. Lockheed needed to be assured that Transistor's components would meet Air Force specifications. Some changes needed to be made in Transistor's designs, and this conference included a technical review of such issues. Thornton maintained the trip was "routine," explaining that representatives from the Air Force, from Lockheed, and from the major subcontractors had to review the aircraft plans.
The agenda for Feltman's business trip covered scheduled meetings for December 13 and 14, 1994. Twelve of the twenty-two meetings were scheduled on the first day, the remaining ten for the second day. Each day's schedule provided for a fifteen minut
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