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Bason v. Kraft Food Service9/19/2000
Appeal by plaintiff from opinion and award filed 2 July 1999 by the North Carolina Industrial Commission. Heard in the Court of Appeals 15 August 2000.
Yvonne Bason (Plaintiff), widow of Douglas Bason, deceased, appeals an opinion and award of the Full Commission of the North Carolina Industrial Commission (Full Commission) filed on 2 July 1999, in favor of Kraft Food Services, Inc. (Defendant).
The evidence shows that in February of 1994, Douglas Bason (Decedent) was working as a delivery driver for Defendant, where he had been employed for approximately twenty-two years. As part of his employment duties, Decedent delivered items such as frozen foods and dry goods to various companies. At a delivery location, Decedent would use a hand truck to unload delivery orders from his delivery truck. Although Decedent had an assigned route, he also worked as a substitute driver for other routes when the drivers of the other routes were either ill or on vacation. On days that Decedent was "on call" as a substitute driver, he would receive a telephone call from a supervisor if he was needed to drive another driver's route.
At approximately 6:50 a.m. on the morning of 22 February 1994, Decedent received a telephone call at home from one of his supervisors. The supervisor notified Decedent he was needed as a substitute driver for the High Point/Thomasville route. Decedent therefore reported to work, and at approximately 7:30 a.m. he began driving the High Point/Thomasville route. Brad Thomas (Thomas), a supervisor at Defendant, testified the regularly scheduled "time out" for this route was 4:30 a.m.; however, a substitute driver would not be expected to make deliveries according to the regular schedule because it would be difficult after starting the route behind schedule to get back on schedule. Thomas stated the High Point/Thomasville route did not have more stops than other routes and the deliveries did not weigh more than deliveries on other routes. Decedent had never complained to Thomas about the High Point/Thomasville route being more difficult than other routes.
Thomas testified that on the evening of 22 February 1994, he was notified by an employee of Defendant that Decedent had not returned to Defendant's depot with the delivery truck. Thomas, therefore, notified Decedent's wife and local law enforcement agencies that Decedent was missing. The following day, Decedent's body was found in his delivery truck, which was parked behind a building where Decedent had been scheduled to make a delivery.
Deborah L. Radisch, M.D. (Dr. Radisch), testified in her deposition that she was present at Decedent's autopsy and was familiar with the autopsy report. Dr. Radish testified the autopsy revealed Decedent suffered from "coronary atherosclerotic disease of a severe nature." This condition, which develops over time, is "commonly referred to as hardening of the arteries." The autopsy also stated Decedent suffered from "atherosclerotic disease of cerebral blood vessels." Cerebral blood vessels "are the blood vessels that actually take blood to and from the brain," and this condition also relates to "hardening of the arteries." The autopsy revealed Decedent's cause of death to be a cardiac arrhythmia caused by "ischemic heart disease," which means the heart is "not getting enough oxygenated blood." Dr. Radisch stated that nothing in the autopsy would indicate Decedent's death was caused by overexertion, and "people who are not exerting themselves could suddenly die of an arrhythmia as well as people who are exerting themselves." The autopsy also revealed no signs of trauma.
In an opinion and award filed on 30 September 1997, the deputy commissioner of the N
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