The Appeals Board announced last week that it will hear in-person oral arguments in Taylor v. Dale’s Recycling on Friday, June 13, at the Bureau’s Educational Conference in Murfreesboro.

In the case, Darrell Taylor was pulling a trailer of scrap metal for Dale’s on a highway on a hot summer day, when a local sheriff’s deputy pulled him over. The deputy said Taylor looked nervous. He returned to his cruiser. About ten minutes later, he found Mr. Taylor dead outside the trailer. The cause of death was “cardiorespiratory arrest related to chronic hypertension and diabetes.”

His wife filed a claim, and at trial the parties introduced testimony from two conflicting experts as to whether the heart attack resulted primarily from work. The trial court found that the combination of heat as an environmental factor and distress from the encounter with police were contributing factors. The Court accepted Taylor’s expert’s explanation and awarded benefits.

Both parties relied on Mitchell v. Bunge North America, the only post-Reform Act appellate opinion about heart attacks, in support of their positions. So undoubtedly the Board and lawyers will dissect its principles.

The docket is available here. Arguments begin promptly at 9:15 a.m. Central Time.

Big Soddy Creek Gulf. A beautiful Tennessee swimming hole. Welcome summer! Photo by Jane Salem, Staff attorney, Nashville.