Dillingham v. Yeargin Construction Co.

MARTIN, Justice.

The sole issue presented for review is whether plaintiff-employee’s cardiac arrest occurred “by accident” within the meaning of the Workers’ Compensation Act. We hold that plaintiffs injury was accidental and accordingly reverse the Court of Appeals.

Plaintiff was employed by defendant construction company as an instrumentation fitter at the Brunswick Nuclear Power Plant. The job sometimes required plaintiff to enter the reactor building while it was in operation to repair control valves which were part of the reactor’s cooling system. On those occasions, plaintiff was required…