Patterson v. Travelers Insurance Co.

OPINION

BROCK, Justice.

The plaintiff brought this action seeking worker’s compensation benefits, asserting that he was permanently and totally disabled and that his disability arose out of and in the course of his employment as a bulldozer operator in strip mining operations of C.L. & C. Coal Company whose liability was insured by the defendant, The Travelers Insurance Company. Plaintiff claimed that in the course of his employment in strip mining for a period of about 30 years he breathed coal dust and silica which caused him to suffer from silicosis and coal miners’ pneumoconiosis. Plaintiff…