Bates v. Bituminous Casualty Corp.

CULPEPPER, Judge.

Plaintiff seeks workmen’s compensation benefits for total and permanent disability resulting from an occupational disease. He was employed as a fireman by the City of Natchitoches and alternated 24 hours on duty and 24 hours off. Plaintiff suffered a heart attack while he was off duty, attending to his personal cattle business. He does not seek to recover under the accidental injury provisions of the statute. Instead, he relies on Act 337 of 1968, which makes heart disease an occupational disease of firemen, under certain conditions. From an adverse judgment on the merits,…