## Facts

- Patrick J. Egan worked as a taxicab driver.
- On March 3, 1949, while driving in the course of employment, Egan was signaled to stop by a police officer who was holding three men at gunpoint and requested Egan to go to a police station for help.
- The confrontation was tense; the officer was outnumbered, threatened to shoot when one man put his hand in his pocket, and Egan became frightened.
- During the episode, Egan reported not feeling right upon reaching the police station.
- In the following days, Egan developed difficulty swallowing and impaired speech.
- On March 6, 1949, Egan suffered blindness and became unable to speak; he was hospitalized and diagnosed with cerebral hemorrhage with pseudobulbar palsy.
- Medical testimony supported that the brain condition began at the time of the March 3 incident and that the incident precipitated or aggravated a hemorrhage leading to permanent speech loss.
- A single member of the Industrial Accident Board found Egan was not a volunteer in the police action, that the episode was an ordinary risk of the street within his cab-driving employment, and that his paralysis and speech loss were manifestations of a compensable injury.
- The reviewing board adopted the single member’s decision; the Superior Court entered a decree awarding compensation; the insurer appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether Egan’s harm from the police emergency was a personal injury arising out of and in the course of employment, including as an “ordinary risk of the street” under G.L. c. 152, § 26.
2. Whether sufficient evidence, including medical opinion, supported a causal connection between the March 3 episode and Egan’s cerebral hemorrhage and loss of speech.
3. Whether the board’s findings lacked evidential support or reflected an error of law warranting reversal on judicial review.

## Decision

- The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the Superior Court decree awarding workers’ compensation.
- The evidence warranted the finding that Egan suffered a compensable personal injury arising out of and in the course of employment as an ordinary risk of the street.
- The evidence, including medical testimony, warranted the finding that Egan’s brain condition and resulting loss of speech originated with and was causally connected to the March 3 episode.
- The board’s findings were sustained because they had evidential support and were not legally erroneous.

## Legal Principles

- For employees whose work places them on public streets, injuries arising from ordinary street risks while engaged in the employer’s business may be compensable under G.L. c. 152, § 26.
- A work-related emotionally traumatic event may support compensation for a resulting physical injury (including cerebral hemorrhage) when competent medical testimony and facts permit a finding of causal relation.
- Findings of the Industrial Accident Board are upheld on review when supported by evidence and free from error of law; courts do not reweigh evidence.

## Conclusion

A cab driver’s stress-induced cerebral hemorrhage and speech loss following a police-requested emergency response during street work was found to arise from an ordinary risk of the street in the course of employment, and the administrative finding of causation was upheld because it was supported by evidence and involved no error of law.


Egan's Case, 331 Mass. 11 (1954)