## Facts

- The decedent was employed by Armory Maintenance and was stationed in a guard shack on the employer’s premises during work hours.
- A co-employee ridiculed the decedent about wanting to move his home closer to work, leading to an argument.
- During the argument, the decedent advanced toward the co-employee; the co-employee pushed him back multiple times.
- On the final push, the decedent fell backward onto a swivel chair with casters; the chair overturned, and a caster detached.
- The decedent then fell into a tubular aluminum chair with wooden armrests.
- Medical and autopsy evidence showed fractures of four left ribs and internal hemorrhages described as resulting from severe chest trauma.
- The decedent suffered a heart attack and died; medical testimony linked the heart attack to the trauma from the fall.
- The Workers’ Compensation Board awarded death benefits to the widow and dependents, finding a compensable workplace accident and a causal relationship to the death.

## Issues

1. Whether injuries and death stemming from a workplace altercation between co-employees arose out of and in the course of employment under New York workers’ compensation law.
2. Whether substantial evidence supported the Board’s finding that the work-related trauma caused or precipitated the fatal heart attack.

## Decision

- The Appellate Division affirmed the Workers’ Compensation Board’s award of death benefits.
- The court upheld the finding that the incident arose out of and in the course of employment.
- The court held there was substantial evidence, including medical and autopsy proof, supporting causation between the chest trauma and the fatal heart attack.
- The court deferred to the Board’s resolution of factual and medical-causation questions where supported by substantial evidence.

## Legal Principles

- A workers’ compensation award requires an accident arising out of and in the course of employment.
- Injuries resulting from co-employee altercations at the workplace may be compensable where the dispute is connected to the work setting and not solely personal in origin.
- The Workers’ Compensation Board’s factual determinations, including medical causation, are upheld on appeal if supported by substantial evidence, even if contrary proof exists.

## Conclusion

The court sustained death benefits because the altercation and resulting fall occurred at the job site during assigned work and the medical record provided substantial evidence that chest trauma from the incident precipitated the decedent’s fatal heart attack.


Fragale v. Armory Maintenance, 24 A.D.2d 302, 265 N.Y.S.2d 793 (N.Y. App. Div. 3d Dep’t 1966)