Illinois court rules stress warrants disability payments

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Darwin Baggett experienced plenty of stress as a high school shop teacher. After all, he was responsible for students working with dangerous equipment on the ambitious project of building a house.

Then he had to deal with the boys' sense of humor -- faking injuries and screaming in pain, for instance, or nailing one another's clothes to the wall.

It was too much. The 48-year-old teacher had a heart attack in March 1990 while standing in a hallway at Marion High School in Southern Illinois. Baggett suffered severe brain damage and died five years later.

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Friday that his heart attack was brought on by job-related stress and Baggett should have gotten full worker's compensation payments.

His lawyer said the decision could affect many future worker's comp claims.

"Whether you are a factory worker, whether you are a school teacher or an air traffic controller, the mental stresses of your job can result in physical injury," said attorney Robert H. Howerton.

The Illinois Chamber of Commerce agreed, saying the decision may result in businesses paying more money for worker's compensation insurance.

"When it comes to worker's compensation, the more causes of action that you have, the greater the risk," said Rob Carney, the organization's director of legislative relations.

Rigged bus, equipment

It is not clear yet whether Baggett's widow, now remarried, is entitled to any of the money he should have been paid.

Howerton said the biggest cause of Baggett's stress was the looming deadline for finishing the house, which was to be sold to a private buyer. The project was delayed by a number of problems, including horseplay by the students.

One popular joke was messing with the wiring of a bus, causing it to lurch and jerk as Baggett drove students back to the main campus. They also rigged equipment to make it look like it had fallen and trapped students.

"Some of the pranks -- like fixing it to where somebody looked like they might be in a cave-in -- were very stressful to him," Howerton said.

Still, Baggett's widow, Charolette Russell, said he loved his students and knew the pranks were not malicious.

"You know how young boys are," she said.