Albert
Albert v. Southern Pacific Transportation Co.
Opinion
Opinion
Woods, J.
Bertrand E. Albert (Albert) appeals judgment entered against him in his action against Southern Pacific Transportation Company (SP or respondent) after the court granted respondent’s motion for summary judgment. (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, subd. (c).)
While working for SP on March 28, 1991, Albert, then 55 years old, suffered a heart attack. He had never experienced any symptoms or been told by any physician that there was anything wrong with his heart. Until the attack, Albert felt “[vjery normal.” As a result, no one at SP had any knowledge of his heart condition.
Albert had been a carman for SP since 1973, working in the Cornfield Yard, where SP repairs and maintains its cars. On March 28, 1991, during the 6 a.m. safety meeting, Albert and his partner, Charlie Moten, were assigned to replace couplers and perform other repairs on a car that his supervisor wanted repaired before the SP switch engine picked up the cars between 10:30 a.m. and noon.
March 28 was a “clear, sunny” day. There was nothing out of the ordinary about Albert’s physical condition. Before stopping for lunch at 10:30 a.m., Albert had replaced one coupler and changed the brake shoes on one end of the…