American Snuff Co. v. Helms

301 S.W.2d 348, 201 Tenn. 622, 5 McCanless 622, 1957 Tenn. LEXIS 342
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedApril 1, 1957
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 301 S.W.2d 348 (American Snuff Co. v. Helms) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Snuff Co. v. Helms, 301 S.W.2d 348, 201 Tenn. 622, 5 McCanless 622, 1957 Tenn. LEXIS 342 (Tenn. 1957).

Opinion

Me. Justice Bubostett

delivered' the opinion of the Court.

Helms, an employee, filed his original bill in the Chancery Court of Shelby County to obtain a new trial from a judgment and decree of the Probate Court adjudging compensation to him and dismissing his petition because full compensation had been paid to him under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, Section 50-901 et seq., T.C.A. The employer and insurance' carrier demurred to this bill. The demurrer was overruled and a discré-[624]*624tionary appeal allowed to this Court. Briefs have been filed, arguments heard and we now have the matter for disposition.

The bill seeks to obtain a new trial of canse of action which had been tried in the Probate Court of Shelby County wherein the court found that petitioner had sustained a permanent partial disability to his left leg of 65% and was entitled to no other compensation because all weekly payments on the basis of this 65% had been paid.

The bill alleged that the accident occurred on October 28, 1950, and he injured his left knee, sustained the total loss of the use of his leg and became totally disabled; that compensation was paid hint for 46 and % weeks for temporary total disability and for 113.75 weeks from September 20, 1951, to November 22, 1953, for permanent partial disability of 65% for loss of use of the leg, together with hospital and medical expenses.

The bill further alleged that on November 20, 1953, he filed a petition in the Probate Court of Shelby County claiming to be entitled to additional compensation; that after a full hearing on March 15, 1954, the petition was dismissed, the court finding as a fact that the injury sustained was a 65% permanent partial disability of the leg and that the compensation had been paid.

He further alleged in this bill that on December 5, 1955, he was taken to a hospital and had an operation .on his leg and at this time, that is, December 5, 1955, the diagnosis was that he had a fibro sarcoma at the knee with moderate malignancy; he.further alleged that he has an increase in incapacity, that is, disability has been continuous and that he has been continuously and totally [625]*625disabled; that the physicians were not negligent and he was not negligent and that they were not guilty of any omission or fault and that his disability was not discovered until the infection finally warranted the operation on December 5, 1955. '

He alleged that the judgment of the Probate Court was unjust and unequitable and unconscionable and that he had not been guilty of negligence. He says that there is no fraud or anything of that kind but that he just did not discover his total disability until December 5, 1955, and that within a year from the discovery of this disability the present suit was brought to set aside the judgment of the Probate Court. He then asked that the Chancery Court either hear proof and determine that he was totally and permanently disabled or that the Chancery Court transfer the matter to one of the Circuit Courts for this purpose. , :

The employer and insurance carrier demurred on numerous grounds. After a full study'of the matter we have concluded that the fourth ground of the demurrer should have been sustained.' This ground is that under the allegations of the bill and in view of Section 50-1025, T.C.A., there is no ground to open the matter or to grant a new trial and to modify the decree entered by the Probate Court, which decreé is sought to here be vacated and opened up by the present suit.

Section 50-1025, T.C.A., in Subsection (b) thereof provides:

“(b) If the parties cannot agree, then at any time after .six (6) months from the date of the award an application may be made to the courts by either party,, on the ground of increase or decrease of incapacity [626]*626due solely to the injury. In such cases the same procedure shall be followed as in sec. 50-1018 in case of disputed claim for compensation.”

It must be remembered that the gravamen of the present bill is that the judgment of the Probate Court should be set aside and the cause opened up because since a'final hearing in that cause and since the award of compensation made there has been fully and finally paid the employee has discovered that he has an additional disability which grew out of the injury that he had in 1950 and for which the award in the Probate Court was made as hereinabove indicated.

In other words the position of the employee is that under the authority of Griffitts v. Humphrey, 199 Tenn. 528, 288 S.W.2d 1, the employee may bring a suit within one year from the date of the discovery of the injury rather than from the date of the accident. Other cases cited in this case are likewise relied on herein. In the G-riffitts case, we were construing the terms of the Act as to when the one year statute of limitations started to run. We held that under Section 50-1003, and Section 50-1017, T.C.A., or the then Williams ’ Code of secs. 6874, 6884, that the one year, began to run from the time of the compensability or loss rather than from the time of the accident. We were interested in determining what the word “injury” meant and we found of course that it was from the time of disability rather than from the time of the accident. It is on this reasoning and argument that the employee Aere seeks to set aside this prior award to be heard now •on. the proposition that he did not .discover his present •compensable injury until long after the other award had been, settled and was final.

[627]*627What we had under consideration in the Griffitts case, supra, was entirely different from what we now have.' The Legislature in enacting the Workmen’s Compensation Law saw fit to enact the Section here under consideration, that is, 50-1025, T.C.A., and particularly Subsection (b) thereof hereinabove'quoted. Clearly a literal' interpretation of this Section is "that if disability is greater than that as found by the court occurs' under the terms of the statute happens afterwards then the matter may be reopened and this additional compensation allowed. The converse of that statement last- made is true. This has been the interpretation placed on this Section since its enactment. This is the only section which permits a redetermination of the.amount adjudicated. Fidelity & Casualty Co. of New York v. Long, 181 Tenn. 190, 180 S.W.2d 889.

This Court has likewise repeatedly held that a final judgment in a compensation case is final as in any other case unless the petitioner is seeking to reopen the case and bring himself within the terms of this section. Hay v. Woolsey, 175 Tenn. 475, 135 S.W.2d 933, and others.

In Phillips v. Memphis Furniture Mfg. Co., 168 Tenn. 481, 79 S.W.2d. 576, this Court held that where a decree approving a compensation settlement for an injured eye stated on' the face of the decree that if disability increased that a claim for additional compensation could be filed and then when a claim was filed 8 years after the original decree the Court would award additional compensation.

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Bluebook (online)
301 S.W.2d 348, 201 Tenn. 622, 5 McCanless 622, 1957 Tenn. LEXIS 342, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-snuff-co-v-helms-tenn-1957.