Bates v. THE MERCHANTS CO.

161 So. 2d 652, 249 Miss. 174, 1964 Miss. LEXIS 384
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 16, 1964
Docket42727
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 161 So. 2d 652 (Bates v. THE MERCHANTS CO.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bates v. THE MERCHANTS CO., 161 So. 2d 652, 249 Miss. 174, 1964 Miss. LEXIS 384 (Mich. 1964).

Opinion

*178 Kyle, P. J.

This case is before us on appeal by Gerald Ellis Bates, claimant, from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Forrest County, affirming an order of the Mississippi Workmen’s Compensation Commission which affirmed the findings of fact, opinion and order of the Attorney Referee denying the claim of the appellant for additional compensation benefits under the Mississippi Workmen’s Compensation Act for injuries sustained by him on June 25, 1959, while engaged in the performance of his duties as an employee of The Merchants Company of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

The record shows that the claimant is a white man who had an eighth-grade education and began work for The Merchants Company on May 19, 1959. Prior to *179 going to' work for The Merchants Company the claimant had worked for L. O. Crosby at Poplarville, where his duties were to drive a tractor. The claimant was not required to submit to a pre-employment physical examination by The Merchants Company. There was no dis-puts about the fact that the claimant sustained an accidental injury arising out of and in the course of his employment by The Merchants Company on June 25, 1959, for which he was entitled to and was paid compensation for temporary total disability.

It was stipulated that the claimant’s average weekly wage at the time of his injury on June 25, 1959, was $45 per week; and that the claimant has been paid compensation for 19 weeks and one day for temporary total disability amounting to $574.28, and that the employer and the insurance carrier had paid hospital expenses in the amount of $902.88, and medical expenses amounting to $784.23, all aggregating $2,261.39.

The claimant filed his application for additional compensation benefits, Form B-ll, on March 21, 1960. The issue presented for determination by the Attorney Beferee and the Commission was whether or not the claimant was still disabled at the time of the filing of his application, and if so, whether or not such disability was causally related to the injury complained of. Hearings before the Attorney Beferee were begun on August 24, 1960, and were concluded on May 1, 1961. Twenty-four witnesses testified during the hearing] The Attorney Beferee took the case under advisement and rendered his opinion on May 16, 1961. It was the opinion of the Attorney Beferee that Bates’ claim for additional compensation benefits should he denied, and an order was entered denying the claim. The opinion and order of the Attorney Beferee were affirmed by the Commission on October 11, 1961. From the findings and order of the Commission, the claimant appealed to the circuit *180 court, and that court affirmed the decision and order of the Commission.

Only one question is presented for our decision on this appeal, and that is whether or not the circuit court on review erred in affirming the findings and order of the Commission.

It is earnestly contended on behalf of the appellant that the Attorney Referee and the Commission erred in accepting as true the testimony of the medical experts who examined and treated the appellant during the five-months period immediately following his injury, to the effect that the appellant had recovered from the disabling effects of the accident which occurred on June 25, 1959, and that the appellant’s inability to work at the time of the hearing was attributable solely to a psychoneurotic condition not related to the work connected injury and other causes which existed prior to and independent of the above mentioned work-connected injury. It is therefore necessary that we summarize briefly the testimony upon which the findings and order of the Attorney Referee and the Commission were based.

The claimant testified that at the time of his injury, on June 25, 1959, he was carrying a fifty-pound box of pan trout, and was in the act of loading the same on a truck for delivery to customers when he slipped and fell on the loading platform and the side of his head hit the door of the truck and his leg hit the truck body going between the truck body and the loading platform. He stated that he was addled” as a result of his fall, and two of three fellow-employees picked him up and sat him on the loading platform; that he had pain in the leg and the lower back and was nauseated and vomited, and he had a big knot on the back of his head; that he was taken to the Methodist Hospital in Hattiesburg, where he was seen by Dr. H. Grady Cook, the company doctor, who examined and treated him for his injuries. He was also examined and treated by Dr. Clay *181 ton Cook. He was later examined by Dr. Emmett M. Herring and Dr. Francis Conn, and lie was examined and treated by Dr. Richard W. Naef, a neurologist, at the University Hospital in Jackson. The claimant testified that, when Dr. Cook, who had treated him for a period of several weeks, dismissed him, he went to see Dr. Lloyd Z. Broadus in Purvis, and he had been going there ever since because he was sick and his back was hurting Mm. He also went to see Dr. Blaise Salatich, in New Orleans. Dr. Salatich prescribed a back brace and a cervical collar, which he was still wearing at the time of the hearing. They helped to ease his pain. He stated that he was still under the care of a physician at the date of the hearing, and was not able to do any work that he tried to do. He stated that he had never had any type of injury prior to going to work for The Merchants Company on May 19, 1959. The claimant testified that at the time of the hearing he still had pain in the back of his head, and he had headaches and vomiting spells; that his shoulders and arms became numb at times, and his leg still bothered him.

On cross-examination the claimant stated that he wore glasses prior to the accident, that he had worn glasses since he was in the third grade at school. He admitted that his eyesight was defective before his injury, and that he had to have others read some of the orders given him while he was working’ for The Merchants Company. He admitted that before his injury of June 25, he had vomiting spells, but attributed that illness to having eaten vienna sausage.

The claimant’s mother testified that prior to the accident the claimant had never had any difficulty in obtaining employment because of his physical or mental disability; that since the accident he had complained of his head hurting’ him, that he had been very nervous and had suffered from nausea. An uncle of the claimant testified that he had known the claimant all his life; that *182 prior to Ms injury the claimant’s physical condition and Ms willingness to work were good; that since his injury there had been a marked change in the claimant’s physical condition, and the claimant had performed no work since June 1959. Arvid Johnson, a neighbor of the claimant, testified that the claimant had done some work for Mm four or five years prior to the hearing, and the claimant had performed the work satisfactorily; that he had visited the claimant in his home since June 1959, and most of the time he had been in bed when he visited him.

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Bluebook (online)
161 So. 2d 652, 249 Miss. 174, 1964 Miss. LEXIS 384, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bates-v-the-merchants-co-miss-1964.