Burson v. Ohio Oil Co.

121 So. 256, 9 La. App. 448, 1928 La. App. LEXIS 325
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 8, 1928
DocketNo. 3392
StatusPublished

This text of 121 So. 256 (Burson v. Ohio Oil Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burson v. Ohio Oil Co., 121 So. 256, 9 La. App. 448, 1928 La. App. LEXIS 325 (La. Ct. App. 1928).

Opinion

ODOM, J.

The .plaintiff brings this suit under the 'Workmen’s Compensation Law, alleging that he was employed by the defendant company, at $4.75 per day, as a common laborer, to do work around an oil well rig, and that on January 31, 1926, while at work, he slipped and fell, and that as a result of the fall, he received injuries to his back which have rendered [449]*449him totally and permanently disabled to do work of a reasonable character, and he asks to be paid compensation for 400 weeks. The defendant, in answer, denied any liability whatever to the plaintiff and specifically alleged that, while the plaintiff was in its employ, he sustained no accident or injury which disabled him and that if plaintiff is now, or has at any time, suffered any physical injury by accident which has incapacitated him, such injury and disability arose from causes entirely foreign and disconnected with such employment.

The lower court awarded the plaintiff compensation at $20.00 per week for 300 weeks. From this judgment, the defendant has appealed and the plaintiff moved in this court to increase the period over which compensation is to be paid from 300 to 400 weeks..

OPINION

The plaintiff, as a witness in his own behalf, testified that while at work for the defendant company, he slipped and fell to the floor and that something hit him on the small of the hack, which caused him great pain and suffering and which resulted in permanent disability. He testified that he fell about 9:30 or 10 o’clock in the morning, but that he continued to work during that day; and that on the following morning he did not return to his ■ work because he was unable to do so. He testified that he was attended by Dr. Dennis, a physician employed by the defendant company, and that, after about five or six days, Dr. Dennis discharged him as cured and advised him to return to work, which he did. Plaintiff further testified that he was for a considerable period under the treatment of Dr. Worley, but he does not state the nature of the affliction for which Dr. Worley treated him, but we assume that he intended to convey the impression that he was treated for the injury which he claims to have received while at work on January 31st. Plaintiff further testified that after some five or six days, subsequent to the time he fell, he did return to work for the defendant company, and that he continued to work until about July 22nd, or a period of something like five and a half months, and that after he quit work for the defendant company, he sought and obtained work with the Standard Pipe Line Company and the Standard Oil Company, and that he did some work for a man by the name of Haynes at a blacksmith shop, and that, later on, he sought and obtained work from the defendant company, working the last time about three weeks on an oil well in the vicinity of Cotton Valley. He testified further, however, that during all of this time he did only light work, that he was not able to do heavy work, and that the parties who employed him let him do such light work as he was able to do. His wife testified that after his fall on January 31st, he constantly complained that his back gave him pain and that he was not, in fact, able to do ordinary manual labor. In the year 1927, plaintiff farmed, and introduced testimony to the effect that while he could do some work on the farm he was not able to work regularly.

The plaintiff called Dr. Guy A. Caldwell, an eminent specialist, as a witness in his behalf. Dr. Caldwell testified that he examined plaintiff on the day before the trial, which took place on December 20, 1927, almost two years after the alleged accident. Dr. Caldwell testified that he found the plaintiff suffering from a “chronic strain of the sacro-illiac joint,” which condition incapacitated plaintiff from doing any heavy, manual labor at the time he examined him. Dr. Caldwell further [450]*450testified that it was impossible for him to state when or under what circumstances the plaintiff had been injured, but stated that such injuries were ordinarily caused by lifting heavy weights from the floor or ground while in a stooping position, or if in an upright position, supporting a heavy weight, to have a mis-step or movement “which throws the strain on one side or the other with the weight of the body at the same time.” Dr. Caldwell was asked whether or not it is possible for a man to do light work after having sustained ’a saero-illiac strain, and he stated that it is possible; and he was then asked:

“Q. Also plausible to conclude that it would eventually incapacitate him?” and he answered:
“A. Tes, he can be eventually incapacitated with a chronic strain even after he has been doing work, light work.”

The Doctor was asked if, from his examination of plaintiff, he could form any conclusion as to how long his presen condition had lasted, and he stated:

“A. None whatever.”

The plaintiff testified that while he did work for the defendant company, and for other persons, until sometime about the month of November, yet he did not work regularly and did only light work,' and that he had constantly complained of his disability. But his testimony to the effect that he did not work regularly and that he did complain of the condition of his back is emphatically contradicted by at least six witnesses who either saw him at work or worked with him. The testimony conclusively shows that plaintiff returned to work for the defendant company not later than nine days of February, and that he worked regularly and continuously for that company until July 22nd, at the same rate of pay. The records show that he drew as wages from the defendant company $924.00, after the alleged accident, said amounts being paid to him as follows:

He was paid $139.50, representing 29 ■days’ labor, in February; $103.50, representing 22 days’ labor, in March; $139.50, representing 29 days’ labor, in April; $135.00, representing 28 days’ labor, in May; $139.00, representing 29 days’ labor, in June; and $100.50, representing 21 days’ labor, in July; and that on July 22nd, he was discharged by the defendant company because it had no further work for him at that time. The testimony further shows that in the month of October, he returned to work for the defendant company and worked three weeks, at the same rate of pay, assisting in the drilling of another well. It is further shown that in the month of August, after having been discharged by the defendant company, he worked for several days for the Standard Pipe Line Company, and, later on, did some work in a blacksmith shop; and one witness says that he saw him shoeing horses, but plaintiff denies that he did that ' kind of work. The testimony of other witnesses who, either saw the plaintiff at work or who worked with him, is that he did heavy, manual labor during the entire time from the early part of February until the month of November, such work as is ordinarily done by common laborers in oil fields; that he assisted in ditching, “pulling pipe,” laying and taking up pipe lines, clearing rights-of-way, etc., and further, that plaintiff did this work without making a complaint either to his employers or in the presence or hearing of any of those with whom he worked. The only complaint which any witness ever heard him make was to Mr. Chastain, who said that he heard the [451]*451plaintiff state on one occasion that he was troubled with hemorrhoids and was not able to do heavy lifting on that account.

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Bluebook (online)
121 So. 256, 9 La. App. 448, 1928 La. App. LEXIS 325, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burson-v-ohio-oil-co-lactapp-1928.