City of Yale v. Jones

1933 OK 572, 26 P.2d 427, 166 Okla. 111, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 364
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 31, 1933
Docket24921
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 1933 OK 572 (City of Yale v. Jones) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Yale v. Jones, 1933 OK 572, 26 P.2d 427, 166 Okla. 111, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 364 (Okla. 1933).

Opinion

CULLISON, Y. C. J.

This is an original proceeding before this court by the city of Yale, Okla., and its insurance carrier, the Aetna Life Insurance Company, petitioners, to review an award of the State Industrial Commission made July 10, 1933, to Claude Jones, claimant.

The record discloses that on September 1, 1927, claimant received an accidental personal injury while working as a tractor driver for the city of Yale, Okla., in a hazardous occupation covered by the Workmen’s Compensation Law. That the injury occurred when the steering wheel of the tractor broke, throwing claimant backward, and in falling the tractor was thrown into reverse gear and the gasoline lever pulled wide open, causing the machine to run backwards at full speed rolling claimant under and passing entirely over him. By reason thereof claimant sustained a brokbn collar bone, three broken ribs, and bruises to his body. Medical attention was furnished claimant by his employer immediately.

Thereafter, on November 26, 1927, claimant entered into a stipulation and receipt with his employer concerning the injury, in which the extent of disability was given as temporary total, and in which claimant ac *112 knowledged the receipt of á total of $180 as compensation paid therefor.

Said form 7 is marked “Approved, December 2, 1927, State Industrial Commission,” and “Closed.”

On March 17, 1933, claimant filed his motion to reopen the case on grounds of a change in conditions and award him compensation for the permanent partial disability which he now suffers as a result of the said injury. This motion is accompanied by a medical report of Dr. Geo. E. Elliott in which he says that claimant now has a permanent injury which he attributes to the original injury of September 1, 1927.

Pursuant to hearings had in this cause, the Commission entered its award of July 10, 1933, the pertinent parts of which are as follows:

“2. Arising out of and in the course of said employment, the claimant, on September 1, 1927, sustained an accidental personal injury by a tractor running over him and sustained general injuries to his head, arm and spine, as a result of which he was temporarily totally disabled from the date of said injury to November 30, 1927, and compensation has been paid therefor in the sum of $180, all of which is set forth in form 7 stipulation and receipt filed herein on November 30, 1927.
“3. That as a further result of said accident the claimant has suffered a permanent partial disability from his general bodily injuries so that his earning capacity has been permanently reduced from $4.60 per day to $2.60 per day, leaving a difference of $2 per day in wage-earning capacity and he is entitled to recover compensation therefor. * * *
“5. That from and after November 30, 1927, and as the result of said accident the claimant lost his former earning capacity to the extent of $2 per day of his average daily wages and there has not elapsed any period of time since November 30, 1927, when claimant was not or is not entitled to compensation for said difference in wage earning capacity.
“The Commission is therefore of the opinion: Upon a consideration of said facts, that the claimant is entitled to compensation in the sum of $2,328, the same being compensation from November 30, 1927; to July 5, 1933, or 291 weeks, and to continue the payment of further compensation at the rate of $8 per week until a total of not to exceed 300 weeks have been paid, or in all not to exceed $2,400, subject, however, to a reopening on a change of condition, and subject to the continuing jurisdiction of the Commission. * * *”

Petitioners herein choose to argue the -entire case on the following proposition:

“Under the law of the state of Oklahoma, the State Industrial Commission had authority and jurisdiction and the power to reopen the case upon a change of condition only; and that since there was no evidence of a change in condition, and no finding thereon, then the award entered by the State Industrial Commission was wrongfully and improperly entered and should be set aside.”

We observe that while petitioners criticize the weight to be given the medical testimony introduced in claimant’s behalf, they admit its sufficiency to sustain a finding of fact as to the existence of claimant’s permanent partial disability. In view of the record, we must hold the evidence sufficient to establish the existence of permanent partial disability.

A different question, however, is presented when the sufficiency of the evidence to establish a change of condition for the worse is considered. If the evidence was sufficient to establish the change of claimant’s condition, it would be unnecessary for us to consider the question of whether there had been an approval of stipulation and receipt on form 7. G. S. & C. Drilling Co. v. Pennington, 151 Okla. 61, 1 P. (2d) 764, 7 P. (2d) 474. However, a review of the evidence strongly supports the view that whatever disability the claimant now has he has at all times had since the purported approval of stipulation and receipt on form 7. In view of this condition of the record, and in view of the further fact that the claimant does not seek to sustain the award on the theory that the evidence is sufficient to establish a change of condition, this award, if sustained at all, must be justified on the theory that it was unnecessary to establish such change of condition.

When there has been a previous determination of the existence or nonexistence of permanent disábility, it is essential that a subsequent change of claimant’s condition for the worse be shown in order to warrant compensation or additional compensation. On the other hand, when the existence, nature, or extent of claimant’s permanent disability has not previously been determined by the Commission and the previous action concerned only temporary disability, it is unnecessary to establish such change of condition.

Where a stipulation and receipt on form 7 recites the character and extent of specific injury as being “None,” the unqualified approval thereof by the 'Commission amounts to a determination of the nonexistence of such disability, and in order to obtain compensation for a specific injury it is *113 incumbent on tbe claimant to establish a subsequent change of condition. Magnolia Petroleum Co. v. Nalley, 161 Okla. 198, 17 P. (2d) 390.

Where a stipulation and receipt on form 7 describing the disability as “temporary total” and the order of approval by the Commission is limited in the scope, reciting the “approval of payment for temporary total,” there has been no determination concerning the permanent disability, and it is unnecessary to establish a change of condition. Geis Price Grain Co. v. Bailey, 155 Okla. 302, 9 P. (2d) 424.

While the last case seems by the language used to attach controlling importance to the fact that compensation for temporary total disability only has been paid and approved, and examination of the case of Magnolia Petroleum Co. v. Nalley, supra, discloses that compensation for temporary total disability was all that was paid or approved, yet it was necessary to establish a change of condition.

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Bluebook (online)
1933 OK 572, 26 P.2d 427, 166 Okla. 111, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 364, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-yale-v-jones-okla-1933.