Donaldson v. Calvert McBride Printing Co.

232 S.W.2d 651, 217 Ark. 625, 1950 Ark. LEXIS 474
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJuly 3, 1950
Docket4-9244
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 232 S.W.2d 651 (Donaldson v. Calvert McBride Printing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Donaldson v. Calvert McBride Printing Co., 232 S.W.2d 651, 217 Ark. 625, 1950 Ark. LEXIS 474 (Ark. 1950).

Opinion

Holt, J.

This appeal is from a judgment of the Sebastian Circuit Court affirming the action of the Workmen’s Compensation Commission, which denied appellant’s claim for an alleged compensable injury.

The facts were undisputed: “It was stipulated that the claimant received an accidental injury arising out of and in the course of his employment as a result of said injury the claimant was off work from March 10, 1947, to March 17, 1947, at which timé he returned to work for this respondent employer. The claimant was paid no compensation during this period for the reason that he was not off work long enough to entitle him to compensation under the provisions of the Act, but medical expense in the amount of $25 was paid by the respondents; that the employer filed his Form A-8, being the Employer’s First Notice of Injury, with the Commission on March 13, 1947.

‘ ‘ The case was first set for hearing before Commissioner Caperton on June 22, 1949, at which time the respondents specifically pleaded the Statute of Limitations in bar of any claim for compensation. The claimant being without counsel, the Commissioner continued the case until he could secure the services of an attorney.

“The claimant testified that on Friday, March 7. 1947, he struck his coccyx, or lower end of his spine, on a part of the press where he was working; that although it hurt pretty badly he continued to work until Saturday noon, which was the end of the regular work week, and that he also worked the following Monday, but on Tuesday, lie went to Dr. Hugh Johnson, who in turn sent him to Dr. Brooksher for an X-ray; that Dr. Johnson sent him home, where he remained about one week, and then returned to his regular work as a pressman; that at that time he was being paid $52.20 per week, and that after returning to work in March, 1947, he worked most of the time for the next two years; that he first knew that he had fractured his coccyx two or three weeks after March 7, 1947; that from March, 1947, to December 31, 1948, he was off from work on ten or twelve different occasions, a week or so at a time, because his back was hurting him; that he was paid straight timé by his employer for any time he lost from .work from March, 1947, to October, 1948; that in October, 1948, he went to the Veterans’ Administration Hospital, at Fayetteville; and about that time Dr. Johnson told him he could not do any heavy lifting, which he had to do in his job as a pressman; that he talked to his employer in October, 1948, and they gave him a job as outside salesman at $48 per week. At this time it appears that the claimant’s wages, which were $52.20 per week at the time of his injury, had been increased to where he was earning $63.60 per week. However, he took the position as an outside salesman at $48 per week, and since that time his salary as such has been raised to $56.40 per week; that on March 21, 1949, he was operated on at the Veterans’ Administration Hospital, in Fayetteville, and three joints of his coccyx were removed; that his condition is worse since his operation and the end of his spine pains him constantly; that there was no doubt in his mind about his injury as he was informed by Dr. Hugh Johnson that he had a fracture of his coccyx, and he had had trouble all along for a period of two years or so; that the reason he did not file a claim for compensation was that he did not know there was any time limitation for the filing of a claim; that he had had some trouble with his kidneys and he thought that they might have something to do with his condition also. It appears that the first claim for compensation filed by this claimant was a letter to the Commission dated May 23, 1949, which was received by the Commission on May 24,1949, in which the claimant set out the injury of March 7, 1947, and his operation on March 21, 1949.”

The Commission denied’ appellant’s claim on the ground that it was barred since it was not “filed within one year after the time of the injury” as provided by § 18 (a) of the Workmen’s Compensation Law of 1939, § 81-1318, Ark. Stats. 1947.

The Commission held that “the time of injury” was March 7, 1947, and since appellant did not file his claim until in May, 1949, he was too late.

As indicated, the Circuit Court, on appeal, affirmed.

Was the claim barred? The question presented appears not to have been determined by this court.

Section 18 (a) of the Workmen’s Compensation Law, in effect March 7, 1947, provided: “The right of compensation for disability under this act shall be barred unless a claim therefor is filed within one (1) year after the time of the injury.”

Appellant earnestly contends that “no injury within the meaning of the Law and no disability occurred until October, 1948, and that the first time appellant suffered a loss in earnings because of his injury is the time of his ‘injury’ within the meaning of the Law then in effect,” and that an “injury” did not occur until it became a compensable injury in October, 1948.

Appellees insist that under the plain terms of the act, appellant was barred because he failed to file his claim within one year limitation “after the time of the injury” and that this requirement was mandatory and jurisdictional.

Our rule is well settled that we must give a liberal construction to the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Law, to effectuate its humane purposes, and resolve any doubt in favor of the claimant. To this end, we should not, in administering the act, defeat its purpose by over emphasis on technicalities, by putting form above substance. The act itself provides that in a proceeding to enforce a claim “there shall be a prima facie presumption * * * that the claim comes within the provisions of this act.” Batesville White Lime Company v. Bell, 212 Ark. 23, 205 S. W, 2d 31.

Tlie general rule, applicable liere, is stated in 71 C. Jp. 966, § 734, as follows: “Unless otherwise provided by the statute, tlie date of the injury and the date of tlie accident for tlie purpose of bringing suit are not necessarily the same. By injury is meant the state of facts which first entitles claimant to compensation, so that if the injury does not develop until after the accident, the cause of action arises when the injury develops or becomes apparent and not at the time of the accident, the latter having been held to be the rule in regard to latent injuries even where the statute requires the proceedings to be instituted within a specified time after the accident,” and the text writer in 58 Am. Jur., p. 846, § 409, announces the rule:

“The rule in most jurisdictions is that the period within which a proceeding for the recovery of compensation may be instituted, or within which an application or claim may be filed, commences to run when the injury accrues, or when the disabling consequences of the accident or injury become apparent or discoverable, rather than at or from the time of the happening of the accident from which the injury results.; but in some jurisdictions the period of limitations is computed from the time of the occurrence of the accident.”

Appellant filed claim for compensation May 24,1949, within less than a year from October, 1948, setting out the injury of March 7, 1947, and the operation of March 21, 1949.

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Bluebook (online)
232 S.W.2d 651, 217 Ark. 625, 1950 Ark. LEXIS 474, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/donaldson-v-calvert-mcbride-printing-co-ark-1950.