Eagle-Picher Lead Co. v. Black

1933 OK 320, 22 P.2d 907, 164 Okla. 67, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 760
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 16, 1933
Docket24117
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 1933 OK 320 (Eagle-Picher Lead Co. v. Black) 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
Eagle-Picher Lead Co. v. Black, 1933 OK 320, 22 P.2d 907, 164 Okla. 67, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 760 (Okla. 1933).

Opinion

BAYLESS, J.

Alston Black, hereinafter called the claimant, sustained an accidental injury in the course of a hazardous employment while employed by Eagle-Picher Lead Company, hereinafter called employer, on May 12, 1928. As a result of this accidental injury, claimant lost a few days *68 from work, receiver! medical attention, was paid compensation, and returned to work May 28, 1928.

April 28, 1982, claimant filed a motion to reopen the case to determine the extent of disability on the ground of change of condition.. The matter was heard, and an award made for additional compensation upon the finding of a change of condition. The employer, carrying its own risk, appealed.

The second contention of the employer, that the Commission was without authority to reopen the matter after it had been closed for one year, when no separate claim for compensation had been filed by the injured employee, must be overruled upon the authority of Steffens Ice Cream Co. v. Jarvis, 132 Okla. 300, 270 P. 1103, and numerous other cases, establishing and upholding the continuing jurisdiction of the Commission. Argument as to the unfairness to the employer, and prejudice resulting to it from claims filed after great lapses of time, are matters of legislative cognizance, and we cannot weigh the discretion of the Legislature in that respect.

The first contention is that there is no competent evidence to support the finding of a change of condition. The evidence in this ease shows: That claimant is a man of slight physical build, who was operated upon for appendicitis while serving in the army, who was discharged with a disability resulting therefrom, and who is receiving disability pay from the United States government; that about 1923, he was operated upon and a gall bladder removed; that he suffered from abdominal adhesions, resulting from these operations, which occasionally so pained him it was necessary to administer morphine and give purgatives; that he had worked off and on for this employer for several years up to the time of the injury;, that the accident occurred as he was wheeling a wheelbarrow, when he stepped into a hole and fell upon a pile of bricks, injuring his back. He was given medical attention and released as fit for work. The claimant testified that he was not able to work when he returned to work after the accident, and that he had not been able to work and had not worked, except driving a huckster wagon; for about a month and a half since. He further testified that his back hurt him continuously, and that, his condition has gradually grown worse. Dr. Simpson testified that he examined claimant in 1932. some time prior to and again about the date of the hearing; that he knew noth ing of the injury or the claimant’s condition in 192S, or at any time before his examinations ; that claimant was at present either totally and permanently disabled, or permanently partially disabled to the extent of 75 per cent.; that claimant was at present suffering from pyelitis and nephritis; that these diseases were attributable to the original injury for two reasons: (1) That they could result from a trauma, superimposed upon an infection; and (2) claimant’s statements to him that there was blood in his urine within a few hours after the injury and thereafter for about five days.

Dr. Boswell testified that he had known and treated claimant for years, described his physical condition as hereinbefore outlined, examined claimant the day of the injury, found no objective evidence of the fall or blow to the side; that claimant was now suffering from pyelitis and nephritis; that they could be caused by a trauma connected with an infection; that claimant’s pyelitis and nephritis were worse now than they had been, and he felt claimant was as able to work now as he had ever been. Dr. Boswell's testimony is clear that he had not considered claimant an able-bodied man for years. No witness testified to an infection to the kidney to be affected by a trauma, nor did anyone testify at this hearing that claimant had blood in his urine at or after the time of the injury. Dr. Boswell testified that he saw .no evidence of it when treating claimant at the time of the injury.

We have said in Williams Bros. v. State Ind. Com., 158 Okla. 171, 12 P. (2d) 896:

“1. On a motion to reopen on the ground of a change of condition, the burden is on the claimant to prove, first, the change of condition, and. second, that the change of condition was the result of an original com-pensable injury.
“2. When, in an action for personal injury, the injury complained of is of such a character as to require skilled and professional men to determine the cause and extent thereof, the question is one of science, and must neeessairly be proven by the testimony of skilled professional persons.”

If (lie burden is upon the claimant to show a change of condition, and a change of condition in this instance means that his condition has changed for the worse since May 31. 1928, due to the original injury, we say that the claimant has failed to sustain this burden, for he says himself that he was unable to work then or now, even though his condition has gradually grown worse, but he does not say that it is the *69 result of tlie injury. It was proper to question Dr. Simpson about bis examination of the witness in 1932, and it was proper for the doctor to give his opinion, based upon the history of the case as given him by the claimant and his examination, but statements made by the claimant to the doctor in 1932, concerning his injury in 1928, cannot be considered as res gestae. We laid down the proper evidentiary value of such statements in St. L. & S. F. Ry. Co. v. McFall, 63 Okla. 124, 163 P. 269, C., R. I. & P. Ry. Co. v. Jackson, 63 Okla. 32, 162 P. 823, and in Ft. Smith & W. Ry. Co. v. Hutchinson, 71 Okla. 139, 175 P. 922, when we held:

''A physician in giving evidence as an expert may testify to a statement made him by the patient in relation to his condition, symptoms, sensations, and feelings, both past and present, when such statements were received and were necessary to an examination, with a view to his treatment and when made- the basis, in part at least, of the physician’s opinion; but such testimony cannot be considered as independent evidence of the facts stated, except in eases where the same is competent as forming a part of the res gestae.”

The only medical testimony appearing in the record supporting claimant’s contention with reference to his present physical condition is the testimony of Dr. Simpson. Dr. Simpson’s conclusion is stated on page 31 of the record, as follows:

“Q. What is your conclusion, Doctor? A. This man is suffering from a severe injury to the back by reason of the injury to the soft parts and probably to the bony. tissue, which has caused a rigidity of the spine from the 11th dorsal throughout the lumbar region. The pyelitis and nephritis from which he now suffers was caused by the injury for the reason that blood showed up in the urine a few hours after the accidental injury and continued to show up for four or five hours after the injury, and that the same injury caused all the damage to the spine and soft parts herein described. This man, in my opinion, is totally and permanently disabled from performing ordinary manual labor.’’

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Special Indemnity Fund v. Moore
1961 OK 159 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1961)
Corbus Spring Service v. Cresswell
1961 OK 18 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1961)
Oklahoma Steel Castings Co. v. Wilson
1960 OK 11 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1960)
Bartlett-Collins Company v. Armstrong
1959 OK 205 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1959)
Baker v. Harris
1956 OK 252 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1956)
Lone Star Steel Co. v. State Industrial Commission
1954 OK 162 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1954)
Tillery & Jones v. Sigler
1953 OK 375 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1953)
Choctaw County v. Bateman
1952 OK 387 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1952)
Manhattan Const. Co. v. Beasley
1948 OK 225 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1948)
Nu-Way Laundry & Cleaners v. State Industrial Commission
1944 OK 178 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1944)
White v. Shell Oil Co.
1943 OK 419 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1943)
Manhattan Long Construction Co. v. Breedlove
1943 OK 254 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1943)
Shell Petroleum Corp. v. Voss
1942 OK 56 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1942)
New Amsterdam Casualty Co. v. Cardillo
108 F.2d 492 (D.C. Circuit, 1939)
Park-Ward Const. Co. v. Newlin
1939 OK 476 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1939)
Western Good Roads Service Co. v. Coombes
1939 OK 463 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1939)
Oklahoma Power & Water Co. v. State Industrial Commission
1939 OK 454 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1939)
National Tank Co. v. Gold
1939 OK 431 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1939)
Apple v. Kelley
1939 OK 3838 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1939)
Farris-Cantrell, Inc. v. State Industrial Commission
1938 OK 382 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1938)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1933 OK 320, 22 P.2d 907, 164 Okla. 67, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 760, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eagle-picher-lead-co-v-black-okla-1933.