Gomez v. Industrial Commission

230 P.2d 686, 72 Ariz. 69, 1951 Ariz. LEXIS 189
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedMay 7, 1951
DocketNo. 5413
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 230 P.2d 686 (Gomez v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gomez v. Industrial Commission, 230 P.2d 686, 72 Ariz. 69, 1951 Ariz. LEXIS 189 (Ark. 1951).

Opinion

LOCKWOOD, Superior Court Judge.

The petitioner, Cresencia Gomez, has ap^ pealed by certiorari for a review of an [70]*70award of the Industrial Commission of Arizona, respondent insurance carrier, which denied petitioner compensation for an injury suffered while in the employ of John M. Jacobs, doing business as John Jacobs Farms.

Petitioner has made two' assignments of error, one directed to the Industrial Commission’s findings, and the other to its Award, the grounds for both being that they were not supported by and were contrary to the evidence. For this reason we must examine the evidence in the record, not for the purpose of determining its weight, but to ascertain whether there was substantial evidence upon which the Commission could lawfully base such findings and award.

From the record, the facts appear as follows: Gomez, a man sixty-five years of age, was employed by John Jacobs Farms as a sheep herder, working twenty-four hour's a day for seven days per week for nearly a year prior to March 14, 1950, with the exception of one day off, which time he spent Visiting his family. On March 14, 1950, and some time prior thereto, while in the course of his duties, he lived in a tent located in one corner of a field owned and cultivated 'by his employer, which field had been ploughed some time before that date. His living arrangements were simple, consisting of the tent and a camp fire in which a dutch oven was partially buried.

On the date above mentioned, toward evening, a friend named Alejo Serna came to visit Gomez, and found him in the tent, on a cot, his clothes smoking, and the cot on fire. Serna took Gomez outside the tent, extinguished the fire from his clothes and the cot, and then went to- get help. He brought a man back to the camp, and together they took Gomez to St. Monica’s hospital. During all this time Gomez did not converse to any extent with anyone, except to tell Serna when the latter first arrived that he “fell”. Upon arrival at the hospital it was discovered that he was suffering from severe burns on his legs, his right arm, his face, and his left arm, the last being so badly burned that the bone was charred, later necessitating its amputation between the shoulder and the elbow.

On Márch 18, 1950, Evan S. Stallcup, a claims investigator for the Industrial Commission, went to the' hospital to talk with Gomez, and on March 20th submitted a written report of his interview. In the report the investigator stated:

“He speaks little English. However, his nurse acted as interpreter, and I obtained his statement. No attempt was made to obtain a signed statement at this time, as both the claimant’s arms and hands are still badly burned.
“The claimant states that on the evening in question he had finished'his dinner and was sitting on his makeshift camp stool in front of his fire. Suddenly, he said; he felt an attack coming on. He fell off his stool and into the camp fire in front of him. At first he felt nothing and did not realize he [71]*71was on fire. (It is my knowledge that this is a common occurrence following a heart attack. Because of the paralyzing action of such an attack, no pain of any kind is felt for several moments following the attack.) He got up out of the fire, went into his tent and lay down on his cot. His friend, Serna, appeared to visit with him about this time and it was then, finally, that he realized his clothing was on fire. He and Serna put out the fire and Serna fixed the cot so that the claimant could lie down. Serna then went for help.
“The claimant says that he has suffered a similar attack once before, about a year ago, before he went to work for John Jacobs Farms. He was at home standing talking to a friend when he suddenly collapsed to the floor. At that time the doctor told him that it was his heart.” (Emphasis supplied).

A printed form, with blank spaces to be filled in, and designated as “Initial Report of Attending Physician” was filed with the Industrial Commission on March 16th. Therein, following the printed direction “State in patient’s own words where and how' accident or cause of disability occurred” is the statement “He fainted and fell into the campfire suffering burns.” This report was signed by Dr. D. A. Poison, the physician who attended Gomez after he went to the hospital.

On March 23d, 1950, the Industrial Commission made an award denying Gomez compensation, finding that he did not sus~ tain a personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment. The record does not show any statement or' claim for compensation signed by Gomez prior to this time, but thereafter upon timely protest and application for a rehearing, the Industrial Commission granted such rehearing which was held on June 1, 1950. Some eleven witnesses, including the petitioner, Gomez, appeared and testified.

Gomez, through an interpreter, testified that: On the day of the accident he was sitting on a box by the camp fire; he stood up and lifted the box, and as ha turned, he hit some “adobe” formed into a lump of dirt, which caused him to fall; that he struck his head against some iron bars which he had placed over the fire to put his cooking pots on, and didn’t know what happened after that; that he had never had any trouble with his heart, nor fainted nor fallen down in the preceding year or so; that he did not remember the investigator, Mr. Stallcup, or anyone coming in the hospital and talking with him through the nurse, Miss. Josephine Trujillo.

Miss Trujillo, appearing as a witness, stated she had attended Gomez as a student nurse at the hospital; that on March 18th she interpreted to Stallcup what Gomez said.; that Gomez did not say anything about having an “attack”, and did not say, and she did not interpret, that he had had a “similar attack” about a year before; that [72]*72Gomez said he had built a fire and was preparing his supper, and was walking toward the fire and fell over a clump of mud and fell and became unconscious.

The witness Dr. Poison testified that the statement in his report as attending physician, heretofore referred to, that Gomez “fainted and fell into the camp fire” was actually without factual knowledge on his part, but that the 'basis of such statement was information he had received from someone other than Gomez at the hospital —probably either the internes or nurse who first saw Gomez in the emergency room. He further testified that Gomez’ burns were of such severity that he believed they could not have been incurred unless Gomez had been in the fire for some time, and was unconscious. He said in his opinion a heart attack could not have caused such a period of unconsciousness; that he had examined Gomez and found him suffering from arteriosclerosis and hypertension, either of which might have caused a stroke, of which there was no evidence, or “periodic periods of complete unconsciousness due to lack of circulation in the brain.” He further stated that he did not look for nor see evidence of any bruise on Gomez’ head, but treated him for burns which went pretty high on his head. He said he could offer no good opinion as to whether or not the arteriosclerosis had anything to do- with the accident, although he stated several times that a “heart attack”, could not have rendered Gomez unconscious or paralyzed for long enough to become so badly burned.

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Bluebook (online)
230 P.2d 686, 72 Ariz. 69, 1951 Ariz. LEXIS 189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gomez-v-industrial-commission-ariz-1951.