Grosch v. Dixie Oil Co.

127 So. 92, 13 La. App. 44, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 531
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 24, 1930
DocketNo. 3584
StatusPublished

This text of 127 So. 92 (Grosch v. Dixie 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
Grosch v. Dixie Oil Co., 127 So. 92, 13 La. App. 44, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 531 (La. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

ODOM, J.

The district judge before whom this case was tried submitted a written opinion in which he has stated the issues, his findings of fact, and his conclusions. That opinion in full is as follows:

"Plaintiff sues for compensation at the rate of $20.00 per week-for four hundred (400) weeks for a total disability alleged to have resulted from an accident which occurred at about eight o’clock on the morning of May 5th, 1928. The plaintiff testified that he was foreman or gang pusher of a gang of men in the employ of the Dixie Oil Company, defendant, on said date, and at the time of the alleged accident, he and six other men were attempting to move a ten-inch pipe about twenty feet long. That there were 'four men carrying the pipe 'at the front end and two men and himself carrying same at the rear end of said pipe. That the pipe was being carried on carrying irons or sticks, one man at the end of each stick used, with the exception of himself, and that he was assisting in the carrying of the pipe by inserting a stick in the rear end of same. That one of the men on the front end stumbled or slipped and dropped the load, and simultaneously therewith, the other man, in order to avoid injury, dropped the load, and that it fell upon him, dislocating and severely injuring his spine. That immediately thereafter he reported the matter to one Gore, his superior. That said Gore requested him to continue work as they were short of men. That he stayed on the job until about 12:30, at which time he went home and sent for a doctor.
“He was corroborated in his testimony by two witnesses, Adel Ivans and Paul Good-son, both of whom were assisting in carrying the load on the front end. Ivans testified that when he looked back, after having dropped the pipe that the plaintiff was bending over "mightily”, and complained of having hurt his back, and that the plaintiff called Mr. Gore and told him that he had hurt his back but that he did not know how bad but he would like to go home, but that the plaintiff did not go home but hung around until about noon.
“Paul Goodson, who was also assisting in carrying the front end of the load, testified to practically the same state of facts.
“Undoubtedly, the plaintiff has received’ an injury to his back, the objective symptom of which is obvious, both to sight and touch. It consisted in the slipping forward otf the fourth lumbar vertebra for at least a half inch on the fifth lumbar vertebra, and has an o’utward appearance of a slight indentation in the region of the fourth lumbar' vertebra and a pronounced protuberance of the fifth lumbar vertebra.
“The experts who. testified in the case are all of the opinion that the displacement resulted from traumatism, and that when ,said traumatism occurred, plaintiff [46]*46suffered immediately an intense and acute pain in the region of his back.
“It therefore appears that on the day alleged an incident occurred which may have caused the injury complained of. That the injury complained of did result from said incident, is testified to by the plaintiff and his said testimony is corroborated by the objective evidence of the injury and the negative evidence of himself and other witnesses to the effect that he had no injury to the back prior to the date of the incident.
“We are of the opinion, however, that the plaintiff’s testimony, and the testimony of the witnesses who appeared for him, is rendered highly improbable by the conduct of the plaintiff immediately following the accident. The normal reaction of a person receiving so severe an injury with so marked an objective symptom thereof could not be in keeping with that of plaintiff. A person acting normally under such circumstances, and in keeping with the ordinary course of human conduct, would be expected to immediately guit work, report the accident to those in authority, reguest that he be taken home and that something be done to alleviate the pain and intense suffering which he would be expected to have in the region of the injury. Following this, it would be expected that such person, under such circumstances, would immediately demand compensation from the defendant, his employer.
“But, as shown by a fair preponderance of the testimony in the case, what actually occurred was this: that the plaintiff continued on the job from the time of the alleged accident without particular complaint of pain in the region of the back until noon, at which time he reguested that he be allowed to go home, stating at the time that he was not feeling very well. He did not report to his superiors that an accident had occurred. He was taken home where he sent for his physician, Dr. Collins. Dr. Collins found, upon his arrival, that the plaintiff was suffering with pleurisy with effusion, and that he had fever of 103-104 degrees. The plaintiff made no mention, so far as Dr. Collins could recall, of an accident or an injury to his back.
“On May 14th, 1928, the plaintiff was taken by Dr. Collins to the Highland Sanitarium for an X-ray examination, and there it was found by Dr. Rutledge that the plaintiff was suffering with pleurisy with effusion. Plaintiff on that occasion made no mention of an injury to his back and no X-ray picture was made at that time of that particular region.
“The plaintiff continued to be ill for a period of approximately four months, and although during that time he received no compensation from the defendant, he made neither demand nor eomplaint.
“Dr. Adair, expert radiologist, made an examination of plaintiff in November, 1928, and found a good deal of destruction of the fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae with excessive destruction and ankylosis between those two vertebrae and the sacrum, with tilting of the vertebrae above that toward the left. He expressed the opinion that nature’s repair had gone on in the region of the injury for a period of years; that the bony tissue was of such density in the region of the repair that it would take at least a year or two to build up so strong a fusion.
“Dr. Barrow, who made an X-ray examination of plaintiff, testified that in the region of the injury the lines of contact were so heavy and dense that they did not indicate a recent injury, and that while it was possible that the injury occurred as late as May 5th, 1928, he was inclined to think that it occurred before that time.
“None of the physicians or radiologists expressed the opinion that the injury eomplained of was contemporaneous with the alleged accident.
“Seven witnesses placed on the stand by the defendant testified that the plaintiff had told them of an injury to his back prior to May 5th, 1928, the date of the alleged accident. Four of them testified that they felt, at the reguest of plaintiff, the objective symptom of an injury or dislocation of the spine upon his back prior to the date of the alleged injury on May 5th, 1928.
“We must, therefore, conclude that in view of the remarkable conduct of the plaintiff, which is not at all in keeping with the ordinary conduct of human beings under like circumstances, considered with the evidence that his disability existed pri- or to the alleged accident, that the plaintiff was not injured on May 5th, 1928.
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Bluebook (online)
127 So. 92, 13 La. App. 44, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 531, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grosch-v-dixie-oil-co-lactapp-1930.