Home Life & Accident Co. v. Cobb

220 S.W. 131, 1920 Tex. App. LEXIS 255
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 11, 1920
DocketNo. 565.
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 220 S.W. 131 (Home Life & Accident Co. v. Cobb) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Home Life & Accident Co. v. Cobb, 220 S.W. 131, 1920 Tex. App. LEXIS 255 (Tex. Ct. App. 1920).

Opinion

WALKER, J.

As said by appellant, in giving a statement of the nature and result of the suit:

“This is a suit under the Workmen’s Compensation Law of 1917 to set aside an award of the Industrial Accident Board. It is not a. case where a claim was made by an injured employé under that apt, but it is a case where a claim was made by a doctor to recover on an alleged agreement, either implied .or specific, to pay for services rendered an employé. The board found that Dr. Cobb was entitled to $150; an appeal was duly had from this to the justice court of precinct No. 1 of Jefferson county, Tex. Judgment here was in favor of the doctor, and the ease was appealed to the county court at law of that county with a like result.
“The case was tried in the county court at law before the court without a jury on, to wit, July 15, 1919, and judgment was entered for defendant against the plaintiff for $150, and affirming the award of the Industrial Accident Board. On request of the plaintiff, findings of fact and conclusions of law were filed by the trial court. * * *
“Home Life & Accident Company on June 6, 1917, carried a policy of insurance under the Workmen’s Compensation Law on an employer named John Jacobson. Mr. Jacobson was a subscriber as defined in that law. On that date one Jim Coleman was injured while working for Mr. Jacobson.”

Appellant has briefed four assignments of error, the first being as follows:

“The trial court erred, to the prejudice of this plaintiff, in rendering judgment against plaintiff -in favor of defendant, for that it is not shown that a physician was ever demanded by Jim Coleman of the plaintiff or of John Jacobson, his employer, or that either the insurance carrier or the employer ever had an opportunity to furnish a physician, but only that an undertaker called Dr. C. A. Cobb, and that Dr. Cobb performed the necessary services for a period of eight weeks.”

*132 The first proposition under tins assignment is:

“Under the Workmen’s Compensation Haw there is no liability on the part of the insurance carrier for medical services rendered an injured employé, unless the insurer is given reasonable notice of the injury before such medical aid is furnished, and since no such notice was given in this case, there is no liability on the part of appellant for Dr. Cobb’s bill.”

Prior to the enactment of 1917, under American Indemnity Co. v. Nelson, 201 S. W. 686, this proposition states a correct principle of law, but in 1917 the old law was amended. Workmen’s Compensation Daw of 1917, pt. 1, § 7, p. 272, e. 103 (General Daws of Texas of 1917 [Vernon’s Ann Civ. St. Supp. 1918, art. 5246 — 9]), now reads:

“If the association fails to so furnish same [medical aid, etc.] as and when needed during the time specified, after notice of the injury to the association or subscriber, the injured employé may provide said medical aid, hospital services and medicines at the cost and expense of the association. The employé shall not be entitled to recover any amount expended or incurred by him for said medical aid, hospital services or medicines nor shall any person who supplied the same be entitled to recover of the association therefor, unless the association or subscriber shall have had notice of the injury and shall have refused, failed or neglected to furnish it or them within a reasonable time.”

The court found:

“I find that on June 6, 1917, the defendant, C. A. Cobb, was called to administer surgical and medical treatment to said Jim Coleman; that the defendant was called to treat said Jim Coleman by the authority of the said John Jacobson. If I am mistaken in finding that the defendant was called by the authority of John Jacobson, I find that John Jacobson knew immediately after the injury that defendant, C. A. Cobb, had been called to administer medical and surgical treatment to the said Jim Coleman.”

The court also made the following finding:

“I find that John Jacobson notified the plaintiff of the injuries sustained by Jim Coleman shortly after the accident, and also notified the plaintiff at the same time that Dr. O. A. Cobb was treating the injuries of the said Jim Coleman, and that neither the plaintiff nor the said John Jacobson furnished any other doctor to treat the said Jim Coleman, and neither of them made any objections by reason of the fact that defendant was treating him.”

These findings have not been assailed by appellant. Under the Workmen’s Compensation Daw, amended in 1917 and on the facts as found by the trial court, we cannot sustain this proposition.

The second proposition under this assignment of error is:

“In the absence of a contract between the insurer and the physician, the Workmen’s Compensation Daw gives the physician no cause of action against the insurance carrier, but only gives the employé a cause of action against the insurer.”

Under the old law, this proposition was sound, but as we construe the amended law, a cause of action is given directly to the physician. The law reads as follows:

“The employé shall not be entitled to recover any amount expended or incurred by him for said medical aid, hospital services or medicines nor shall any person who supplied the same be entitled to recover of the association therefor, unless the association or subscriber shall have had notice of the injury and shall have refused, failed or neglected to furnish it or them within a reasonable time.”

The second assignment of error is that the court erred in rendering judgment in favor of the defendant against the plaintiff for $150, “for that it appeared from the undisputed testimony that he had served the said Jim Coleman for a period of eight weeks, and that his charge for that service was $150, and because the Workmen’s Compensation Daw only makes' the insurance company liable for the first two weeks’ medical bill.”

The first proposition under this assignment is:

“The Compensation Act making the insurance carrier liable only for two weeks’ medical bill, judgment should not have been- rendered for1 a bill which the undisputed testimony showed included the entire service covering a much longer period.”

Appellee correctly summarizes the testimony in his counter proposition under this assignment, as follows:

“The undisputed evidence in this case showed that the treatment given Jim Coleman by Dr. Cobb was of a surgical nature, and that the treatment given after the first two weeks was only of an incidental character, and that the value of his services during said two weeks’ period was $150. Therefore the court properly gave judgment for that amount.”

On this issue, the trial court found:

“Ninth.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
220 S.W. 131, 1920 Tex. App. LEXIS 255, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/home-life-accident-co-v-cobb-texapp-1920.