International Playing Card & Label Co. v. Broyles

381 S.W.2d 888, 214 Tenn. 530, 18 McCanless 530, 1964 Tenn. LEXIS 504
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 15, 1964
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 381 S.W.2d 888 (International Playing Card & Label Co. v. Broyles) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
International Playing Card & Label Co. v. Broyles, 381 S.W.2d 888, 214 Tenn. 530, 18 McCanless 530, 1964 Tenn. LEXIS 504 (Tenn. 1964).

Opinions

Me. Justice Holmes

delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is a "Workmen’s Compensation case in which the Trial Court awarded compensation for total permanent disability. The employer and its insurance carrier filed a motion for new trial which was overruled and have perfected their appeal and assigned errors. Parties will be referred to hereinafter according to their status in the Trial Court.

The petition for compensation, insofar as material to the issues raised on this appeal, alleges that for a number of years prior to February 12, 1963 the petitioner’s employment by defendant required the ‘ ‘ constant and continuing receiving and picking up by her with her right hand of printed labels from what is known as a corner machine and from a conveyor belt, the transfer of such labels to her left hand, and the placing of such labels into a banding machine. This work -required constant and continuing movements of petitioner’s hands and arms thousands of times a day, placing constant strain and [532]*532stress on petitioner’s shoulders, arms, and hands, fingers, and thumbs.”

It is further alleged that in the latter part of 1962 petitioner noted that she was having considerable difficulty with her hands, “that her fingers were stiffening, that, while working, her right thumb was flying out of place, and that pain was developing in her right thumb and the fingers of her right hand and that pain was developing in her left shoulder.”

It is further charged that ‘ ‘ The constant and continued movements necessary for the receipt of labels from the corner machine and conveyor belt and the transfer of same to the banding machine caused and then worsened, added to, and aggravated the pain in her right hand and left shoulder, and the intense pain, stiffness of the fingers, and flying out of joint of the right thumb culminated on February 12,1963 in petitioner becoming unable to proceed with her duties. ’ ’

The petition then charges that petitioner sustained accidental injuries to her right hand and thumb, and fingers thereof and to her left shoulder, resulting in lessened facility of these various parts of her anatomy, making it necessary for her to cease work on February 12, 1963 and that, by reason of the combined injuries, she is totally and permanently disabled. It is alleged that such total permanent disability resulted from any injury or injuries suffered by her in the course of her employment and that “her employer had actual knowledge of petitioner’s injuries and resulting condition” and that she is entitled to recover under the Workmen’s Compensation Act.

[533]*533The answer of the defendant denies that petitioner sustained any accidental injury arising out of and in the course of her employment by the defendant, denies that any of the disabilities claimed by petitioner were brought about by an accident occurring in the course of her employment. The answer further- avers “The defendant would further show that the petitioner did not give any notice of ány accident or injury within the meaning of the statute.”

The defendant further denies that it had actual knowledge of petitioner’s injuries and condition and denies that she has sustained any compensable injury.

The' record shows that in December 1962 petitioner went to see a doctor because of her condition. The doctor described her condition at that time as follows:

‘ ‘ The primary underlying condition was a hypotrophic type of arthritis with some acute inflammation, especially of the right hand' and thumb, and left knee * * * I believe that was the worse (sic) one, and also bursitis * * * I’d better check to be sure * * * it was a right sub deltoid arthritis, right shoulder. Those were the chief complaints, although there were complaints of pain and arthritis of the hip joint.”

This doctor further testified that in December 1962 he diagnosed petitioner’s difficulty as “chronic hyper-trophic arthritis with acute flare up”. She was again seen on January 9, 1963 by her doctor, who testified at that time she was still having some bursitis but that her chief complaint was her hand, especially her finger joints and thumb. This doctor further testified that in his opinion petitioner’s arthritic condition was aggravated by [534]*534tlie constant use of petitioner ’s hands and arms required by her work.

On the issue of notice raised by the pleadings of the parties, the petitioner testified that about the middle of December 1962:

“I told Mr. Tieke there one day, I showed him my thumb, how it was swollen, how it was flying out of place, and then I told Mr. Geiger that it looked like the pain was getting so severe that I was giving him 2 weeks notice, hut I didn’t know definitely when I would quit because I * * * I said I wanted to work as long as I could.”

She testified that Mr. Geiger was the President of the defendant company and Mr. Tieke was a high official of that company.

At another point in her testimony, petitioner described the notice she gave the defendant company as follows:

“I told Mr. Geiger that I was having so much pain that I was giving the 2 weeks notice that I was quitting because I didn’t want to just walk out, and I said, I want to stay if I can, but I said I want to give you a notice in case it gets so bad I can’t stay any longer ’ ’.

On each occasion that petitioner was asked questions relating to notice to her employer of her injury, she testified that she advised the officials of the defendant company of her condition and of the fact that she was going to have to quit work at some indefinite time in the future because of her condition. She testified that because of the pain she was suffering she was forced to stop working on February 12, 1963.

[535]*535The assignments of error and brief filed on behalf of the defendant contains nine assignments of error. The petitioner has moved to strike defendant’s assignments of error and brief because they are too general to be considered and do not comply with the requirements of Rule 15 of this Court.

An examination of defendant’s assignments of error and brief shows that it substantially complies with the requirements of Rules 14 and 15 of this Court. Therefore, the motion to strike the assignments of error and brief is overruled.

The second and seventh assignments of error relate to the question of whether or not the notice required by T.C.A. secs. 50-1001 and 50-1002 was given the defendant.

Assignment of Error Number Two states:

“The proof failed to show that the plaintiff gave notice to the defendants of injury or accident.”

Assignment of Error Number Seven states:

“The proof, as introduced, does not comply with the statutes of Tennessee with reference to Workmen’s Compensation awards either with reference to accident and the definition of accident or with reference to notice and the definition of notice.”

In the recent case of Aluminum Co. of America v. Rogers, 211 Tenn. 187, 364 S.W.2d 358, this Court had occasion to consider the requirements of the sections of the Workmen’s Compensation Act relating to the necessity for notice to the employer of the accident and injury. In that case, at 193 of 211 Tenn., 364 S.W.2d p.

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Bluebook (online)
381 S.W.2d 888, 214 Tenn. 530, 18 McCanless 530, 1964 Tenn. LEXIS 504, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/international-playing-card-label-co-v-broyles-tenn-1964.