Jarvis v. Fidelity & Casualty Co. of New York

182 So. 2d 747, 1966 La. App. LEXIS 5490
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 24, 1966
DocketNo. 6552
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 182 So. 2d 747 (Jarvis v. Fidelity & Casualty Co. of New York) 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
Jarvis v. Fidelity & Casualty Co. of New York, 182 So. 2d 747, 1966 La. App. LEXIS 5490 (La. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

REID, Judge.

Plaintiff, Clyde E. Jarvis, brought this suit for permanent and total disability under the Workmen’s Compensation Act as a result of an alleged injury which he claims happened on or about August 10, 1963 while working as a cement finisher at St. Francis-ville, Louisiana, in the joint employ of Wright Contracting Company and Wey-mouth Construction Company, and that his employment was hazardous. His average weekly earnings were such that 65% thereof would exceed $35.00 per week.

The injury alleged to have been received by plaintiff was that he was caused to work most of the day walking in deep water, and the water had become permeated with chemical components of the cement as a result of which the toes on his left foot became infected.

He seeks judgment in the amount of $35.00 per week for a period not to exceed 400 weeks; for medical expenses to the limits provided by defendant’s policy, although he alleges that so far his medical expenses total $1473.00 and asks for penalties of 12% and reasonable attorneys fees, and costs.

Defendant filed an answer denying the allegation of any injury, but admitted that [748]*748it paid some of the medical expenses and that it had paid plaintiff $35.00 per week during a period of 27 weeks, beginning on August 11, 1963 and ending on February-15, 1964. The remaining allegations were denied although it did admit discontinuing the payment of the weekly compensation benefits.

The case was tried and the Judge of the Lower- Court with written reasons handed down rendered judgment in favor of the defendant, rejecting plaintiff’s demands and dismissing the suit at plaintiff’s costs.

From this judgment plaintiff herein has appealed devolutively.

The facts show that the plaintiff was employed as a mat finisher in the process of making concrete revetment mats used by the U. S. Engineers in the Mississippi River. His job as a cement finisher consisted of smoothing out rough places and then connecting wires after the concrete had been poured into the mat forms. The mats were constructed in an open field situated along the river where the land was low. There is no question but what in the case of rain the water would sometimes make puddles and the contractors would have the laborers, including plaintiff, cover the poured mats with tarpaulins and that the laborers would be required to finish all mats that had been poured in the mat field before quitting for the day.

Plaintiff testified that on or about August 10, 1963, he thinks on a Thursday, which would be August 8th, there was a hard rain flooding the area where he was working and after spreading the tarpaulin he continued to work finishing the mats for some four hours before he quit for the day, and that he had to walk in water which he claims sometimes was from one foot to eighteen inches deep. He claims further that there was a solution of chloride poured into the cement to make it set quicker, and that the rain washed some of this chloride into the water on the ground.

He claimed that late in the evening when he knocked off work around six or six thirty and went home, he took off his shoes and socks and found that his feet were red and hurting. He testified that there were no burns or cuts or bruises of any kind to show any trauma on the toes. The toes on both feet were red but the toe that gave him the most trouble was the middle toe on his left foot. There was no work the next day but he returned to work on Saturday, but his feet continued to bother him and he spent most of the forenoon sitting in the back of a pickup truck. He did not report for work on Monday but went to see Dr. Charles Catchings, a doctor in Woodville, Mississippi, near where he lived. Dr. Catchings on his examination of the plaintiff on August 12, 1963 found the toe ulcerated on the third distal or the very tip of the toe. He treated the toe with boric acid, washing it in boric acid, and giving him shots of antibiotics.

The toe did not improve and on August 26, 1963 plaintiff reported the incidence to his employer who referred him to Dr. A. R. Gould, a physician in St. Francisville. Dr. Gould treated him, but did not get any satisfactory results and on September 31, 1963 he referred him to Dr. R. J. Field Jr., in Centerville, Mississippi who performed two operations on his toe, finally amputating it. Still the wound did not heal. Dr. Field’s diagnosis was that circulatory insufficiency in Jarvis’ left leg was the reason for this. He referred plaintiff to the Veterans Administration Hospital in New Orleans and the doctor there, Dr. Salem F. Sayegh, found that Jarvis was suffering from a block in the common iliac artery. They performed an endarterectomy on or about October 23, 1963. This operation was considered successful and the wound healed. However, on July 15, 1964 another minor operation was performed to improve the remaining vascular difficulties. Since that time plaintiff has not returned to any work and claims that he suffers pain or “charley horses” in the left calf after walking a distance of approximately three blocks.

[749]*749There is no question but what plaintiff had an arterial insufficiency or a compromised blood supply to his left leg, which predated the alleged injury on August 8th. There are two questions to be determined herein, first, whether this was a case of primary gangrene, namely an infection caused by decayed tissue due to insufficient blood supply or whether it was an infection arising independently of the insufficient blood supply causing aggravation thereof to precipitate the above course of events, which would be denominated secondary gangrene.

If it was found to be secondary gangrene, then was infection caused by plaintiff’s employment, and if so, does said infection fall within the purview of Louisiana Workmen’s Compensation Law ?

Dr. A. R. Gould testified that there were three factors involved in infection to plaintiff’s foot. Number one, impairment to the circulation of the foot even though pulses were felt in the foot. One doctor testified that he felt pulses in there when he first examined him, but Dr. Catchings failed to find any pulse. He testified that there was an impairment to the circulation of the blood prior to the time of the injury but he could not determine the degree of that impairment.

The second contributing factor would be the amount of hygiene that would be directed toward the foot in terms of the frequency of the cleansing of the foot, the materials used to clean the foot, the cleanliness of the covering of the foot, that is, the shoe and sock that went on it, and the matter of foreign matter that was allowed to be present on the skin of the foot, or near the skin, would be another contributing factor.

The third factor would be water, and that means water and not water in which chemicals have been injected.

Dr. Gould further testified that he thought the percentage of these contributing factors was about equal, or one-third each. He felt like that the gangrene was secondary gangrene but did not rule out the possibility of primary gangrene.

It was testified by two of the doctors that the loss of a toe, unless it was the big toe, would not impair the use of the foot and would not interfere with a man going about his ordinary labor.

The defendant put on the Stand Mr. Jeff Collins who is chief engineer of the U. S. Department of Engineers. He testified that according to his records the rains did not start until 4:30 that afternoon.

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Related

Hollars v. EMES Management Corp.
490 So. 2d 482 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1986)
Jarvis v. Fidelity & Casualty Co.
184 So. 2d 734 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1966)

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Bluebook (online)
182 So. 2d 747, 1966 La. App. LEXIS 5490, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jarvis-v-fidelity-casualty-co-of-new-york-lactapp-1966.