Jones v. Industrial Commission

61 P.2d 10, 90 Utah 121, 1936 Utah LEXIS 8
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 8, 1936
DocketNo. 5670.
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 61 P.2d 10 (Jones v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jones v. Industrial Commission, 61 P.2d 10, 90 Utah 121, 1936 Utah LEXIS 8 (Utah 1936).

Opinions

ELIAS HANSEN, Chief Justice.

Plaintiff herein applied for, but was denied, compensation by the Industrial Commission of Utah. He brings the cause here for review. In his application for compensation filed with the commission, plaintiff alleged that on June 4, 1932, while in the course of his employment as city judge of Brigham City, Utah, he, in an automobile accident, sustained an injury to his “left limb, ankle and toes, and arteries and veins and nerves and disability followed with loss of the bodily function.” At the time of the alleged injury the State Insurance Fund was the insurance carrier of the defendant Brigham City. Payment of compensation was' resisted on behalf of the State Insurance Fund. After three hearings were had on the application, the commission made and entered the following findings and order:

“On June 4, 1932, and for several years prior thereto and thereafter, B. H. Jones, the applicant, was in the employ of Brigham City, a municipal corporation of the State of Utah, as City Judge. Brigham City’s Workmen’s Compensation Insurance was being carried in the State Insurance Fund. Applicant was receiving a salary of $200.00 per month.
“Applicant alleged that on June 4, 1932, he sustained accidental injury arising out of or in the course of his employment while jacking up one wheel of his automobile to repair a punctured tire, and that as a result of said accident his left leg, ankle and toes, and arteries, veins and nerves were injured, and disability followed with loss of bodily function. He gave his age as 65 years.
“Applicant was treated by Dr. W. It. Merrill of Brigham City, Dr. Dumke and Dr. George Fister of Ogden, Utah, Dr. Baldwin of Salt Lake City, and by doctors at the Mayo Clinic at Rochester, Minnesota, and several other doctors also saw him between the day of the alleged accident and the hearings of the case. He was hospitalized at the Cooley Hospital in Brigham City, and Dee Hospital in Ogden and the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. During said period he performed his duties as City Judge of Brigham City at times when he was not confined, and he was paid his full salary during all of said period. *124 On or about May 24, 1934, his right leg was amputated at the Dee Hospital by Dr. Dumke, at the juncture of the lower third with the upper two thirds. The pathological examination of this leg showed aneurism of the right popliteal artery with thrombosis. About July 1, 1934, at the same hospital, the achilles tendon in applicant’s left leg was lengthened by a tenotomy performed by Dr. Baldwin.
“The Commission finds that applicant’s disability was not caused nor contributed to by an accident arising out of or in the course of his employment.
“In view of the foregoing facts the Commission concludes that compensation should be denied.
“Wherefore, it is ordered, that compensation be and the same is hereby denied.”

Plaintiff attacks the order denying him compensation upon various grounds, the principal one being that the evidence offered and received before the commission was such as to entitle him as a matter of law to an award. At the commencement of the hearing before the Industrial Commission it was admitted that at the time of the alleged injury plaintiff was in the employ of Brigham City as the city judge thereof and that the city carried insurance with the State Insurance Fund. It was not admitted that the injury complained of was sustained by plaintiff as the result of an injury received while in the course of his employment with the city.

Plaintiff, in substance, testified that as city judge he was frequently required to hold court not only in Brigham City but throughout Box Elder county; that in order to attend to his official business it was necessary for him to, and that he did, own and operate an automobile; that on the afternoon of June 4, 1982, he began to set the civil and criminal calendar for his court; that before completing the work of setting the calendar he found it necessary to go to the post office to get his mail because he expected some communications with respect to the placing of certain cases upon the calendar; that his automobile was parked near the courthouse and he concluded to use it to go to the post office for his mail and that while on his way to the post office *125 for that purpose he discovered the tire on the left rear wheel of his automobile was flat; that in order to change tires he jacked up the wheel and that, when it was raised about as high as it could be, the jack broke and the automobile fell back down, injuring his foot, ankle, and calf of his left leg; that his right leg also was slightly injured. The evidence of plaintiff as to how, and the place where, he received his injury, is without corroboration. That he did receive an injury to his left foot and leg on the day in question is conclusively established by the evidence. The evidence also shows without any substantial conflict that prior to the time he was injured plaintiff was in good health and was not suffering from any physical disability. After the alleged accident, plaintiff was taken to his home and put to bed. Drs. W. R. Merrill and Jay M. Schaffer attended him at his home. In an affidavit attached to plaintiff’s petition for a rehearing Dr. Schaffer thus described his injury:

“That after his accident on June 4, 1932, I examined him and to the best of my recollection he was suffering from severe contusion of his left foot — ankle and leg — and that a diagnosis of fracture of bones of foot was made with dislocation of bones of foot — that there Was loss of motion in the toe adjacent to the great toe — later the bones of this toe slought out— His condition in spite of treatment became progressive worse with following marked impairment of the circulation of this member, later this impairment spread to the opposite side with complete occlusion of the circulation with resultant gangrene necessitating amputation of this member.”

Dr. Merrill testified that, when he treated plaintiff immediately after the accident, “his leg was markedly swollen and there was evidence along the leg he had had some kind of injury,” that Mr. Jones made no complaint of injury to his right leg, and that he (Dr. Merrill) did not observe any injury thereto.

*126 *125 Plaintiff remained at his home a few days and was then removed to the hospital. From the time he received the injury complained of and until after his right leg was ampu *126 tated on about May 4, 1934, and the Achilles tendon on his left leg was lengthened by an operation performed on or about July 1, 1934, plaintiff received almost constant medical treatment and hospitalization. Under our industrial or Workmen’s Compensation Act, an employee who is injured by an accident arising out of or in the course of his employment is entitled to compensation for medical attention and hospitalization occasioned by an injury so sustained. R. S. Utah 1933, § 42-1-75.

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Bluebook (online)
61 P.2d 10, 90 Utah 121, 1936 Utah LEXIS 8, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-industrial-commission-utah-1936.