Laffin v. Bendix Aviation Corporation

66 N.E.2d 625, 117 Ind. App. 80, 1946 Ind. App. LEXIS 163
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 24, 1946
DocketNo. 17,482.
StatusPublished

This text of 66 N.E.2d 625 (Laffin v. Bendix Aviation Corporation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Laffin v. Bendix Aviation Corporation, 66 N.E.2d 625, 117 Ind. App. 80, 1946 Ind. App. LEXIS 163 (Ind. Ct. App. 1946).

Opinions

Hamilton, J.

On November 18, 1941, the appellant was in the employment of the appellee at an average weekly wage in excess of $30. Appellant was employed as an assembler on pneudraulic landing struts, and on said date he sustained a personal injury to his right eye by reason of an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, which injury was caused by a piece of emery striking the right eyeball, thereby resulting in a traumatic cataract. The injury and resulting cataract produced and caused a gradual loss of vision in the right eye until on October 5, 1945, the cataract had reached its maximum degree of density and appellant had no vision in said right eye, except light perception.

Appellant filed his application Form 9 for adjustment of compensation under the Indiana Workmen’s Compensation Act, § 40-1202 et seq., Burns’ 1940 Replacement, on April 28, 1945. To this application appellee filed a special answer, alleging that appellant’s claim was barred by § 40-1224, Burns’ 1940 Replacement, § 16,400, Baldwin’s 1934, because the application had not been filed within two years after the date of the accident, to wit: November 18, 1941.

The cause was heard by a single member of the Industrial Board who rendered an award denying compensation. Appellant filed his petition for review of the award by the Full Industrial Board. On January 15, 1946, the Full Industrial Board made an award in which it found that on November 18, 1941, appellant sustained a personal injury by reason of an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment with appellee, of which accidental injury appellee had knowledge and *82 did furnish some medical attention. The Board further found that appellant did not suffer any temporary total disability as SL result of said injury; that following the accidental injury there was a gradual loss of vision of appellant’s right eye; that on May 19, 1942, the appellant had 20/400 or 3.3% vision in his right eye; that in March, 1945, appellant had no vision, except light perception, in the right eye; that the loss of vision in the right eye was directly traceable to the accidental injury sustained on November 18, 1941; that appellant’s right to compensation because of said injury accrued on May 19, 1942. Upon such findings of facts the Full Industrial Board made an award that appellant take nothing by his Form 9 application, filed April 28, 1945.

The errors assigned are that: (1) The award of the Full Industrial Board is contrary to law; and (2) the award is contrary to the evidence.

This assignment of error requires that we examine the record to ascertain whether there is any substantial evidence in the record to sustain the findings of the Full Industrial Board that appellant’s cause of action for compensation because of the accidental injury to his right eye accrued on May 19, 1942:

Appellant’s application alleged a permanent loss of sight in the right eye and was based upon the provisions of Clause (f) of § 31 of the Indiana Workmen’s Compensation Act, § 40-1303 (f), Burns' 1940 Replacement, § 16,407, Baldwin’s 1934, which reads as follows:

“For injuries in the following schedule the employee shall receive in lieu of all other compensation, on account of said injuries, a weekly compensation of fifty-five [55] per cent of his average weekly wages for the period stated for said injuries respectively to wit: ... i
“ (f) For the permanent loss of the sight of an eye or its reduction to one-tenth of normal vision *83 with glasses, one hundred and fifty [150] weeks. . . (Our italics.)

The evidence is without conflict and consists of the testimony of the appellant and one Dr. V. E. Harmon, an eye specialist who had examined appellant’s eyes upon five different occasions.

Dr. Harmon testified that he examined the appellant on August 29, 1939, and found that he had normal vision in both eyes — 20/15, each eye; that the second examination occurred on August 24, 1940, and the same results were found. The third examination was on May 19, 1942. At that time the appellant had vision of 20/400 in the right eye and 20/15 in the left. He had a cataract in the right eye. Dr. Harmon made a note that the cataract had developed during the past year. Dr. Harmon stated that, in his opinion, the cataract in the right eye of appellant was caused by trauma. The fourth examination was made on May 6, 1943, and approximately the same findings were made on that date as those of May 19,-1942. On May 6, 1943, the cataract was not quite as dense as it was at the last and final examination. In 1943 the appellant could read big letters and in 1942 he could read an outline at 20 feet distance, which he could not do on the' date of the last examination, viz.: October 5, 1945. The last and final examination was made October 5, 1945. On that date the cataract was very dense, and the appellant had no vision in his right eye, except light perception. The cataract had reached its maximum degree of density and a stage of permanency. The witness testified that the cataract was as dense on October 5, 1945, as it would ever be and that there was no chance of improvement of vision in the right eye without surgery; that glasses would not improve the vision in the right eye as it existed on October 5, 1945. Dr. Harmon testified further *84 that the permanent condition in appellant’s right eye as he found it on October 5, 1945, had come about sometime between the date of the examination on May 6, 1943, and October 5, 1945; that this change had been a gradual one; that prior to the cataract’s having reached its maximum degree of density the vision of the patient would appear to vary from day to day. That as of October 5, 1945, the appellant had only light perception vision in his right eye, and it was a blind eye as far as seeing anything is concerned.

On cross-examination Dr. Harmon testified as follows:

“Q. This was an industrial blind eye in May 1942, wasn’t it?

“A. Yes; in 1942 he had twenty four hundredths vision.

“Q. And that is industrially blind, is it not?

“A. I wouldn’t know whether that is considered industrially blind or not. Of course Laffin has a 3.3% vision.

“Q. He had 3.3% ?

“A. I don’t know what your law calls an industrial blind eye.”

The appellant testified that he had noticed an apparent change in the vision of his right eye during the period between May, 1943, and October 5, 1945; that at times he could read large letters close, such as headlines in a newspaper or large advertisement signs; that in December, 1944, he could see bright colors with his right eye; that as of October 5, 1945, he could only distinguish light out of his right eye.

The record does not disclose whether any of the tests made by Dr. Harmon, as heretofore stated, were made with or without glasses. Therefore, we assume that all *85 of said tests were made without glasses. Cunya v. Vance (1935), 100 Ind. App. 687, 691, 197 N. E. 737.

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Bluebook (online)
66 N.E.2d 625, 117 Ind. App. 80, 1946 Ind. App. LEXIS 163, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/laffin-v-bendix-aviation-corporation-indctapp-1946.