Lucedale Veneer Co. v. Keel

79 So. 2d 232, 223 Miss. 821, 1955 Miss. LEXIS 443
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedApril 11, 1955
DocketNo. 39607
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 79 So. 2d 232 (Lucedale Veneer Co. v. Keel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lucedale Veneer Co. v. Keel, 79 So. 2d 232, 223 Miss. 821, 1955 Miss. LEXIS 443 (Mich. 1955).

Opinion

Kyle, J.

This case is before us on appeal by the Lucedale Veneer Company and its insurance carrier from a judgment of the Circuit Court of George County affirming an order of the Workmen’s Compensation Commission approving an award of compensation to Charlie B. Keel, the claimant, for the permanent total loss of the use of his right arm.

The record shows that the appellee was an employee of the Lucedale Veneer Company, and that on November 13, 1951, he sustained a serious injury to his right arm while engaged in performing his duties as a block spotter, tonging blocks and putting them in the lathe. Both bones of the forearm were broken, and one of the bones was crushed, and serious damage was done to the soft tissue of the forearm. The appellee was treated for his injuries by Dr. R. L. Benson (now deceased), who performed an immediate surgical operation and set the broken bones, sewed up the open wounds and put the arm in a cast. On May 27, 1952, the arm was examined by Dr. T. H. Blake, an orthopedic surgeon, of Jackson, who [823]*823recommended an additional surgical operation, and a drilling operation was performed on the forearm on June 17, 1952. Doctor Blake filed his final report with the insurance carrier on October 22, 1952, and in that report Dr. Blake stated that the results of the surgical operation of June 17 appeared to be satisfactory and the bone appeared to be healed.

Temporary total disability benefit payments were made to the appellee by the insurance carrier for the period beginning November 13,1951, and ending October 21, 1952, when such payments were suspended. After failing to reach an agreement with the insurance carrier on the amount of permanent disability compensation that he was entitled to receive, the appellee filed an application with the Workmen’s Compensation Commission asking that his case be listed as a controverted matter and set for hearing for the purpose of determining the extent of his injuries and the amount of compensation due him under the Workmen’s Compensation Act. The cause was thereafter heard by the attorney-referee.

The appellee testified that both bones of the forearm were broken when his arm was caught in the machinery, and that one bone was crushed about two inches above the wrist; that his shoulder was injured and the fleshy part of his forearm was badly torn, and the scar on his forearm after the wounds had healed extended back toward the elbow approximately ten inches. The appellee stated that he had done no work since his injury; that he had tried to get work since the doctor dismissed him on October 21, 1952, and had applied for work at the Frank Bailey Lumber Company and at Buchanan & Fairly Plug Mill, and had been turned down because of his handicap; that he had also applied to R. E. McLeod, a building contractor, and Tom Havard, for work, but he did not get a job. He had asked Henry Pitts, who employed workmen to cut and haul stumps, for a job as a helper, but Pitts turned him down. The appellee [824]*824stated that prior to his injury he had done carpentry work, that he had cut and hauled stumps; and that he was a block spotter at the time he was injured; but that he could not do that kind of work now. He could not grip an axe, or a peavey or a hook. Mill owners, building contractors and other employers of labor would not give him a job, because of his handicap.

Frank Bailey testified that he would not hire the appellee because of his handicap.

Dr. L. H. Eubanks testified that he had examined the appellee several times and had made his last examination of the appellee on October 5, 1953, and that in his opinion the appellee’s hand was about 60 or 65 percent defective for normal use. He thought the appellee would be totally unable to do the work required of him in his usual occupation. While the appellee’s injury was an injury to the arm, that injury accounted" for the loss of use of the hand. The doctor stated that the manual labor that the appellee might undertake to do “would have to be something that would not require very much exertion.” The damage that he had sustained was damagé to the ligaments and muscles and nerves of his arm. He could not close his hand completely. He could not use an axe with any degree of safety. He could not use a metal hook. He could not handle heavy boards or use his arm in lifting timber. In the doctor’s opinion appellee’s disability was a 60 or 65 percent loss of the use of his hand and forearm. He did not believe there would be any further improvement.

Dr. T. H. Blake, who testified as a witness for the employer and its insurance carrier, stated that the appellee was admitted to the Baptist Hospital at Jackson on June 17, 1952, and that he operated on the appellee’s forearm on the following day, making multiple drain holes across the fracture site in an effort to provide an improved blood supply; that he examined the appellee again in August; and that he rendered his final report [825]*825to the insurance carrier on October 22, 1952. At that time he estimated that the appellee had a 25 percent disability of the left hand and forearm. It was his opinion that the extremity would improve, and that use of the arm would improve the functioning of the forearm and hand. Dr. Blake stated that he had examined the appellee again on the date of the hearing, and had found that the appellee had full range of movement in the right shoulder and the right elbow. There was some deformity in the lower forearm, but the appellee’s condition had definitely improved. He estimated that the appellee had a 25 percent permanent partial disability of the right arm. The doctor thought that the appellee could engage in certain types of work around a sawmill. But the doctor admitted on cross-examination that it would be difficult for him to grip a small object and hold a weight of 150 or 200 pounds. He also stated that the disability which he had mentioned was a functional or medical disability, and that the rating that he mentioned had nothing to do with the job relation.

The appellants also offered in evidence a report of Dr. Theodore J. Bender, Jr., of Mobile, Alabama, who had examined the appellee on November 25, 1952, and who estimated his disability as a 35 percent loss of use of the right arm and hand.

The attorney-referee found that the appellee still suffered serious pain in his right arm and shoulder; that his arm was deformed and badly scarred; and that he had not been able to do heavy work since his injury; and that he had not been able to obtain work that he was able to do. The attorney-referee found that the appellee was 51 years of age and had always earned his living by manual labor, and that the appellee had permanently lost the use of his right arm as a result of his injuries. The attorney-referee entered an order awarding compensation to the appellee in the sum of $25 per week, beginning October 22, 1952, and to continue for a period [826]*826of 200 weeks, less a lump sum payment of $500 which, had been made to him by the appellant’s insurance carrier on December 12, 1952. The attorney-referee also ordered that the appellant and its insurance carrier pay all doctors’, hospital and medical bills, as provided in Section 7 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act.

A petition for review was filed by the appellant and its insurance carrier, and on April 12, 1954, the commission entered an order affirming the award of the attorney-referee. From that order the appellant and its insurance carrier appealed to the Circuit Court, and the Circuit Court entered a judgment affirming the order of the commission.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
79 So. 2d 232, 223 Miss. 821, 1955 Miss. LEXIS 443, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lucedale-veneer-co-v-keel-miss-1955.