Marc Blackburn Brick Company v. Yates

424 S.W.2d 814, 1968 Ky. LEXIS 469
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976)
DecidedJanuary 26, 1968
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 424 S.W.2d 814 (Marc Blackburn Brick Company v. Yates) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976) primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marc Blackburn Brick Company v. Yates, 424 S.W.2d 814, 1968 Ky. LEXIS 469 (Ky. 1968).

Opinions

EDWARD P. HILL, Judge.

Appellant, the employer, seeks to upset an award by the Workmen’s Compensation Board approved in circuit court in favor of Ellis Dewey Yates, Jr., the employee.

Appellant questions the sufficiency of notice of injury required by KRS 342.185 and contends that the relationship of employer-employee did not exist between it and Yates on the date of the claimed injury.

Inasmuch as appellee Mac G. Cherry, doing business as Cherry Distributing Company, has admitted this case has been correctly stated by appellant and appellee Ellis Dewey Yates, Jr., has made no statement in conflict therewith, we copy herewith appellant’s statement of the facts:

“On February 26, 1965, Marc Blackburn, owner of appellant Marc Blackburn Brick Company, received a request from appellee, Mac G. Cherry, d/b/a Cherry Distributing Company, for assistance in locating extra men to work that night as temporary help with the loading and unloading of trucks located on the premises of Cherry Distributing Company.
“The appellant owner, Marc Blackburn, telephoned appellee, Ellis Dewey Yates, Jr., a Blackburn Brick Company truck driver and another employee, Tommy Eaden, who were temporarily out of work because of adverse weather conditions and inquired if they were available to do the work about which ap-pellee Cherry had inquired. Both men agreed to do the work and the appellant owner, Blackburn, went with them to ap-pellee Cherry’s premises and informed appellee Cherry he had located some men to help. Thereafter, the appellant owner, Blackburn, left the Cherry premises to go about his own business.
“Appellee Yates worked on appellee Cherry’s premises approximately five and one-half hours on that day and during this period of time appellee Yates sustained the injury referred to in this appeal. Upon completion of the work on appellee Cherry’s premises, appellee Yates returned to work for appellant Blackburn as a truck driver as the weather conditions permitted.
“The day after the work was completed appellee Cherry made arrangements with appellant Blackburn to pay appellee Yates, for the work he had performed the night before and also made arrangements to reimburse appellant Blackburn for the amount paid to appellee Yates.
“The testimony conflicts as to the exact day that appellee Yates notified appellant Blackburn of his accident, injury and disability. Appellee Yates states first notice of accident and injury was during the first week of May, 1965, which corresponds with the period of time he was first treated for the injury by Dr. Richard Bevin. Appellant Blackburn states he was not notified of the accident or injury until receiving a letter from the Veterans Administration Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, concerning a surgical operation on appellee Yates. Before receiving the letter from the Veterans Administration Hospital, appellant Blackburn recalled previous discussions with appellee Yates concerning an absence from work, for medical treatment, however these discussions were limited to a non-industrial personal ailment which appellee Yates was suffering.”

[816]*816We first direct our thoughts to the question of notice. KRS 342.185 provides :

“No proceeding under this chapter for compensation for an injury or death shall be maintained unless a notice of the accident shall have been given to the employer as soon as practicable after the happening thereof * * *.” (Emphasis ours.)

It is noted that the statute, supra, does not fix a definite time in which notice is required. But it must be given as soon as “practicable.” Whether notice has been given as “soon as practicable” depends upon all the circumstances of the particular case.

Liberal legislative intent in the matter of time required in the giving of notice of an injury is further demonstrated by KRS 342.200, which reads as follows:

“The notice shall not be invalid or insufficient because of any inaccuracy in complying with KRS 342.190 unless it is shown that the employer was in fact misled to his injury thereby. Want of notice or delay in giving notice shall not be a bar to proceedings under this chapter if it is shown that the employer, his agent or representative had knowledge of the injury or that the delay or failure to give notice was occasioned by mistake or other reasonable cause.”

The Act, itself, directs this court to follow liberal rules of construction. KRS 342.004.

The provisions of the statute are mandatory that notice be given, but this court has uniformly said that the statute should be liberally construed in favor of the employee to effectuate the beneficent purposes of the Compensation Act. Cf. Bartley v. Bartley, Ky., 274 S.W.2d 48 (1954). In Bartley the injury was identical to the injury in the present case, except the element of time is different. The time in Bartley was forty-four days; while in the present case, it was sixty-six days before notice was given. The court said in Bart-ley at page 49:

“In view of the nature of the alleged injury suffered by the appellant and the known fact that herniated discs often appear gradually and are disabling in proportion to the degree of progress of the herniation, we conclude as a matter of law the notice was adequate and was given as soon as practicable.” (Emphasis ours.)

We are not unmindful of the following statement in Whittle v. General Mills, Ky., 252 S.W.2d 55, 57, cited by appellants:

“We are not prepared to say that a herniated disc is such an injury that no prejudice would result to the employer from delay in giving notice.”

We make no assault on the above statement from Whittle. We may envision a number of situations in which the rights of the employer could be seriously prejudiced by the failure to give notice of injury. It should be pointed out, however, that an injury such as a herniated disc may result from only slight exertion, leaving the injured person uncertain whether the injury is serious. He hopes the pain is temporary and will go away. But if it persists, he must act diligently to ascertain his trouble and promptly notify his employer. The nature of the injury is important on the question of notice insofar as it relates to the knowledge of the injured person of the extent ofv his injury.

The Workmen’s Compensation Board found that Yates “sustained” an injury on February 26, 1965, and “that due and timely notice of the accident was afforded the defendant employer as soon as claimant learned of his disability and was advised by the doctor of his condition and said employer was not prejudiced or misled by the delay in giving notice.” These findings are based on substantial evidence.

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Marc Blackburn Brick Company v. Yates
424 S.W.2d 814 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1968)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
424 S.W.2d 814, 1968 Ky. LEXIS 469, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marc-blackburn-brick-company-v-yates-kyctapphigh-1968.