Mason v. Woodside Mills

80 S.E.2d 344, 225 S.C. 15, 1954 S.C. LEXIS 2
CourtSupreme Court of South Carolina
DecidedFebruary 15, 1954
Docket16834
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 80 S.E.2d 344 (Mason v. Woodside Mills) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mason v. Woodside Mills, 80 S.E.2d 344, 225 S.C. 15, 1954 S.C. LEXIS 2 (S.C. 1954).

Opinion

Taylor, Justice.

This appeal is from an order of the Court of Common Pleas for Greenville County sustaining an award of the Industrial Commission.

Respondent while employed by the Woodside Mills in Greenville, South Carolina, in April, 1950, suffered an injury which arose out of and in the course of his employment for which the Industrial Commissioner made an award of $750.00 for serious bodily disfigurement and for .90 per cent loss of use of the left arm. This award was affirmed by a majority of the Full Commission and the Court of Common Pleas for Greenville County and appellant now comes to this Court upon exceptions which present the question of whether or not there is sufficient evidence to support either the award for disability or disfigurement.

The respondent, a young man 23 years of age, slipped upon a wet floor and severely injured his left arm while in [17]*17the performance of his work as loom cleaner. His duties required the use of an air hose weighing approximately 100 pounds which was dragged from place to place and used to blow accumulated lint from the looms. First aid was immediately given and respondent sent to appellant’s physician who made an „r-ray and reported that he “had partial ankylosis of the joint at the left elbow involving limitation of motion and questionable chip fractures in the angle of the elbow joints.” Respondent was then referred to another doctor who reading the same ^r-ray found “no fresh fracture” but “a severe sprain of the left elbow.” Not being satisfied with his condition, respondent of his own accord later went to another doctor who found evidence of traumatic arthritis and concluded that “the degree of disability of the left elbow joint approached 100 per cent.” This same physician examined respondent again in 1951 and reported it as being slightly improved and his condition “is fairly constant now” and stated that his disability as of that time (the second examination) was 90 per cent. A portion of this testimony appears as follows:

“Direct Examination by Mr. Chandler: Q. Let me go back — on the first examination, you testified that the right and left deltoid were equal? A. Yes, sir.

“Q. Will you tell us whether you examined that same thing in your later examination? A. I did.

“Q. What did you find, in comparison with the other examination? A. The deltoid of the left arm was one inch smaller in circumference than the right arm.

“Q. What about the biceps, comparing the two examinations? A. The biceps region was 1/10 inch smaller than the right arm.

“Q. All right sir. What about the fore-arm? A. It was 2/10 smaller on the first examination and the present finding was that the left fore-arm is 9/10 smaller than the right arm in circumference. * * *

“Q. Doctor, what change if any/did you notice? A. T found a slight improvement when I last examined him. He [18]*18had. an additional 5 degrees of motion in the flexion of his elbow joint. He is able to pronate and supínate his hand with very little difficulty.

“Q. In your opinion, will this man get better or worse? What is his future ? A. In view of the fact of the very small improvement in the last 8 or 9 months, I believe his situation is fairly constant now. I don’t believe he will improve a great deal, barring surgery or things that could be done in the future. I don’t know.

“Q. What do you attribute the difference in those measurements to, which you have quoted into the record ? A. His arm has atrophied from disuse and he has a loss of function because of the limitation of motion in the elbow.

“Q. You testified that on your first examination his disability approached 100%, and you testify that he has had a slight improvement. What would you say now is the degree of disability? A. Approximately 90%.”

Further consideration of the testimony reveals that Dr. Converse in his first examination in December, 1950, approximately 8 months after the injury found arthritis in respondent’s left arm. Dr. Murray, appellant’s physician to whom he was sent immediately after the injury, testified that he found no evidence of arthritis at that time.

Appellant bases its contention principally upon the statement signed by respondent at the time of his employment that he was suffering from a 40 per cent disability in this arm prior to the injury complained of and that such statement is binding upon respondent and that the Commission therefore could not make an award exceeding 50 per cent under the testimony, this being the difference between 40 per cent and the 90 per cent which claimant was found to be suffering at the time of the hearing. Respondent stated that he signed this statement but was not aware of its contents at the time and produced a great deal of testimony to the effect that it was not correct. The statement was accepted as evidence by the fact-finding body who presumably gave it such consideration as it saw fit under [19]*19the circumstances and in the light of all the evidence. Such statement when attacked by a claimant is evidence to be taken into consideration in conjunction with all the other evidence in the case and claimant under such circumstances is not bound thereby as a matter of law but the force and effect of such is to be determined by the fact-finding body unless such is prohibited by Section 72-131 of the 1952 Code of Laws for South Carolina, which we are not called upon to determine in this case.

One witness who operated a saw mill at which respondent was employed from 1946 until November, 1949, at which time he was employed by appellant, testified:

“Q. During the time 3'-ou were working with Harry Mason, what was his job? A. He hauled lumber, he didn’t have any particular job, maybe he would haul a day and cut the next day and drag the next day.

“Q. Is all that heavy work? A. It is heavy work. There is not many people would like it.

“Q. Did Harry Mason perform those jobs? A. Yes, sir, I had no complaint out of him whatever the job was.

“Q. He did as heavy work as any man there? A. That’s right.

“Q. Did you see him work? A. Yes, sir, I worked with him.

“O. You worked with him? A. Yes, sir, me and my brother got in the business together, and I guess you can see we was busy and I worked right with Harry and he has helped me load lumber 2 x 10 and 18 and that takes a good man to do it. When you put it on a truck 20 deep you have to sling them to get them up there.”

There is also evidence that respondent had become a member of the South Carolina National Guard since his first injury and that upon doing so he was given a physical examination by Dr. J. L. Hughes and there is no notation of any such disability apparent as of that time; that while a member thereof, he engaged in the various strenuous duties [20]*20required of members of the National Guard. A portion of the testimony to this effect appears as follows:

“Q. All right sir, now on regular drill nights, what are some of the duties Mr. Mason would have to do when you were in charge of it? A. Well in case a tire had to be changed, the driver of the truck changed them—

“Q. Was Mr. Mason the driver of a truck? A. Yes, sir.

“Q. Tell us whether or not you ever saw him change one. A. At the time he was in the Battery, he was assigned to a two and a half ton GMC truck and changed all the tires on the truck.

“Q. What kind of tires did they have? A.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cranford v. Hutchinson Construction
731 S.E.2d 303 (Court of Appeals of South Carolina, 2012)
Bowen v. Chiquola Manufacturing Co.
120 S.E.2d 99 (Supreme Court of South Carolina, 1961)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
80 S.E.2d 344, 225 S.C. 15, 1954 S.C. LEXIS 2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mason-v-woodside-mills-sc-1954.