McMillin v. City of Salina Water Department

184 P.2d 201, 163 Kan. 575, 1947 Kan. LEXIS 249
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedSeptember 2, 1947
DocketNo. 36,841
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 184 P.2d 201 (McMillin v. City of Salina Water Department) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McMillin v. City of Salina Water Department, 184 P.2d 201, 163 Kan. 575, 1947 Kan. LEXIS 249 (kan 1947).

Opinions

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Harvey, C. J.

This was a workmen’s compensation case. The claimants are the widow and minor children of the workman, M. A. McMillin. It was stipulated the workman died February 28, 1946; that on February 5, 1946, he was employed by the respondent; that the parties were governed by the workmen’s compensation act; that the Maryland Casualty Company is the insurance carrier; ■ that claim for compensation was made within the time provided by law; that the claimants were wholly dependent upon the workman, and ' if they are entitled to recover anything they are entitled to recover the maximum benefits under the law#; that no compensation, medical benefits or funeral expenses have been paid by respondent, and that certain items .of that character have been paid by the claimants, the amount of which was stipulated. It was further stipulated that the questions in issue were; (1) Whether the required notice of accident was given respondent, and if not, whether respondent was prejudiced by the failure to give such notice; (2) whether the workman met with personal injury arising out of and in the course of [576]*576his employment, as alleged in the claim; and (3) if so, whether his death resulted from such accident. The trial court found the controverted issues in favor of claimants and made an award in accord therewith. The respondent and insurance carrier have appealed.

The record discloses that McMillin did not give notice to his employer of his accidental injury, relied upon by the claimants, within ten days, as required by G. S. 1935, 44-520. However, the statute contains this proviso:

“That want of notice or any defect therein shall 'not be a bar unless the employer prove that he has been prejudiced thereby.”

Early in the hearing before the commissioner, counsel for respondents recognized that the burden was upon them to prove prejudice if they relied as a defense upon lack of notice of the accident. They offered no evidence of consequence on that point. It was not further referred to in the hearing before the commissioner nor in the district court, and respondents in this court make no contention that the plaintiffs are barred for the lack of such notice. The point needs no further discussion.

In this court appellants contend that the record contains no substantial, competent evidence to prove (a) that decedent experienced an accident; (b) that he suffered personal injury as a result of the alleged accident; or (c) that his death resulted from the alleged accidental personal injury. These contentions present questions of law as distinct from questions of fact, which this court may pass upon. (G. S. 1935, 44-556.) In doing so the court does not weigh the evidence. That was the function of the trial court. This court examines the record only to determine whether there was substantial, competent evidence to support the findings of the trial court upon these points, and in doing so considers the evidence favorable to the holding of the trial court, disregarding that which tends to the contrary. (See Burk v. American Dist. Tel. Co., 160 Kan. 519, 163 P. 2d 402, where the earlier cases are cited.)

Since much of the same evidence pertains to the question of whether plaintiff sustained an accident and' sustained personal injury as a result of the accident we will consider those questions together, and the evidence relating thereto may be summarized as follows: Mark A. McMillin had been' an employee of the city of Salina, in the service division. of its water department, for about twenty years. Luther Jordan had been employed in the same service about twenty-seven years. The two worked alone or together, [577]*577as. the work required. Miss Lois Todd was in charge of the office and kept the service records of the men in the service division. Prior to December, 1945, McMillin had consulted a physician for no illness more serious than a cold and had not lost a day of work because 'of illness.

On December- 26, 1945, he laid off work because he was not feeling well and consulted Doctor Schaefer, a reputable physician in the general practice at Salina. The doctor testified:

“At that time he complained of indefinite chest pains, indefinite abdominal pains; he was very nervous, irritable, had a slight cough, and he felt tired, weak, and unable to work.”

The patient thought he had heart trouble of some character. The doctor gave him a fairly complete general physical examination, but made no definite diagnosis. Due to his cough the doctor thought he had a little cold, and since he could find no growth or organic trouble he put him under observation and watched him. This continued until January 11, 1946, when the doctor had him go to the hospital for further study, including X rays. This was done because the patient “was not making any progress, or doing any better.” On January 14 the doctor testified that—

“. . . due to his indefinite chest symptoms we got an X ray of his chest. Due to his indefinite gastro-intestinal symptoms, we had a barium meal on his gastro-intestinal system. Examination of the X-ray plate at that time leads to the belief that there was not anything seriously or organically wrong in that chest. Definitely not, as far as the lung parenchyma itself was concerned. I mean there was not any evidence of residual trouble as we find sometimes from a chronic cold abscess, or fluid, or particularly enlarged peribronchial lymph glands, anything like that. In fact, we didn’t think there was anything wrong with that chest. The barium meal of his stomach at that time left us in doubt whether some defect he had at the pylorus was a true ulcer, or whether it might be a spastic deformity due to a spastic condition, of his general condition, which might cause a spastic condition of his pylorus. He had a lot of symptoms suspicious of an ulcer, but he was highly nervous, very irritable, and consequently it was in doubt; but we felt even so that if he did have an ulcer it certainly was not giving him excessive irritability, nervousness, indefinite chest pain, aches, that he was complaining of. We kept him in the hospital until the 17th of January, at which time we sent him home on a smooth diet, antispasmodics, and some sedatives. He went home, and seemed to do better for awhile. He seemed to improve. He seemed to feel better. He ate better, although he objected to that type of a diet. We watched him along until about the first of February. At that time he was in again. We checked him over. His general condition was apparently good. His hemoglobin was 90 per cent. His red count was five mil[578]*578lion. We gave him a little more to eat, but there was still something indefinite about the man that we couldn’t exactly put our fingers on.”

Mrs. McMillin prepared the diet outlined by Doctor Schaefer, which' included milk, eggnog, cereals and vegetables, with six feedings a day. McMillin rested about home, ate. heartily, slept well, and by about February 1 he had gained eight pounds. Most of his pain had ceased, he was feeling much better, and was anxious to get'back to work. He and his wife saw Doctor Schaefer and by reason of his improvement the doctor told him it might be beneficial for him to do some work, but to continue his diet and to rest as much as possible.'

On February 4 McMillin returned to work. Jordan saw him that day and was asked:

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Bluebook (online)
184 P.2d 201, 163 Kan. 575, 1947 Kan. LEXIS 249, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcmillin-v-city-of-salina-water-department-kan-1947.