Merchants Co. v. Moore

197 So. 2d 791, 1967 Miss. LEXIS 1536
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedApril 17, 1967
DocketNo. 44400
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 197 So. 2d 791 (Merchants Co. v. Moore) 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
Merchants Co. v. Moore, 197 So. 2d 791, 1967 Miss. LEXIS 1536 (Mich. 1967).

Opinion

BRADY, Justice:

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Warren County, Mississippi, reversing a unanimous judgment of the Mississippi Workmen’s Compensation Commission which affirmed a judgment of the attorney referee denying appellee benefits of the Mississippi Workmen’s Compensation Act.

The attorney referee found that appellee had sustained a lumbar sacral sprain on June 26, 1964, while lifting and stacking hundred pound sacks of feed for appellant, The Merchants Company. Appellee received treatment from numerous physicians and reached maximum medical recovery on November 10, 1964. The attorney referee held that any disability [792]*792which appellee suffered after November 10, 1964, is totally unrelated to the aforesaid injury and is the result of pre-existing conditions or unknown, intervening and subsequent circumstances. The average weekly wage of appellee at the time of the injury was $64.87. The attorney referee, among other things, ordered appellants:

1. To pay appellee compensation for temporary total disability benefits at the rate of $35 per week for the period June 27, 1964, through July 12, 1964, and for the period July 22, 1964, through November 10, 1964, with appellants to be given credit for any disability benefits already paid.

2. To pay no permanent disability benefits.

3. To pay for medical services and supplies provided to appellee for the aforesaid back injury and make reimbursement for any such services and supplies previously paid by him, except as to expenses incurred for medical services and supplies after November 10, 1964, and expenses incurred for psychiatric treatment.

The full Commission, upon reviewing the findings and order of the attorney referee, affirmed in toto. Upon appeal the circuit court reversed, holding that the order of the Commission was manifestly in error. The circuit court found that appellee was totally and permanently disabled and ordered appellants to pay compensation at the rate of $35 per week for a period of 360% weeks or until a total sum of $12,500 had been paid. Appellants were ordered to pay all appellee’s hospital and medical bills less and except those presented by the Veterans Administration Center of Jackson.

The sole issue presented by the appeal is whether the circuit court erred in reversing the Commission’s finding and in adjudging appellee to be entitled to compensation benefits for total permanent disability. The determination of this question depends upon whether the Commission had substantial evidence upon which to base its finding. The pertinent facts are as follows.

On June 26, 1964, appellee, while in the course of his employment, sustained a. lumbar sacral sprain diagnosed as acute myositis. Complaint was made to a superi- or who promptly had appellee sent to the Street Clinic in Vicksburg for treatment-He was not hospitalized. He was treated' by Dr. Richard A. Street, Jr. until August 11 when he was discharged as cured and told to return to work. He worked for approximately nine days at which time his back began to hurt again, and he returned for treatment to the Street Clinic. He was hospitalized on August 14, examined and treated by Dr. J. P. Guer-riero, and after four days, was discharged. Dr. Guerriero testified that he had fully recovered from his sacral sprain and also from prostatitis and epididymitis for which he had also received treatment.

Appellee reported back to the Street Clinic and was examined on August 21,. 1964, and was discharged to return to work, on August 24, 1964. He did not return to work but secured admission to the Veterans-Administration Hospital in Jackson on September 1, 1964, where he remained through September 27, 1964. There he was examined by Dr. Marshall B. Allen, Jr. and' Dr. Robert McKinley, who testified for appellee. Dr. McKinley, a psychiatrist, spent an hour and fifteen minutes in examining appellee on November 9, 1964. Dr. Allen examined appellee on September 1,. 1964, and subsequently.

Dr. Allen testified -that he could not find any organic lesion to account for appellee’s disability. Dr. Allen stated that he felt appellee had been having more pain than would be consistent with his-degree of organic disease and that for that reason he consulted Dr. McKinley, a psychiatrist.

Appellee was finally discharged from-the Veterans Hospital on November 10, 1964, as completely recovered. On April [793]*79312, 1964, appellee was examined by Dr. Richard W. Naef, a neurologist. A thorough neurological examination was conducted, but no diagnosis was made. A myelogram was suggested and arranged for April 16, but appellee did not keep the appointment. On May 5, 1964, appellee was again examined, and a complete diagnosis was made. On January 5, 1965, ap-pellee saw Dr. J. B. Dillard, a general practitioner of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Dr. Dillard found appellee to be suffering from many maladies, including locomotor ataxia, sciatic rheumatism, ureteralgia, cholecysti-tis, inflamation of the gall bladder and ptosis of a transverse colon. An objective analysis of Dr. Dillard’s testimony does not indicate a causal connection between any of these maladies and the back sprain.

The record discloses a conflict in the testimony of the doctors as to whether there was any causal connection between appellee’s present disability and the original back sprain. Dr. McKinley took the position that appellee’s neurosis and predisposition thereto possibly could have been precipitated by his back sprain and the resultant disability. He felt that the incident gave appellee an excuse to convert his anxiety into real physical pain. Dr. McKinley conceded that it is quite possible that some other like event might have developed such a conversion.

Dr. Naef, a highly competent and experienced neurologist, unequivocally asserted that the only connection between appellee’s present symptoms and the original injury is appellee’s own rationalization. Dr. Naef testified that although appellee suffered temporary disability and pain from his low back sprain, these symptoms have subsided, and the continuing symptoms are purely of an emotional basis. Dr. Naef stated that he did not think the back injury caused appellee’s mental condition; that his mental condition is not due to any terrifying or frightening experience; and that it is not a neurotic mental illness arising out of an injury. Dr. Naef stated that in his opinion there was no causal connection between appellee’s present symptoms and the initial injury. Dr. Naef concluded that appellee relates all his difficulties to his former back sprain and that his present symptoms are not the outgrowth of his original injury but are due to personality disorders.

From the foregoing we are of the opinion that appellee failed to meet the burden of proof required to establish his mental or emotional disorder as a compensable injury. In Dunn, Mississippi Workmen’s Compensation section 67 (Supp.1965) we find the following statement:

In general, where the claim is based upon a mental or nervous disease, it is viewed with the normal suspicion attending claimed disabilities which have no physical cause traceable to objective findings, and the burden of proof, which rests upon the claimant, is greater than in ordinary cases. The accident must be established by evidence bringing it within the realm of probability and the causal connection with the accident must be shown by “clear evidence,” and must not be remote.

The issues in this case are controlled by our decisions in Bates v.

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Bluebook (online)
197 So. 2d 791, 1967 Miss. LEXIS 1536, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/merchants-co-v-moore-miss-1967.