Noble Drilling Corp. v. Donovan

266 F. Supp. 917, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9062
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedMarch 16, 1967
DocketCiv. A. No. 14814
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 266 F. Supp. 917 (Noble Drilling Corp. v. Donovan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Noble Drilling Corp. v. Donovan, 266 F. Supp. 917, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9062 (E.D. La. 1967).

Opinion

HEEBE, District Judge.

This matter arises out of a suit brought by the former employer of one J. B. Goins, and the employer’s compensation insurer, seeking review of a compensation award to Goins under the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Act by the Deputy Commissioner of the Bureau of Employees’ Compensation, U. S. Department of Labor (hereafter the “Commissioner”). The Commissioner moved for summary judgment dismissing the employer’s suit; that motion was granted previously by the Court, Judge Ellis presiding, after supplemental findings of fact were obtained from the Commissioner on remand. The employer then [918]*918moved for a rehearing of the Commissioner’s motion; rehearing was granted and the motion was heard again and taken under submission. Due to Judge Ellis’s illness, the matter stood in that posture until May 1966, at which time the Court requested that the attorneys re-argue the rehearing, after which the Court took the motion under submission again.

Review of the Commissioner’s order is sought in this Court by the employer pursuant to § 21(b) of the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C.A. § 921(b). Although that section states that the Commissioner’s compensation orders may be suspended or set aside “if not in accordance with law” and that the method of seeking such review must be “through injunction proceedings * * * brought by the party in interest against the deputy commissioner * * *.” (33 U.S.C.A. § 921(b)), it appears that the scope of judicial review under the section is governed by the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C.A. § 551 et seq.1 We therefore look to the pertinent provisions of the latter Act, in particular to § 10. Regarding review of an agency’s findings of fact, that section provides in part:

“[The reviewing court] shall * * * hold unlawful and set aside agency action, findings and conclusions found to be * * *
(5) unsupported by substantial evidence in any case subject to the requirements of sections 7 and 8, or otherwise reviewed on the record of an agency hearing provided by statute * * *.
“In making the foregoing determinations the court shall review the whole record * * * ” 5 U.S.C.A. § 706

The question to be determined is thus whether or not the findings of fact by the Commissioner, entitling Goins to compensation, are supported by “substantial evidence” on a review of “the whole record.”

******

In his supplemental report upon remand, the Commissioner made the following findings of fact:

“That [claimant’s] injury of April 23, 1961, resulted in (1) fracture of the acromion process of the left scapula with (2) ligament and muscle injury to the left shoulder area, (3) marked restriction of the cervical spine movements in all cardinal directions, (4) soreness to palpitation of the interspinous ligament in the mid and lower cervical area, and (5) traumatic paralysis of the right long thoracic nerve with resultant winging of the right scapula * * (numeration supplied)

The accident of April 23, 1961, and the initial injury of the claimant, Goins, resulting therefrom were admitted by the parties; the employer, however, claimed that all of Goins’ injuries had healed to the point that he was able to return to his usual employment as of April 2, 1962, and employer denied any liability for compensation payments allegedly due after that date. The Commissioner’s order was based in large part on his finding that Goins continued disabled past April 2, 1962, and until June 22, 1964, the date of the hearing. The employer now contests the Commissioner’s finding of disability subsequent to April 2, 1962, and in effect seeks, through the injunctive process, a modification of the Commissioner’s order only insofar as it was based on that finding.

In making his determination of continuing disability, the Commissioner found that injury (1) noted above — the fracture of Goins’ collarbone — had healed as of March 21, 1962; he also noted that injury (5) required no further medical care. The Commissioner, in fact, only [919]*919found that Goins’ disability to work was due to original injuries (3) and (4):

“The marked restriction of the cervical spine movements with soreness of the interspinous ligament in the mid and lower cervical area prevent the claimant from raising his left arm above shoulder level and prevent him from performing normal duties of his occupation [and] require further medical care * * (Supplemental Report, January 26, 1965, page 2)

The only questions presented here are thus: (1) was there “substantial evidence on the record as a whole” to sustam a finding of “marked restriction and “soreness” of the cervical spinous area subsequent to the date of April 2, 1962, (2) did such conditions, if they then existed, actually disable claimant from engaging in his former employment, and (3) were such conditions, if they did then exist, attributable to the accident of April 23, 1961? If there was “substantial evidence’ for the Commissioner s finding of marked restriction” and soreness” of the cervical spinous area of the claimant, it could well be beyond the scope of the Court’s reviewing power to question an inference of disability therefrom. See Davis, Administrative Law Treatise, § 29.05.

However, we cannot accept the conclusion that there was any abnormal physical condition of Goins’ cervical spine to warrant the Commissioner’s findings of “marked restriction of movement” and “soreness” of the cervical spine; there is no substantial evidence in the record to warrant such a conclusion, as a review of that evidence will sboW-

The evidence taken by the Commissioner consisted solely of (1) the testimony of Goins himself, and (2) the various medical reports of eleven doctors who examined and treated Goins, six of whom were made available to Goins by his employer, and five whom Goins contacted for himself.

From Goins’ own testimony (Commissioner’s Report, pp. 19-50) the following emerges.

. Goins injured his left shoulder m the cour.se and sc°Pe of his employment on April 23, 1961, when he fell from a pipe barge between that barge and a drilling barge. Following the accident, Goins continued at his job until May 22, 1961 about one months time — on which date he was either discharged by the employer or absented himself from work voluntarily; nothing in the record gives the slightest indication of the reason for the layoff.

The employer voluntarily paid Goins compeiisation benefits from May 23, 1%1) through April 2, 1962) but on that date ceased all payments. Goins claims that he has remained totally disabled gince May 23, 1961, up to the date of the Commissioner’s hearing on June 22, 1964, and continuing. His employer daims that Going wag actually fully cured and able to return to hig work of April 2, 1962, and perhapg ag early ag November 3, 1961. (Report, page 12) Goins' testimony establishes that he did do bartending work subsequent to April 1962 — in particular from June 1963 to October 1963; however, in view of the diverse character of the employments of roughnecking and bartending, ability to do work in the second area would not preclude a finding of total permanent disability as to the first employment.

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Related

Eaton v. General Accident Group
292 So. 2d 773 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1974)
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248 So. 2d 917 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
266 F. Supp. 917, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9062, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/noble-drilling-corp-v-donovan-laed-1967.