Pacific Employers' Ins. v. Oberlechner

Fifth Circuit

Pacific Employers' Ins. v. Oberlechner

161 F.2d 180, 1947 U.S. App. LEXIS 2746

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

DecidedMay 8, 1947

DocketNo. 11857

StatusPublished

Cited by9 cases

This text of 161 F.2d 180 (Pacific Employers' Ins. v. Oberlechner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Pacific Employers' Ins. v. Oberlechner, 161 F.2d 180, 1947 U.S. App. LEXIS 2746 (5th Cir. 1947).

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Opinion

WALLER, Circuit Judge.

This case involves only the question of whether or not the appellee showed good cause for his failure to file his claim with the Industrial Accident Board within the six months required by the Texas Workmen’s Compensation Law, Rev.Stat.Tex., Article 8307, Sec. 4a, Vernon’s Ann.Civ. St. Art. 8307, § 4a. Proof of his claim was not filed until 14 months after his alleged injury.

Appellant’s motion for a directed verdict, on the ground that the plaintiff had failed to file claim within the time required by the statute and had also failed to show good cause for his failure so to file, was overruled.’ The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff.

It has been thoroughly settled by decisions of the courts of Texas that the test as to whether or not an employee had shown good cause for his delay in filing a [181]*181claim is whether or not he had prosecuted his claim for compensation with that degree of diligence that a reasonably prudent person would have exercised under the same or similar circumstances.¹

Each case must he determined by its own facts and circumstances and since this is a case governed by State statutes and State decisions, it does not seem highly important for us to say more than that we think that the evidence in this case presented a question for the jury under the Texas decisions² and that the lower Court did not err in so submitting it.

The judgment of the lower Court is affirmed.

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WALLER, Circuit Judge.

This case involves only the question of whether or not the appellee showed good cause for his failure to file his claim with the Industrial Accident Board within the six months required by the Texas Workmen’s Compensation Law, Rev.Stat.Tex., Article 8307, Sec. 4a, Vernon’s Ann.Civ. St. Art. 8307, § 4a. Proof of his claim was not filed until 14 months after his alleged injury.

Appellant’s motion for a directed verdict, on the ground that the plaintiff had failed to file claim within the time required by the statute and had also failed to show good cause for his failure so to file, was overruled.’ The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff.

It has been thoroughly settled by decisions of the courts of Texas that the test as to whether or not an employee had shown good cause for his delay in filing a [181]*181claim is whether or not he had prosecuted his claim for compensation with that degree of diligence that a reasonably prudent person would have exercised under the same or similar circumstances.¹

Each case must he determined by its own facts and circumstances and since this is a case governed by State statutes and State decisions, it does not seem highly important for us to say more than that we think that the evidence in this case presented a question for the jury under the Texas decisions² and that the lower Court did not err in so submitting it.

The judgment of the lower Court is affirmed.

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161 F.2d 180, 1947 U.S. App. LEXIS 2746, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pacific-employers-ins-v-oberlechner-ca5-1947.

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