Powell v. Industrial Commission

418 P.2d 602, 4 Ariz. App. 172
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedDecember 28, 1966
Docket1 CA-IC 100, 101
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 418 P.2d 602 (Powell v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Powell v. Industrial Commission, 418 P.2d 602, 4 Ariz. App. 172 (Ark. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

CAMERON, Judge.

On 19 October, 1965, the Industrial Commission of Arizona issued its “Decision Upon Rehearing and Findings and Award for Unscheduled Permanent Partial Disability”. Both the employer, Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company, and the claimant, Richard C. Powell, petitioned this Court for a writ of certiorari to review the lawfulness of said award. The matters wefe consolidated *174 for the purposes of review upon stipulation of counsel.

We are called upon to determine whether the evidence properly before the Commission reasonably supports the finding that:

.One, the claimant is entitled to compensation for partial temporary disability from 7 November, .1964, through 5 April, 19.65, and ...
Two, that the claimant has suffered no ■loss of- earning capacity as a result of the industrial injury of 8 September, 1963.

The facts necessary for a determination of , this matter are as follows.: .Claimant, Richard C. Powell, . age 29, was a tank house shift foreman for the Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company, wh.en, on 8 September, 1963, he slipped and f?U into an area saturated with sulphuric acid, .He testified that he set down hard in the. acid sludge and that he began to feel a .burning sensatiqn.in his buttocks and ankles. He managed to telephone for help and then collapsed.. The men who responded first turned ,.a water hose .on the claimant, in or,der to, rinse the acid from .claimant’s body. He was then placed on a stretcher, but the acid on his body ate through the material on the stretcher and he again fell to the floor.

Claimant was hospitalized for surgical debridement of the burned area and skin grafts, and the file indicates that at least four operations, were performed, the first being on 16 September, 1963. In January of 1964, Dr. Ergenbright also diagnosed a “minimal compression fracture” at “L-4” in the back.

Claimant returned to “light work” at his old job in March of 1964. He complained of pain in his back and legs, and of pain and difficulty in attempting to perform the walking and climbing in connection with his employment. The company doctor later ordered him away from the tank house where he had been working because the sulphuric acid fumes were causing the skin grafts to break down. Claimant was transferred to the crusher as a trainee, and claimant testified that his duties were prh marily standing and walking. He found it necessary to sit in the office by the telephone where he was available, but able to> rest. He rested and even slept some on the job, because, as he testified, he was in a great deal of pain and unable to sleep well at night.

Claimant’s employment with Inspiration was terminated in November, 1964. Inspiration alleges that he would not perform the work the medical consultants deemed him physically capable of. doing. Claimant alleges that he .was not physically capable of performing these duties.

■ Following his discharge from Inspiration, Powell sought work with a number of potential employers and also registered with the State Employment Commission in hi's area. In January of 1965, he found employment as the manager of a cemetery. He left this employment due to a dispute with the manager, and found work as a part time service station employee at $1.25-per hour.

After considerable activity include ing medical consultation as ordered by the Commission, a formal hearing was held 19 August, 1965. The claimant, Richard C. Powell, and the employer, Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company, were both represented by counsel. At the beginning of the hearing, claimant’s attorney made the following objection:

“In connection with the file being considered part of the evidence, I’d like the record to show that the claimant objects to any opinions given by any of the physicians, some of which was noted in the summary rejecting an opinion by the doctor as to the capability of this particular claimant to do any particular kind of work, such opinion evidence being clearly incompetent.”

This limited objection having been made, the Referee and the Commission may not consider these opinions as reflected in the file and we will not consider them on appeal. Other matters in the file not having been *175 objected to may be considered by the Commission and by this Court on appeal. Jones v. Industrial Commission, 1 Ariz.App. 218, 401 P.2d 172 (1965), Avenente v. Smouse, 1 Ariz.App. 24, 398 P.2d 932 (1965). This would be in addition to the general rule that the Commission may not base a decision that there has been no loss of earning capacity on medical testimony. Moore v. Industrial Commission, 2 Ariz.App. 143, 406 P.2d 861 (1965). The only medical witness called at the hearing was I. E. Harris, M.D., Chief Surgeon of the Miami Inspiration Hospital, located at Miami, Arizona. Dr. Harris testified that, in addition to his medical qualifications, he was familiar with the working conditions under which claimant worked and what would be required of claimant in the performance of his duties. Being thus qualified to express his opinion concerning claimant’s ability to perform the work required of claimant on the job, and being present and subject to cross-examination, his testimony was properly received by the Referee at the hearing. Hoffman v. Brophy, 61 Ariz. 307, 149 P.2d 160 (1944).

After the formal hearing, the Industrial Commission issued its “Decision Upon Rehearing and Findings and Award for Unscheduled Permanent Partial Disability”. After further pleadings and order denying rehearing by the Commission, both the employer and the claimant petition this Court for a writ of certiorari to review the lawfulness of said decision. The employer objects to Finding Number 6 and the claimant objects to Finding Number 9 of the findings and award of the Commission.

FINDING NUMBER 6

Finding Number 6 of the Industrial • Commission reads as follows:

“6. That said applicant is entitled to compensation for total temporary disability from September 8, 1963, through March 15, 1964, in the sum of $2,830.65; and compensation for partial temporary disability from November 7,1964, through April 5, 1965, in the sum of $1,440.52, or the total sum of $4,271.17.”

The employer, Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company, objects to this finding as it relates to the award of compensation for partial temporary disability from 7 November, 1964, when claimant was discharged by Inspiration, to 5 April, 1965, the date the Commission found the condition of the claimant had become stationary (with 10% general physical functional disability).

Inspiration contends that this finding by the Commission is not supported by the evidence. With this contention we cannot agree.

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418 P.2d 602, 4 Ariz. App. 172, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/powell-v-industrial-commission-arizctapp-1966.