Protho v. Nette

46 P.2d 943, 173 Okla. 114, 1935 Okla. LEXIS 553
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJuly 2, 1935
DocketNo. 26040.
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 46 P.2d 943 (Protho v. Nette) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Protho v. Nette, 46 P.2d 943, 173 Okla. 114, 1935 Okla. LEXIS 553 (Okla. 1935).

Opinion

PHELPS, J.

This is an original action to review the order and award entered by the Industrial Commission in favor of respondent Fred Nette.

The petitioner’s first proposition is that the employment in which the respondent; was injured does not come under the Workmen’s Compensation Act.

Nette was a marble worker employed by J. T. Protho, doing business as HoldenvVlJe Marble Company. Machinery Is used inside of the marble works shop, at least to the extent of a polisher and a hoist.

Pieces of marble weighing some 450 pounds were loaded on a truck by Nette and a fellow worker, inside the shop, ,by means of a hoist. They then transported the marble to Weleetka, where they unloaded It and constructed a cemetery fence and coping with it. When Nette and the other employee were lifting one of these pieces of marble from the truck, and carrying it to be placed in the fence and there cemented, his left arm and hand gave way and became numb. That night he was stricken with paralysis of the left side, which became permanent and total. Said paralysis was caused by the unusual strain of lifting, resulting in the breaking of a blood vessel or artery, which would not have broken but for his' pre-existing high blood pressure.

*116 One of the particular employments enumerated in section 13349, O. S. 1931, prescribing the hazardous employments to which the Workmen’s Compensation Act is applicable is “work shops where machinery is used.” Another is “construction and engineering works.” It is unnecessary to emphasize the plain applicability of the act to the employment involved.

Nor does the fact that the injury was sustained ,at some place other than upon ’'the employer’s premises take it from the operation of the act, since the employee in the course of h’is duties was required to> be at said other place at the time of the injury. Fort Smith Aircraft Co. v. State Industrial Commission, 151 Okla. 67, 1 P. (2d) 682.

Further, on the basis of section 13361, O O. 1931 (7295, C. O. S. 1921), providing that in the absence of substantial evidence to the contrary it shall be presumed that the claim comes within the provisions of the act, we held in Bishop et al. v. Wilson et al., 147 Okla. 224, 296 P. 438, that this section compels the Commission and this court to presume that the business conducted by the employer is within the provisions of the statute in the absence of some substantial evidence to the contrary. In the record before us there is no such evidence rebutting the presumption.

The petitioner next complains that the Commission’s order and award are invalid because the Commission did not excuse the failure to give notice, either on the ground that notice could not have been given, or that the employer and insurance carrier were not prejudiced, and made no finding at all with regard to the issue of lack oi notice.

Petitioner cites Greer County Gins et al. v. Dunnington, 166 Okla. 302, 27 P. (2d) 630. wherein we held, under section 13358, O. S. 1931 (requiring the injured employee to give notice of said injury to the employer and State Industrial Commission within 30 days) :

“When the failure to give such notice is made an issue by the pleadings, and evidence is given with relation to such issue, it is the duty of llie State Industrial Commission to make a specific finding upon such issue in order that this court on appeal may know what it intended to find with reference thereto and to judge the record accordingly.”

But it is apparent from a reading of the foregoing case that there was a conflict of evidence as to whether there was actual notice, and if there was, then whether the failure to give the statutory written notice prejudiced the employer or insurance carrier. In Oklahoma there is a clear distinction between such a case and a case wherein the evidence on those material issues is undisputed. The case of Greer County Gins v. Dunnington, supra, was based upon Pioneer Gas Utilities Co. v. Howard, 154 Okla. 239, 7 P. (2d) 435. But we have also held that the rule announced in the latter case, Pioneer Gas Utilities Co. v. Howard, is not applicable where it is undisputed that the employer had actual notice and the failure to give- written notice is not shown to have prejudiced said employer or insurance carrier; this ruling was made in the case of Maryland Casualty Co. v. Osborn, 166 Okla. 235, 26 P. (2d) 934. In that case it was held: (1) Where the employee fails to give the written notice, but offers competent evidence of the employer’s having received actual notice, the burden is then placed upon the employer or the insurance carrier to offer competent evidence tending to prove that, notwithstanding such actual notice, they were prejudiced by failure to give the written notice; (2) where the evidence of the employee as to the giving of actual notice is undisputed, and where there is no showing by the employer or insurance carrier that they were prejudiced by the failure to give written notice, the case is not one to be remanded to the Commission for failure to make a finding as to notice. Thus there is no conflict between Maryland Casualty Co. v. Osborn, supra, and Pioneer Gas Utilities Co. v. Howard, supra. And since Greer Clounty Gins v. Dunnington (cited by petitioner) simply follows Pioneer Gas Utilities Co. v. Howard, without extending it, the present case, on account of the facts recited below, comes within the classification of Maryland Casualty Co. v. Osborn, supra.

The case law in this jurisdiction seems to be: (1) Where the evidence showing actual notice on the part of the employee is undisputed, and the employer offers no proof that he was prejudiced by the failure to give written notice, then no finding on the question of notice by the Commission is necessary (Maryland Casualty Co. v. Osborn, supra; (2) but where actual notice is denied or there is testimony that the employer has been prejudiced by the failure to give the written notice required by the statute, notwithstanding the actual notice, then a finding on the question of notice by the Commission is necessary (Greer County Gins v. *117 Dunnington, supra; Pioneer Gas Utilities Co. v. Howard, supra).

In the present case it was conclusively established by the employee that the employer received actual notice of the injury within less than 24 hours after its occurrence. The employer obtained an ambulance for the employee and had him transported to a hospital. The employer’s “Hirst Notice of Injury,” being form 2, provided by the Commission, which was signed by the employer, stated that he provided medical attendance immediately after the accident. Further, the foreman knew of the accident immediately. Notice to the foreman is notice to the employer, and notice to the employer is notice to the insurance carrier. Maryland Casualty Co. v. Osborn, supra.

There are portions of the record indicating that the injured employee did not personally tell the employer of the injury immediately after its occurrence, but this is not a contradiction of the employer’s own testimony that he in fact did receive notice thereof though from the mouths of persons other than the injured man himself.

Under the rules above announced, the; fact of actual notice not being denied by any competent evidence, it was incumbent upon the employer or insurance carrier to offer some evidence of prejudice by reason of the failure to receive written notice.

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Bluebook (online)
46 P.2d 943, 173 Okla. 114, 1935 Okla. LEXIS 553, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/protho-v-nette-okla-1935.