Schumacher v. Leslie

232 S.W.2d 913
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedOctober 9, 1950
Docket41765
StatusPublished
Cited by77 cases

This text of 232 S.W.2d 913 (Schumacher v. Leslie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schumacher v. Leslie, 232 S.W.2d 913 (Mo. 1950).

Opinion

232 S.W.2d 913 (1950)

SCHUMACHER
v.
LESLIE.

No. 41765.

Supreme Court of Missouri, en Banc.

October 9, 1950.

*914 Orr, Pflager, Foulis & Andreas, St. Louis, for appellant.

Doris J. Banta, Carter, Bull & McNulty, St. Louis, for respondent.

BOHLING, Commissioner.

Jacob E. Schumacher sued C. H. Leslie, a physician for $10,420 damages for alleged malpractice. Cast on defendant's motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim against defendant, plaintiff has appealed. Plaintiff says the question is whether an employee, covered by the Workmen's Compensation Act, who has sustained a compensable injury under said Act and has had such injury aggravated by the malpractice of the physician furnished by his employer or insurer, can maintain an action against the physician for malpractice if he has not accepted a "Final Award of Compensation" under the Act. We do not detail the allegations *915 of plaintiff's petition as to do so would serve no useful purpose.

The case turns on the construction of §§ 3691 and 3699, R.S.1939, Mo.R.S.A., of Chapter 29, relating to Workmen's Compensation. Said sections, so far as material, provide:

"If both employer and employee have elected to accept the provisions of this chapter, the employer shall be liable irrespective of negligence, to furnish compensation under the provisions of this chapter for personal injury or death of the employee by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, and shall be released from all other liability therefor whatsoever, whether to the employee or any other person. The rights and remedies herein granted to an employee, shall exclude all other rights and remedies of such employee, his wife, her husband, parents, personal representatives, dependents, heirs or next kin, at common law or otherwise, on account of such accidental injury or death, except such rights and remedies as are not provided for by this chapter. * * *" § 3691, supra.

"Where a third person is liable to the employee * * *, for the injury * * *, the employer shall be subrogated to the right of the employee * * * against such third person, and the recovery by such employer shall not be limited to the amount payable as compensation to such employee * * *, but such employer may recover any amount which such employee * * * would have been entitled to recover. Any recovery by the employer against such third person, in excess of the compensation paid by the employer, after deducting the expenses of making such recovery shall be paid forthwith to the employee * * *, and shall be treated as an advance payment by the employer, on account of any future installments of compensation." § 3699, supra.

We agree with defendant that Hanson v. Norton, 1937, 340 Mo. 1012, 103 S.W.2d 1, is "in point"; and that it is not to be distinguished by the fact that Hanson accepted the "Final Award of Compensation" under the Act, and received full satisfaction, whereas plaintiff has refused to accept part of the compensation due him under the Act and has not received full satisfaction. The trial court properly deferred to Hanson v. Norton for the latest rulings on the issues. Plaintiff also argues that he is entitled to maintain this action as against a "third person" within § 3699, supra, and also that the Workmen's Compensation Act has not taken away his common law action against the physician who aggravated his injury. After carefully considering the applicable Missouri statutes and case law and the cases from other jurisdictions, we conclude we should rechart our course and Hanson v. Norton should not be followed.

The provisions of the Workmen's Compensation acts in the different states are variously worded and holdings under the differently worded statutes need not be developed in detail as the issue is to be determined under the applicable Missouri statutes and case law.

Among the cases reaching the conclusion that no recovery can be had by an injured employee, who has received compensation under a compensation act, against a physician for malpractice resulting in an aggravation of his injury under statutes variously worded are the cases cited in footnote[1].

In other jurisdictions the injured employee's right of action against the physician for malpractice has been upheld. Again, the applicable statutory provisions are variously worded. In some instances the physician *916 has been considered a "third person." See cases cited in footnote[2]. For other cases advancing different reasons for permitting a recovery, see footnote[3].

In Hanson v. Norton, supra, Norton was employed by Hanson's employer and its insurer to render medical and surgical treatment, and he treated Hanson when he received a compensable injury. Hanson accepted the full compensation awarded him under the Act for his injuries, which included compensation under the Act for the aggravation resulting from Norton's alleged malpractice.

In these circumstances the court held that Norton, the physician, was not a third person under now § 3699, because "we are of the opinion that in order for a wrongdoer to be a third person against whom an action may be maintained by the injured party, after such injured party has received full compensation under the Compensation Act, such person must be the one who committed, or is responsible for the commission of, the act that resulted in the original injury. Paine v. Wyatt, 217 Iowa 1147, 251 N.W. 78. Under such construction, defendant in the present case, is not a third person under section 3309 [now § 3699, supra],, not only because he was not primarily liable under the act, but because he did not commit the original act which resulted in the original injury." 103 S.W.2d loc. cit. 5[3].

The court also considered that payment under the Compensation Act effected an accord and satisfaction; applying the common law rule "that when an injured party has received full satisfaction for his injury, from one wrongdoer, whether the injury was caused by one or more, each of whom may be severally liable, he is barred from further recovery from the other tortfeasors." This is good law as between common law joint tort-feasors; but whether the "compensation payable under the Act" constitutes full accord and satisfaction "at common law" when a third person tort-feasor is liable depends upon the wording of the specific statutory provisions involved.

"The Compensation Act does not take away the employee's common-law right against an offending third person." Reynolds v. Grain Belt Mills Co., 229 Mo.App. 380, 78 S.W.2d 124, 130[3]. Bunner v. Patti, 343 Mo. 274, 121 S.W.2d 153, 155[3], points out that while § 3699, supra, subrogates the employer to the rights of the employee against a third person: "yet it is settled that the employee also may sue, independent of the statute, or the two may sue together; and this is true notwithstanding the employee has already claimed and collected compensation under the Act for the same injuries from his employer. Anzer v. Humes-Deal Co., 332 Mo. 432, 58 S.W.2d 962."[4]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

McGhee v. Khalilov
W.D. Missouri, 2021
Skyler Leeper v. Andy Asmus
Missouri Court of Appeals, 2014
Leeper v. Asmus
440 S.W.3d 478 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2014)
Hansen v. Ritter
375 S.W.3d 201 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2012)
ATS, INC. v. Listenberger
111 S.W.3d 495 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2003)
James v. Poppa
85 S.W.3d 8 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 2002)
Butts v. Express Personnel Services
73 S.W.3d 825 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2002)
Farmer-Cummings v. Future Foam, Inc.
44 S.W.3d 830 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2001)
Rose v. Falcon Communications, Inc.
6 S.W.3d 429 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1999)
McCormack v. Stewart Enterprises, Inc.
916 S.W.2d 219 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1995)
William H. Pickett, P.C. v. American States Family Insurance Co.
857 S.W.2d 309 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1993)
Workman v. Vader
854 S.W.2d 560 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1993)
Tauchert v. Boatmen's National Bank of St. Louis
849 S.W.2d 573 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1993)
Walihan v. St. Louis-Clayton Orthopedic Group, Inc.
849 S.W.2d 177 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1993)
Barker v. H & J Transporters, Inc.
837 S.W.2d 537 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
232 S.W.2d 913, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schumacher-v-leslie-mo-1950.