Sinclair Prairie Oil Co. v. State Industrial Commission

1936 OK 660, 62 P.2d 1027, 178 Okla. 375, 1936 Okla. LEXIS 832
Supreme Court of Oklahoma·Decided October 20, 1936·No. No. 26618.·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

PER CURIAM..

This is an original proceeding in this court brought by Sinclair Prairie Oil Company, as petitioner, to obtain the review of an award made on August 13, 1035, by the State Industrial Commission in favor of the respondent Elmer Crail.

On September 4, 1929, the respondent filed with the State Industrial Commission an employee’s first notice of injury and claim for compensation wherein he alleged an injury to his right foot as the result of an accident sustained by him while in the employ of the petitioner on August 9, 1929. Payment of initial compensation was reported to the commission on September 14, 1929, and on September 28, 1929, the parties filed stipulation and receipt on the commission’s Form No. 7, whereby payment of further compensation was evidenced. Thereafter, on May-14, 1930, the respondent filed another employee’s first notice of injury and claim for compensation with the commission, wherein he alleged injury to his ankle and eye as a result of accident sustained on August 9 and August 12, 1929; thereafter, on July 30, '1930, a joint agreement on commission’s Form No. 14 was filed, whereunder the parties agreed that the respondent had sustained a 10 per cent, permanent loss of use of his right foot as a result of accident August 9, 1929, and under which respondent was paid the further sum of $300. This agreement was approved by the commission on August 4, 1930. Thereafter, on June 22, 1932, the respondent requested the commission to reopen the cause on account of change in his condition. As a result of a hearing conducted on this application the commission, on July 13, 1932, awarded the respondent the further sum of $270 on account of an additional 10 per cent, loss of use of his right foot. In all of the proceedings thus had before the commission the alleged injury to the respondent’s eye was not considered and no testimony was offered or submitted in connection therewith. Subsequently, on March 30, 1933, the respondent filed a motion requesting the commission to reopen the cause and to determine the extent of his disability as shown by a report of Dr. James R. Reed, attached to said motion and made a part thereof. This report reveals that the respondent had sustained an entire loss of vision in his left eye. The commission thereupon proceeded to hear the parties upon this issue, and evidence was introduced by both respondent and petitioners and the cause submitted to the commission upon the single issue presented.. The commission thereupon, on April 21, 1933, entered the following order:

“Now, on this 21st day of April, 1933, the State Industrial Commission being regularly in session, this cause comes on to be considered pursuant to a hearing held at Oklahoma City, April 17, 1933, before Inspector T. .1. McConville, duly assigned by the commission to conduct said hearing, on motion to reopen and award further compensation, at which hearing the claimant appeared in person and by his attorney, Owen F. Rene-gar, the respondent appeared by Worth B. McCauley; and the commission, after reviewing the testimony taken at said hearing, reviewing the record on file, and being otherwise well and sufficiently advised in the premises, is of the opinion that claimant's motion to reopen should be overruled.
“Upon consideration of the foregoing facts the commission is of the opinion that the claimant’s motion to reopen on change of condition be and the same is hereby overruled.”

The parties appeared to be satisfied with the order of the commission, and no further action was taken until April 26, 1935, when the respondent again requested the commission to determine the extent of his disability on account of injury to his left eye, alleging that the commission had never made or denied an award on account of this disability. On May 29, 1935, the petitioner filed a reply wherein it pleaded that the order of April 21, 1933, was res adjndieata of the question which respondent was then attempting to *377 Lave the commission determine. At the hearing the petitioner challenged the jurisdiction of the commission on account of failure of the respondent to give notice of alleged injury of August 12, 1929, and on the further ground that the claim of injury to the eye had been adjudicated adversely to the respondent by the commission in its order of April 21, 1933. The objections and exceptions were overruled, and the commission proceeded to again hear the parties, the evidence at this hearing being substantially the same as that introduced at the hearing had in April, 1933. As a result of this last hearing the commission made the following findings:

“1. That on the 9th day of August, 1929, the claimant herein was in the employ of this respondent and engaged in the performance of manual labor as defined by the Workmen’s Compensation Law; that arising out of and in the course of such employment the claimant sustained an accidental personal injury the nature of which was an injury to his right ankle caused by a sprain and tearing the ligaments loose, and being hit on the head by a 2 by 12 plank, causing his left eye to be injured.
“2. That on August 9, 1932, the commission made and entered its order adjudicating the amount of permanent partial disability and the temporary total disability, by reason of the injury to the right ankle, but there was no adjudication because of the injury to the left eye.
“3. That the commission also in its order of August 9, 1932, adjudicated the average daily wage of the claimant at $6 per day at the timé of said accidental injury.
“4. That by reason of said accidental injury the claimant has sustained a total loss of sight or vision of the left eye.
”5. That under the facts in this cause the respondent was not prejudiced by reason of the failure of the claimant to give written notice to the commission and the respondent within 30 days, for the reason that the respondent had actual notice of the claimant being hit on the head, which resulted in the loss of vision to his left eye”

—and awarded respondent the sum of $1,800 as compensation on account of 100 per cent, loss of vision in his left eye. This award we are now called upon to review.

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Sinclair Prairie Oil Co. v. State Industrial Commission, 1936 OK 660, 62 P.2d 1027, 178 Okla. 375, 1936 Okla. LEXIS 832 (Okla. 1936).

1936 OK 660 (Sinclair Prairie Oil Co. v. State Industrial Commission) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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