Singleton v. Young Lumber Co.

114 S.E.2d 837, 236 S.C. 454, 1960 S.C. LEXIS 57
CourtSupreme Court of South Carolina
DecidedJune 15, 1960
Docket17671
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 114 S.E.2d 837 (Singleton v. Young Lumber Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Singleton v. Young Lumber Co., 114 S.E.2d 837, 236 S.C. 454, 1960 S.C. LEXIS 57 (S.C. 1960).

Opinion

Moss, Justice.

This is a proceeding for compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, Section 72-1 et seq., Code of 1952, instituted by Louis Singleton, respondent, against Young Lumber Company, employer, and Granite State Fire Insurance Company, carrier, appellants.

The respondent did, on August 16, 1956, while in the employ of Young Lumber Company, fall from a scaffold on a building under construction into an open septic tank, receiving a compound comminuted fracture of his right tibia and fibula at the ankle level, and other injuries. It appears that the respondent was treated by a local physician in Beaufort, South Carolina, who referred him to Dr. John A. Seigling, Orthopedic Surgeon of Charleston; South Carolina, for treatment. The respondent was hospitalized in Roper Hospital, in Charleston, South Carolina, from the day of his injury until September 25, 1956. Upon being discharged *458 from the hospital, the respondent returned to his home on St. Helena Island in Beaufort County.

It appears that on August 31, 1956, the parties entered into an agreement on Industrial Commission Form 15, wherein it was admitted that the respondent had received an injury arising out of and in the course of his employment. This agreement provided for the payment of $24.00 per week from August 24, 1956, “until terminated in accordance with the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Law of the State of South Carolina”. This agreement was approved by the Industrial Commission on September 5, 1956. Compensation payments were made under the foregoing award for total disability until July 15, 1957. Apparently the appellants stopped payment of compensation after receiving the report of Dr. Siegling that the respondent was released from further medical treatment as having reached maximum improvement. This surgeon rated the respondent as having sixty per cent disability of his right foot. Thereafter, the appellants, through their counsel, offered to counsel for the respondent, by way of settlement, a payment of compensation for sixty per cent disability of the right foot and Two Thousand ($2,000.00) Dollars for serious bodily disfigurement, which offer was rejected.

It appears from the record that the appellants stopped payment of compensation under the foregoing award without complying with Section 72-352 of the 1952 Code of Laws and Rule 12 of the Industrial Commission.

A hearing was fixed for October 16, 1957, before a Single Commissioner, for the purpose of determining whether or not the appellants had the right to permanently stop payment of compensation, which the Industrial Commission had ordered the appellants to pay, under the agreement approved on September 5, 1956, to which reference has heretofore been made. At the beginning of this hearing the appellants took the position that no hearing should be held until the respondent submitted to an examination by Dr. Robert M. *459 Paulling, an Orthopedic Surgeon in Charleston, as was demanded on September 26, 1957. It further appears that when the appellants demanded that the respondent appear for examination by Dr. Paulling that they tendered a check for travel expenses of the respondent. The respondent, through his counsel, refused to go to Charleston for examination by Dr. Paulling and the expense check was returned.

The motion for a delay of the hearing until the respondent submitted to an examination by Dr. Paulling was orally denied by the Single Commissioner. The employer and carrier appealed the oral denial of this motion to the Full Commission, which said appeal was, by letter, denied, on the ground that such was premature. An appeal was taken to the Circuit Court which resulted in the Trial Judge dismissing such.

The scope of the hearing before the Single Commissioner was not only to determine whether or not the appellants had the right to permanently stop payment of compensation, under the approved agreement heretofore referred to, but for the purpose of determining the nature and extent of any disability and disfigurement of the respondent. At the hearing before the Single Commissioner, the testimony of the respondent was taken, and that of Doctors Stanley F. Morse and B. H. Keyserling. The record also shows that the deposition of Dr. John A. Siegling was taken in Charleston on October 27, 1957.

Thereafter, the Single Commissioner filed his opinion and award, wherein he held that the respondent sustained an accidental injury on August 16, 1956, arising out of and in the course of his employment. He also found that the parties entered into an agreement as to compensation on August 31, 1956, which said agreement was approved by the Industrial Commission on September 5, 1956, in accordance with Sections 72-351 and 72-357, of the 1952 Code of Laws. He held that the appellants, without authority, violated the aforesaid agreement and award by arbitrarily stopping the *460 .payments of compensation on July 15, 1957, without complying -with Section 72-352 of the Code, and Rule 12 of the Commission. He assessed a ten pér cent penalty, pursuant to Section'72-159 of the Code, for the failure of the appellants to pay' the compensation in accordance with the terms of the agreement approved by the Commission. He also held that the respondent was totally disabled, and the payment of compensation was governed by Section 72-151 of the Code.

As we have heretofore stated, the Single Commissioner held that-the respondent did not give up his right to compensation by his refusal to submit himself to an examination by Dr. Robert M. Paulling. He held that the demand of the appellants for the further examination of the respondent was untimely and unreasonable, and that the refusal by the respondent was fully justified. The appellants made timely application for a review before the Full Commission of the findings and award made by the Single Commissioner. A majority of the Full Commission affirmed the award of the Single-Commissioner. From the findings and award of the majority of the Full Commission, an appeal was made to the Court, of Common Pleas for Beaufort County, and such appeal was heard by the late Honorable E. H. Henderson, Presiding Judge, who affirmed the opinion and award of a majority of the.Full Commission. Timely appeal to this Court followed. The exceptions of the appellants, in our opinion, raise three questions for determination. (1) Was the respondent justified in refusing to undergo an examination by Dr. Paulling as demanded by the appellants? (2) Did the Trial Judge commit error in affirming the Industrial Commission in assessing the ten per cent penalty for their failure to make the compensation payments under the terms of an agreement entered into by the appellants with the respondent, and approved by the Industrial Commission, without complying with Section 72-352 of the 1952 Code of Laws and Rule 12 of the Comrnission ? (3.) Whether total disability may be awarded to the respondent under Section 72-151 of the 1952 Code of Laws of South Carolina, when the sole *461 ba'sis. of such award is the loss, or partial loss, of use of a member of the body for which compensation is specifically provided for under Section 72-153 of the Code?

We shall first determine whether the respondent was justified in refusing to undergo an examination by Dr. Paulling as demanded by the appellants.

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Bluebook (online)
114 S.E.2d 837, 236 S.C. 454, 1960 S.C. LEXIS 57, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/singleton-v-young-lumber-co-sc-1960.