Skelly Oil Co. v. Standley

1931 OK 28, 297 P. 235, 148 Okla. 77, 1931 Okla. LEXIS 808
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 3, 1931
Docket21601
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 1931 OK 28 (Skelly Oil Co. v. Standley) 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
Skelly Oil Co. v. Standley, 1931 OK 28, 297 P. 235, 148 Okla. 77, 1931 Okla. LEXIS 808 (Okla. 1931).

Opinions

RILEY, J.

Respondent Standley sustained an accidental personal injury arising out of and in the course of his hazardous employment with petitioner on September 12, 1928. On September 18, 1928, employer filed with the Commission its first notice of injury, showing- an injured finger, “wrenched lower part of body, slightly scratched face and leg bruised some.” On October 26, 1928, the attending physician’s report was filed, showing “crushed chest, cut leg, badly bruised face, mashed finger.” On December 12, 1928, a stipulation of fact was filed showing “crushed chest, cut leg, bruised face, mashed finger,” which stipulation was stamped approved by the Commission on December 13, 1928, and receipt for payment of a total sum of $187.55, on account of the disabilities resulting from injury sustained, is shown.

On November 1, 1929, Standley filed a “Motion of Claimant to Review Award” on the ground of a change in condition based upon the ground “that my arm is worse since I signed final receipt on December 10, 1928.”

The Commission heard evidence as to a change in condition.

Dr. Manning testified that on September 12, 1928, he had examined Standley and found a bruised chest, face, bruised right arm and injured finger. His testimony continues :

“When we discharged him he didn’t have the condition of the arm that shows now. and when he came back some days ago I found this condition of the arm — apparently an atrophy or separation of the muscle tissues in the arm, which did not exist at the time he went out of the hospital.”

And as to the condition of Standley now, the doctor testified:

“Everything is confined to his right arm, so far as I can see.”

As to the condition of Standley’s arm at the time of the accident, the doctor testified :

“Q. Do you remember he had his arm hurt? A. The arm at the time was bruised and swollen and the whole right side was bruised.”

Dr. D. L. Garrett testified that Standley’s present condition of disability was due to the lesion of his right arm, and that about 50 per cent, disability was therein present; that there appeared to be a severed muscle in the right arm, which could have been due to the injury.

Standley testified he had received no injury since September 12, 1928, and that prior thereto his arm was all right with the muscle fully developed.

Dr. White testified also as to the present condition of Standley’s arm and said the disability was 20 per cent.; that the disability now present, in his opinion, existed at the time of settlement.

The Commission found a 40 per cent, permanent disability to Standley’s right arm resulting from the accident of September 12, 1928, and directed payment therefor, together with the medical expense incurred by the claimant as a result of this accidental injury, of which order ahd award petitioner Skelly Oil Company seek this review, contending : Eirst:

“The claim of claimant is barred by the one year limitation provided by section 7301, O. O. S. 1921, for the reason that he did not file a claim for compensation for injury* *79 †0 his right arm with the Commission within one year after the dale of injury.”

Section 7301, C. O. S-. 1921, provides:

"The right to claim compensation under this act shall be forever barred unless within one year after the injury a claim for compensation thereunder shall be filed with the Commission.”

The memorandum or agreement as to the facts herein entered into by the parties and filed under provisions of section 7294, C. O. S. 1921, as amended by S. L. 1923, ch. 61, p. 125, sec. 7, “is the basis of the award of the Industrial Commission, and an award made thereon has the same force and effect as an award made upon a hearing and may be reviewed under the provisions of section 7296, C. O. S. 1921.” St. Joseph Mining Co. v. Pettitt, 90 Okla. 242, 216 Pac. 657.

The stipulation was in lieu of a claim. It would not be compatible with our idea of justice to permit an injured workman to be lulled into a sense of security by an agreement as to the facts of an injury, paid thereon, and when the injury became aggravated by a change in condition, denied the benefits of section 7296. upon the ground thait he had filed ho claim and was therefore barred' by the statute of limitation.

So. then, we hold that the agreement as to the facts substituted for a claim. True this agreement of December 10, 1928, did not mention an injury to the ai'm, but merely recited an aforesaid “crushed chest, cut leg. bruised face and mashed finger.”

The case of Ehrhart v. Indus. Accident Commission. 172 Cal. 621, 158 Pac. 193, Ann. Cas. 1917E, 465, cited in the case of Cagle v. Federal Mining & Smelting Co., 112 Okla. 247, 249 Pac. 617. holds that under their statute similar to ours (section 7296, supra, providing for a review of an award by the Commission on ground of change in condition and empowering the Commission on such review to “end. diminish or increase” compensation previously awarded), the Commission having awarded compensation for a leg injury, it could not after the lapse of time provided by their statute of limitation award claimant compensation for a lung injury suffered in the same n'-cident, but which latter injury had not been previously reported.

The Cagle Case, supra, holds a claim made for an injury more than six months after the accident and not reported in the original claim cannot become the basis for modifying an award upon a ground of change in condition (section 7296) when “the later injury is disassociated as an effect from the first injury.”

We decline to follow the dictum contained in the Cagle Case, which approves the reasoning in 'the Ebrhart Case. Th*-: dissenting opinion in the Ehrhart Case (Cal.) is in line with our view.

The stipulation and agreement of December 10, 1928, was in contemplation of an accidental injury within the terms of the act.

The extent of the accident was agreed to be “temporary* total,” the pasmient was not for any specific injury, as for example “crushed chest, cut leg, bruised face and mashed finger,” but “on account of disability resulting from injury sustained by claimant on above date.” True, the disability was based upon injuries specifically enumerated.

In this case the injured employee did institute proceedings within the one-year statutory period (said by petitioner to be a bar to recovery for this specific injury' to the employee’s arm). Jurisdiction was thus vested in the Commission so as to cover any other disability resulting from the accident.

It is insisted that disability resulting from the injury to the arm was not claimed or made a part of the agreed statement of facts, and, therefore, the Commission is without jurisdiction to act in review of the aggravated condition as contemplated by section 7296, supra. This is tantamount to saying thait the full effect of the accident must be known by the claimant and reported by him within the statutory period, and, if not, compensation cannoit be allowed’. Such a holding would be contrary to the spirit of the act as well as the liberal interpretation, policy adopted.

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Bluebook (online)
1931 OK 28, 297 P. 235, 148 Okla. 77, 1931 Okla. LEXIS 808, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/skelly-oil-co-v-standley-okla-1931.