Sproul v. Industrial Commission

370 P.2d 279, 91 Ariz. 128, 1962 Ariz. LEXIS 263
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedApril 4, 1962
Docket7263
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 370 P.2d 279 (Sproul v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sproul v. Industrial Commission, 370 P.2d 279, 91 Ariz. 128, 1962 Ariz. LEXIS 263 (Ark. 1962).

Opinion

JENNINGS, Justice.

John D. Sproul, hereinafter called “petitioner”, seeks by certiorari to review the findings and award made by the Industrial Commission, hereinafter called “Commission”, and to have said findings and award set aside.

On August 5, 1957 petitioner sustained an injury to his back by an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment with Leach’s Air Conditioning. He was treated by Dr. Warren D. Eddy, Jr. who performed an operation on petitioner’s back, known as a laminectomy, involving the fusion of two of the spinal vertebrae.

Although the operation was considered successful from an orthopedic point of view, there were still some residual findings connoting disability and impairment of petitioner’s back. However, it was thought that no further treatment of the physical difficulty was necessary at that time. The doctors 1 therefore recommended that petitioner’s case be closed with a finding of 10% general physical functional impairment, predicated on the patient’s history, the spinal fusion, and the residual stiffness and limitation of motion of petitioner’s back.

Despite the physical findings, petitioner continued to complain of severe pain in his back together with a tenderness in the region where the operation had been performed. The doctors stated that these were symptoms of the petitioner’s neurosis, 2 which manifested itself in pain for which there was no organic cause. 3 This neurosis was still present at the time of Dr. Eddy’s last examination of the petitioner.

On May 23, 1960 a hearing was held in order to determine the loss of earning capacity, if any, which petitioner had sustained by reason of his injury. Dr. Eddy testified that in his opinion the petitioner was physically limited from engaging in *130 the type of work which he had been doing at the time the accident occurred, and that petitioner should.not return to heavy work nor work requiring repeated lifting or bending. It was thought that petitioner should find some work which entailed a sedentary type of activity with little or no bending or lifting. Dr. Eddy stated that petitioner’s physical impairment woúld prevent him from doing any of the types of work with which he had experience, except -for possibly light gardening, farming, or cafe work. 4

A few. months prior to the hearing petitioner, with his wife, undertook the management of a small cafe. Petitioner performed the functions of a short order cook and dishwasher, while his wife waited upon tables and handled the other necessary chores. However, petitioner stated he found it impossible to be on his feet more than two or three hours at a time (although'he was at work from 12 to 14 hours per day) and it was therefore necessary for him to place a cot in the backroom of the cafe where he lay down when his back began to hurt him or when7 ever it was not necessary for him tó be on his feet.

Petitioner testified at the hearing that the neurosis limited his ability to perform work in the sense that it prevented him from doing the light work which otherwise he might have been physically able to do. He stated that any kind of work or activity which required lifting or bending caused pain which was so severe that it prevented him from continuing with such activity; that he is never free from pain in his back; and that the more work he tries to do the worse the pain gets. He testified that the only type of work which he had been able to perform since his injury of August 5, 1957 was the cafe , work and that he was unable to work an eight-hour shift, or for any protracted period of time. .

On September 22, 1960, a second hearing was held by the Commission. ' At this hearing Dr. Lindsay E. Beaton, a neuropsychiatrist, testified that in his opinion, as of October 1959, the date of his last examination of petitioner, the petitioner was totálly disabled from an emotional standpoint because of his hypochondriacal conr *131 viction that he was sick. 5 When informed that petitioner was in fact working, Dr. Beaton stated that something had happened in petitioner’s psychological setup enabling him to carry on a certain amount of work, but that without further facts (what petitioner is actually doing in his job, what his reaction to it is, etc.) he could not evaluate his working ability at that time.

On January 19, 1961 the Commission made its final award based in part upon the following findings:

“1. That * * * [petitioner] sustained personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment on August 5, 1957.
‡ ‡ ‡ jfc ‡ jH
“8. That * * * [petitioner] sustained a 10% general physical functional disability as the result of said accident.
“9. That * * * [petitioner] is physically able to perform the duties of a fry or order cook on a five-hour day, six days per week basis; that the reasonable value of such services is the sum of $1.75 per hour and therefore the * * * [petitioner] may reasonably expect to earn the sum of $227.50 per month, or 87.69% of the average monthly wage * * • * ■ [petitioner] earned prior to said accident.
“10. That * * * [petitioner] has sustained a 12.31% loss of earning capacity and therefore is entitled to an award for an unscheduled permanent partial disability in the sum of $17.57 monthly until further order of this Commission.
“11. In finding that * * * [petitioner] has sustained a 12.31% loss of earning capacity, this Commission has taken into consideration, in addition to the above, the following:
“(a) That * * * [petitioner] was 50 years old at the time of said accident.
“(b) That * * .* [petitioner] has a seventh grade education.
“(c) That * * * [petitioner’s] lifetime occupations consist mainly that of an unskilled laborer.”

Petitioner contends the Commission erred in its findings and award for the reasons that the award arbitrarily disregards uncontradicted medical evidence as to mental disease proximately caused to petitioner by the accident and is contrary to and unsupported by the evidence as to petitioner’s disability and loss of earning capacity.

*132 This court has held on previous occasions that neurosis, causally connected with a physical injury received by a workman arising out of and in the course of his employment, is compensable under the Arizona Workmen’s Compensation Act. Murray v. Industrial Commission, 87 Ariz. 190, 349 P.2d 627 (1960) ; Harmon v. Industrial Commission, 76 Ariz. 40, 258 P.2d 427 (1953); Safeway Stores v. Gilbert, 68 Ariz. 202, 203 P.2d 870

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

Related

Pate v. smith's/sedgwick Cms
Court of Appeals of Arizona, 2019
Post v. INDUSTRIAL COM'N OF ARIZONA
770 P.2d 308 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1989)
Villanueva v. Industrial Commission
714 P.2d 455 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1985)
Roach v. Industrial Commission
672 P.2d 175 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1983)
Roach v. Industrial Com'n of Arizona
672 P.2d 175 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1983)
HG BODDIFORD PAINTING CONS., INC. v. Boddiford
426 So. 2d 1243 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1983)
Cavco Industries v. INDUS. COM'N OF ARIZ.
631 P.2d 1087 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1981)
M. M. Sundt Construction Co. v. Industrial Commission
602 P.2d 475 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1979)
Dean v. Industrial Commission
551 P.2d 554 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1976)
Germain v. Cool-Rite Corp.
355 A.2d 642 (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1976)
Garcia v. Industrial Commission
548 P.2d 26 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1976)
Van Duzee v. Industrial Commission
543 P.2d 1152 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1975)
Masters v. Industrial Commission
489 P.2d 1214 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1971)
Robinson v. Industrial Commission
484 P.2d 1070 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1971)
State Comp. Fund v. GARCIA AND INDUSTRIAL COM'N
467 P.2d 84 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1970)
Patterson v. Industrial Commission
459 P.2d 338 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1969)
Andreason v. Industrial Commission
433 P.2d 287 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1967)
Malinski v. Industrial Commission
438 P.2d 38 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1967)
Fernandez v. Industrial Commission
424 P.2d 451 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1967)
Womack v. Industrial Commission
412 P.2d 71 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1966)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
370 P.2d 279, 91 Ariz. 128, 1962 Ariz. LEXIS 263, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sproul-v-industrial-commission-ariz-1962.