State Ex Rel. Melbourne Hotel Co. v. Hostetter

126 S.W.2d 1189, 344 Mo. 472, 1939 Mo. LEXIS 424
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedApril 4, 1939
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 126 S.W.2d 1189 (State Ex Rel. Melbourne Hotel Co. v. Hostetter) 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
State Ex Rel. Melbourne Hotel Co. v. Hostetter, 126 S.W.2d 1189, 344 Mo. 472, 1939 Mo. LEXIS 424 (Mo. 1939).

Opinion

*475 HAYS, J.

Certiorari to the judges of the St. Louis Court of Appeals by which it is sought to quash the opinion of said court in the cause of Maude Caldwell, Appellant, v. Melbourne Hotel Company and Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company, Respondents, 116 S. W. (2d) 232.

The case before the respondent judges was an appeal by Mrs. Caldwell from a judgment of the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis; affirming the final award of the Missouri Workmen’s Compensation Commission, whereby Mrs. Caldwell was awarded compensation of $10 per week for 207 weeks for permanent partial disability. Respondents reversed the judgment of the circuit court and remanded the case with instructions to that court to remand the case to the commission “with instructions to make a temporary partial award of compensation for temporary total disability; and with further instructions to the commission to retain jurisdiction of the' cause and keep the same open until a final award can be made, after a hearing, upon application of any party or upon the commission’s own motion.”

On May 17, .1934, Mrs. Caldwell, while in the employ of relator Melbourne Hotel Company, suffered a fall in- which she sustained a fracture through the neck of her left femur. After a hearing, on March 24, 1936, a referee of the commission made an award finding that the employee had suffered a permanent partial disability and *476 allowing her compensation at the rate of $10 per week for 20.7 weeks. As the nature of the,injury, the referee found as follows: “Parts of the body injured by accident: left hip. Exact nature of any permanent injury: complete loss of left leg at hip joint.” On November 6, 1936, the employee, at- her own request appeared before the full commission, walking 'on crutches, and was viewed by the commission. After a hearing before the full commission, on November 12, 1936, that body, on January 13, 1937, rendered its final award unanimously affirming the awapd of the referee. This is the background of the ease as stated in respondents’ opinion.

Said opinion states the issue on appeal as follows: “Employer and insurer contend that the disability of the plaintiff was and is confined to her left leg, and that she has been awarded the maximum amount she would be entitled to receive for the total and permanent loss of said leg by amputation at the hip joint.” The opinion proceeds to state in detail the testimony as given at the final hearing before the commission by the five witnesses examined, namely, the employee and her attending physician and three physicians who testified for the employer.

Next respondents’ opinion states the well-established rules governing awards made by the commission, citing several authorities which announce and apply those rules. After which the court made the following ruling: “Giving the principles announced in the above-cited eases their full force and effect in the case at bar, we are nevertheless of the opiniop. that there is not suffieiept competent evidence in this record to warrant the award made by the Compensation Commission. ” That holding was followed by respondents' analysis and discussion of the evidence, at the close of which the conclusion of law was drawn that “at the time of the hearing the employee was suffering from total disability” as defined in Section 3305 (e), Revised Statutes 1929 (Mo. Stat. Ann., sec. 3305 (e), p. 8239), as follows: “the,term ‘total disability’ as used in this chapter shall mean inability to return to any emplojunent and not merely mean inability to return to the employment in which the employee was engaged at the time of the accident,-” Continuing, the court construed said section and undertook to show the applicability of the same to the facts. Thereupon it was ruled in the opinion that ‘ ‘ The commission erroneously laid too much stress on Section 3315, Revised Statutes 1929 (Mo. Stat. Ann., sec. 3315, p. 8249), which provides for permanent partial disability. It did not give proper consideration to Section 3313, Revised Statutes 1929 (Mo. Stat. Ann., sec. 3313, p. 8249), which provides for compensation for temporary total disability, and failed to give effect to the definition of ‘total disability’ as provided in Section 3305 (e), Revised Statutes 1929, and as applied by our courts.”

The-opinion discourses and cites authorities upon the Compensation *477 Act’s requirement that it' must be construed as a whole and given liberal construction, and upon the rule -that éven though there be some evidence to support the finding of the commission, yet if it is not of such character that the court can decíate it- legally sufficient, it is the duty of the court to modify, reverse, remand' for rehearing, or set aside the award.

Applying such rules of statutory construction to the' matter at hand, respondents further held as a matter of law that ‘ ‘ on the evidence in this record, the commission was not in a position to determine whether final result of the injury sustained by the employee would be only permanent partial disability. The Legislature has provided by Section 3313, Revised Statutes 1929 (Mo. Stat. Ann., sec. 3313, p. 8249), for compensation for temporary total disability for a period of not more than 400 weeks during the continuance of such disability. It is clear that the enactment of that section was intended to provide a sufficiently long period of time for the payment of compensation for temporary total disability to enable the Compensation Commission to appraise justly the nature and extent of an employee’s injuries before making a final award, while in-the meantime paying-compensation to the employee for temporary total disability. That, intention is further evident when we consider* Section 3344, Revised Statutes 1929 (Mo. Stat. Ann., sec. 3344, p. 8281), which provides: ‘In any ease a temporary or partial award of compensation may be made, and the same may be modified fr'om time to time to meet the-needs of the ease, and the same may be kept open until a final award can be made.’ ”

The counsel for relators urge that the respondents assume the-functions of passing upon the credibility of the witnesses, particularly the claimant; that they adopted her testimony as true and made-it the basis of their decision and judgment; and failed to accept as. true the testimony given, and all reasonable inferences therefrom, in support of the award; and that in so doing they failed to follow, this-, court’s controlling decisions and thus exceeded their jurisdiction.

To this w„e do not agree. We have carefully - examined relators’’ citations of authorities and we find no conflict in' this respect. Relators cite a number of decisions on this -point, among them, Shroyer v. Missouri Livestock Comm. Co. (in banc), 332 Mo. 1219, 61 S. W. (2d) 713; Burgstrand v. Crowe Coal Co., 336 Mo. 119, 77 S. W. (2d) 97. As hone of them deals with situations similar to those presented here it is needless to review any of them. Perhaps the most illustrative decision supporting’ relators’ theory is Teague v. Laclede-Christy Clay Products Co., 331 Mo. 146, 52 S. W. (2d) 880. In that case the trial court after quoting the findings made by the commission, proceeded as follows: “It is obvious that the finding of facts made by the Workmen’s Compensation Commission relates exclusively to events and eircmhstance's preceding the date of the *478 accident.

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Bluebook (online)
126 S.W.2d 1189, 344 Mo. 472, 1939 Mo. LEXIS 424, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-melbourne-hotel-co-v-hostetter-mo-1939.