Stoll v. Industrial Accident Commission

126 P.2d 865, 20 Cal. 2d 440, 1942 Cal. LEXIS 296
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedJune 16, 1942
DocketS. F. No. 16679
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 126 P.2d 865 (Stoll v. Industrial Accident Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stoll v. Industrial Accident Commission, 126 P.2d 865, 20 Cal. 2d 440, 1942 Cal. LEXIS 296 (Cal. 1942).

Opinion

EDMONDS, J.

On September 28, 1937, a heavy timber fell upon Charles Stoll while he was engaged in reinforced concrete work. In an application for workmen’s compensation, he claimed to have received injuries to his right chest and also that his right shoulder and back had been severely [441]*441wrenched. Bight months later, and before any decision had been made upon his application, he died. His minor child, by a guardian ad litem, was then substituted for him as the applicant in the proceeding, and the Industrial Accident Commission made an award of compensation based upon a finding that Stoll had been totally disabled for one month following the accident. The commission also found that any disability sustained by him subsequent to that caused by the accident was due to tuberculosis, which was neither proximately caused nor exacerbated by his injury or by any injury arising out of and in the course of his employment. Upon a rehearing the commission affirmed the findings and award which it had previously made.

The present proceeding was then commenced. It was alleged as grounds for the issuance of the writ, that the Commission acted without and in excess of its powers and jurisdiction; that the evidence does not justify the findings of fact; and that the findings and award and the decision after rehearing are unreasonable.

Concerning the first of these grounds, the petitioner asserts that the evidence as to the injury suffered by Stoll and his subsequent illness was presented before three different referees of the commission, none of whom was familiar with the entire record. The record supports the petitioner’s assertions in this regard and shows various hearings which extended over a period of 18 months. But in granting the petition for rehearing, which was made upon all of the statutory grounds, the commission declared that it would submit the matter for reconsideration and determination upon the record then before it, ten days after service of the order, “unless within the said time good cause be shown to the contrary, in writing, and within which time any further requests either to file further medical reports or to request further hearing be requested and granted.” In response to that order the petitioner’s attorney asked for and was granted leave to file certain medical data, but there was no criticism of what the commission termed “the record as it now stands.” Under these circumstances any irregularity in the commission’s procedure was waived by the petitioner’s failure to demand a further hearing in accordance with its order.

The petitioner’s statement of the evidence, which he asserts does not justify the findings of fact, may be briefly summarized as follows: Before the injury Stoll was in good health and had worked steadily for some time. He had no [442]*442symptoms of tuberculosis, but within three weeks after the accident occurred, there were definite evidences of that disease. During that time he received lamp treatments and massages. Within two months he was hospitalized, and he died of chronic tuberculosis about six months later. The only evidence that he was suffering from active tuberculosis at the time of the injury is certain X-ray pictures taken two days after the accident, and these are not determinative of the question. On the contrary, the evidence shows that the injury lighted up a tubercular infection which was in a dormant, quiescent and latent state.

But the record does not support these conclusions. Although there is some evidence which would support a finding that Stoll’s injury aggravated and produced an active tuberculosis from a previously dormant condition, there is other evidence directly to the contrary. The commission was confronted with this conflict of opinion concerning the cause of Stoll’s illness and death and decided that, except for one month of disability, neither was caused by the accident.

The evidence in the case includes the testimony of Stoll, his wife and the foreman on the job where he was injured, and the written reports of several physicians. Two of the physicians supplemented their reports by testimony before the commission. All but two of them had examined Stoll.

At the first hearing upon his claim for compensation, Stoll testified that he had been in very good health before the happening of the accident and “never did have any trouble” requiring the services of a physician. His testimony is corroborated to some extent by his wife, who met him about a year before. During that time, she said, he gave no evidence of ill health or tuberculosis. The foreman, who had known him for some time, stated that he never knew him to be ill.

The first physician who examined Stoll was Dr. F. Justin McCarthy, who saw him two days after the accident occurred. His report includes a statement of the facts concerning the accident which is substantially the same as the testimony of Stoll. Dr. McCarthy’s opinion, based in part upon X-ray pictures taken that day, was that Stoll had “a definite muscle strain causing soreness. He will be under treatment for three or four weeks and should make a complete recovery.” Dr. McCarthy examined Stoll again about three weeks later. His findings were: “Insofar as the injury is concerned, he is practically well at this time. He states that he has been los[443]*443ing weight and I have therefore referred him to Dr. H. M. F. Behneman for examination.”

The report of Dr. Behneman is based upon a very complete examination of Stoll made on October 26, 1937. It also includes a statement concerning the happening of the accident which agrees with that given by Stoll. Dr. Behneman expressed the opinion: “There is ample evidence here of the diagnosis of advanced pulmonary tuberculosis. There was also definite evidence of the pathology in the pictures of the right shoulder taken the day after his accident. The process was so advanced that previous to the accident we have evidence of numerous subjective symptoms, proving its chronicity. It is our firm belief that neither the accident nor the physical therapy treatments exacerbated this tuberculosis.”

The day following his examination by Dr. Behneman, Stoll was examined by Dr. Shipman. This examination included fluoroscopy, X-ray and laboratory work. Based upon it, Dr. Shipman expressed the opinion that Stoll gave evidence of “advanced, active, pulmonary tuberculosis with infiltration, consolidation and cavitation of the right upper lobe. Since the changes are advanced and involve cavitation as well as fibrosis, the latter being indicated by some deviation of the trachea toward the affected side, it is obvious that the disease existed long before the date of the accident and in addition there is X-ray evidence two days after the accident to show that the disease actually did exist in an advanced state at that time. There is, therefore, no reason to suppose that the accident or subsequent manipulation of his right shoulder had anything to do with his tuberculosis. Since his disease is active, Mr. Stoll should be hospitalized and receive appropriate treatment.”

On November 12, 1937, Stoll was received as a patient in San Francisco Hospital. In March, 1938, he filed with the commission a report made by Dr. W. C. Eidenmuller based upon a ease history, which is in accord with his testimony and the reports made by the other physicians who had examined him. Although Dr.

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Bluebook (online)
126 P.2d 865, 20 Cal. 2d 440, 1942 Cal. LEXIS 296, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stoll-v-industrial-accident-commission-cal-1942.