Ætna Life Ins. v. Graham

284 S.W. 931
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedJune 9, 1926
DocketNo. 667-4553
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 284 S.W. 931 (Ætna Life Ins. v. Graham) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ætna Life Ins. v. Graham, 284 S.W. 931 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1926).

Opinion

POWELL, P. J.

Artie Graham was the daughter of Kate and Jesse Graham. She began working for the Thomsen Company of Waco, manufacturers of shoe polish, about two years before she resigned in May, 1922, because of ill health. On January 31, 1924, she died of tuberculosis. The Thom-sen Company was a subscriber under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, and was insured by the /Etna Life Insurance Company. Upon the death of Miss Artie her relatives were notified, in due course, that the Industrial Accident Board of Texas had denied the claim for compensation. The Board adopted the view which we now entertain and which we shall later state. Being dissatisfied with the decision of the Board, an appeal was had to the courts. Upon a trial in the district court before a jury, compensation was awarded. Upon appeal, the Court of Civil Appeals reversed the judgment of the district court and remanded the cause for a new trial. See 279 S. W. 923. It was reversed mainly because, in the judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals, the statute in force when the alleged injury was received did not allow claimants to recover in the absence of dependency. In concluding its opinion, the Court of Civil Appeals said:-

“There are several other questions raised by appellant by its assignments duly briefed, but, as they will not likely arise on another trial, it is unnecessary to pass on same. The errors above pointed out require a reversal of this case, but, as the case was tried upon an erroneous theory as to what statute was applicable to the case, we will not render judgment (Ogg v. Ogg [Tex. Civ. App.]) 165 S. W. 914; Scanlon v. Galveston, H. & S. A. Ry. Co. [Tex. Civ. App.] 86 S. W., 930; Camden Fire Ins. Co. v. Yarbrough [Tex. Com. App.] 215 S. W. 842), but will remand for another trial.”

In the view we take of one controlling question in this case, it is not necessary for [932]*932us to enlarge upon tlie statement thereof as contained in the opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals. Considered most favorably from the standpoint of defendants in error, it is conclusively shown that Miss Artie was exposed to the natural surroundings of her employment; that such exposure gradually developed a disease known as .tuberculosis, from which she died in about two years after her employment ceased. In other words, her death was due to what is called an industrial or occupational disease, and not to an accidental injury. It was her duty to stir and boil various chemicals used in the manufacture of shoe polish. Prom her duties, and as incident thereto, arose certain gases, fumes, and powders, all more or less poisonous and irritating. She inhaled some of these fumes. She was necessarily exposed to the dangers incident to the character of her employment or occupation. She suffered no accidental injury, and therefore her claim is not compensable.

Perhaps one of the most capable writers on WVxrkmen’s Compensation is Honnold. We quote from his admirable work, page 536, as follows:

“The legislative tendency abroad and in this country has been to deal with industrial accidents distinct from occupational diseases. None of the acts in this country expressly include diseases. Of the ten acts which on their face do not exelpde occupational diseases, three, the acts of Ohio and Michigan and Connecticut, have been construed by the courts to exclude them, and two, the acts of California and Iowa, have received a similar administrative construction. A disease contracted in the course of employment is not a personal injury by accident, unless it arises from an event capable of being identified with respect to time, place, and circumstances. It follows that where an ‘accident’ is made essential, either in the body or by reference to the title of an act, to the right to recover compensation, and no exception is made with respect to disease, as in the present English act, there can be no recovery for disease contracted by gradual process, commonly known as industrial or occupational disease, such as lead poisoning among painters, ptomaine poison, typhoid fever, or enteritis, contracted from long, continuous work about a sewer or drain, and other diseases or ailments contracted under similar circumstances.”

Again, we quote from page 284 of the same author’s work as follows:

“The usual purpose of these acts is to compensate for injuries resulting from industrial accidents only, and not for occupational diseases. The determination of what constitute industrial accidents consequently becomes important. Loss of vision by wood alcohol poisoning is an industrial accident, rather than an occupational disease, particularly where the effect of the wood alcohol was not a cumulative and gradual destruction of the optic nerve, but a sudden attack precipitated by an extraordinary use of the liquid just before the eye trouble appeared. Citing authority.”

Our Texas act does not expressly either include or exclude diseases. It seems from I-Ionnold’s work that practically all the states expressly exclude such diseases; And the author states that where, as is true in a few states, they are not expressly excluded, in most of such instances they have been eliminated by judicial or administrative construction. In other words, as a general rule, industrial diseases, gradually developed, as a natural result of the employment, are not within the acts of this kind.

It is interesting to see what our Supreme Court has thought of this matter. Construing the original act of 1913 (Vernon’s Sayles’ Ann. Civ. St. 1914, art. 5246h et seq.), that court, in a very able opinion by Chief Justice Phillips, limited the operation of the act to “accidental injuries.” We refer to the case of Middleton v. Texas Power & Light Co., 108 Tex. 96, 185 S. W. 556. In that case, the learned Chief Justice said:

“Here the character of injuries, or wrongs, dealt with by the act becomes important. Notwithstanding the breadth of some of its terms, its evident purpos'e was to confine its operation to only accidental injuries, and its scope is to be so limited.' Its emergency clause declares its aim to be the protection by an adequate law of the rights of employees injured in ‘industrial accidents,’ and the beneficiaries of such employees as may be killed ‘in such accidents.’ ”

To the same effect, construing later acts, is the opinion of this section of the Commission qf Appeals in the case of Castleberry v. Frost-Johnson Lumber Co., 283 S. W. 141.

But, a case which we think^ directly in point as' indicating the view of our Supreme Court upon the very issue now before us is that of Texas Employers’ Insurance Association v. Jackson, 265 S. W. 1027. In that ease, the opinion was written by Judge Bishop for Section A of the Commission of Appeals, and he' was construing the act of 1917 (Vernon’s Ann. Civ. St. Supp. 1918, art. 5246 — 1 et seq.) which, in that respect, is still the law. We quote as follows from Judge Bishop’s opinion in that case in order that the nature of the injury there under consideration may be understood here:

“Defendant in error, J. B. Jackson, filed suit in the county court of Wichita county against the Texas Employers’ Insurance Association, under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, to recover damages.

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284 S.W. 931, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tna-life-ins-v-graham-texcommnapp-1926.