West v. Industrial Accident Commission

180 P.2d 972, 79 Cal. App. 2d 711, 1947 Cal. App. LEXIS 889
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 16, 1947
DocketCiv. 15697
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 180 P.2d 972 (West v. Industrial Accident Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
West v. Industrial Accident Commission, 180 P.2d 972, 79 Cal. App. 2d 711, 1947 Cal. App. LEXIS 889 (Cal. Ct. App. 1947).

Opinion

SHINN, Acting P. J.

Petitioner, an insured employer, seeks to have annulled a total temporary disability award of the commission in favor of respondent and against petitioner. Respondent, a 60-year-old woman, was hired by petitioner on January 21, 1946, for $35 a week plus room and board as a practical nurse for petitioner’s bedridden husband. Six days later, on January 27, 1946, a porch swing at petitioner’s residence fell to the floor while respondent was sitting in it. Respondent claimed that her back was injured in this fall of the swing. The commission so found and issued the award before us.

Petitioner’s attack upon the award merits discussion only as to the following points: (1) the existence of the employment relationship; (2) the activity of respondent at the time of the injury found; (3) the existence of the injury and of total temporary disability resulting therefrom; (4) average earnings.

*715 ' Petitioner contends that the existence of the employment relationship between petitioner and respondent was not established. The evidence shows, however, that petitioner hired respondent and supervised her in her work. But petitioner further asserts that respondent’s legal status was that of independent contractor and, if not, that her employment was only casual. These assertions are without merit. The legal relationship of a practical nurse to the one who hires her and supervises her in the' details of her work as the record discloses occurred here is that of servant to master. (New Amsterdam Casualty Co. v. Industrial Acc. Com. (1934), 137 Cal.App. 719, 724 [31 P.2d 245].) Respondent’s employment was not casual within the meaning of section 3354 of the Labor Code since the work contemplated was indefinite in duration. (Melone v. Industrial Acc. Com. (1935) , 9 Cal.App.2d 569, 572-573 [50 P.2d 503].) As to respondent’s activity at the time of the injury found, the fact that she then was resting is without legal consequence where her employment required her to live and board on the premises of her employer. (Employers’ etc. Corp. v. Industrial Acc. Com. (1940), 37 Cal.App.2d 567, 569 [99 P.2d 1089] ; note, 158 A.L.R. 606.)

Petitioner’s contention that the findings of the commission as to injury to respondent and the total temporary disability resulting therefrom are without substantial evidentiary support requires more extended treatment. These findings rest upon respondent’s testimony, two medical reports and one X-ray report, all offered by respondent. Respondent testified in effect that she injured her back in the fall of the swing, that since that occurrence she had had a constant stinging pain around the end of her “tail bone” (coccyx), that medical treatment had been ineffective in permanently alleviating this pain, and that the severity of the pain prevented her from working. The first medical report, that of Dr. Rickabaugh, dated March 18, 1946, contains a diagnosis of sacroiliac sprain based upon respondent’s account of the fall in the swing and the tenderness to pressure she exhibited over the sacroiliac joints, the body of the sacrum and the coccyx. It is significant that this report is silent as to the indispensable factor in diagnosis of the nature and cause of injury, in such eases, namely, the medical history of respondent prior to the fall. It states no reason whatever for bas *716 ing a diagnosis of sacroiliac sprain upon tenderness in the lower back, it amounts to no more than a statement that the subject complained of pain, and in our opinion was not the statement of a medical opinion in the true sense. The second medical report, dated June 12, 1946, that of the White Memorial Clinic, sets forth a tentative diagnosis of “Chronic low-back, sprain, mild; and Osteoarthritis.” The diagnosis of osteo-arthritis was based upon an X-ray of the lumbar spine taken according to respondent’s testimony less than three weeks prior to the commencement of her employment by petitioner. This medical report further states: “patient was advised to work shorter hours, because of Osteoarthritis.” The X-ray report on respondent’s coccyx “shows fusion of the several segments therefore but probably a developmental abnormality.” The foregoing is a complete summary of all the evidence in the record from which the attacked findings might receive support. Analysis of this evidence reveals that respondent’s testimony and Dr. Rielcabaugh’s report furnish the only support for these findings. Dr. Rickabaugh’s report adds little to respondent’s testimony since an expert opinion is no stronger than the facts upon which it is based. (Blankenfeld v. Industrial Acc. Com. (1940), 36 Cal.App.2d 690, 698 [98 P.2d 584].) On the other hand, the record is replete with evidence opposed to these findings. The record shows that respondent pursued her normal routine of life just after the accident and did not seek medical treatment for ;over a week thereafter. Specifically, the following is established by unopposed evidence. Shortly after the accident respondent took a brief drive in her ear. The evening of the accident she attended church. The morning following the accident she performed the duties of her employment in full until her employment was terminated by petitioner. She then moved with some assistance her small steamer trunk from petitioner’s residence. The second day after the accident she attended the trial of a case in court.

Specifically as to injury the commission’s records introduced in evidence show that respondent’s back has been a recurrent source of compensation income to her. In 1941, she collected over $100 from a compromise settlement of her claim that she had sprained her wrist and back in a fall suffered while working as a practical nurse. At that time she stated that within the prior two years she had injured her spine at least three times. X-ray examination of her back, *717 however, revealed nothing except a congenital anomaly in the lumbar region and some slight arthritic development in the sacroiliac area, which development was not of recent origin. When her attention was distracted during the physical examination of the area of her back, which she claimed was paining her, she exhibited no signs of pain even under heavy pressure upon that area. She had a normal range and freedom of spinal movement. Her medical history did indicate as possible causes of her claimed back discomfort her diabetic condition and her chronic bowel disorders. In 1944, respondent again collected compensation indemnity in the amount of approximately $160 by way of a compromise settlement of her claim that she had injured her chest and back in another fall. Medical examination, however, including X-rays of her lumbar spine and sacrum, showed no signs of old or recent injury to her back although the X-rays did disclose marked osteoarthritic changes in her spinal column. Notwithstanding her complaint of excruciating pain throughout the physical examination of her back all her body motions were then observed to be quick, complete, and unaccompanied by muscle spasm.

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Bluebook (online)
180 P.2d 972, 79 Cal. App. 2d 711, 1947 Cal. App. LEXIS 889, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/west-v-industrial-accident-commission-calctapp-1947.