Whitehead Coal Mining Co. v. State Industrial Commission

1922 OK 167, 207 P. 305, 86 Okla. 149, 1922 Okla. LEXIS 129
Supreme Court of Oklahoma·Decided May 9, 1922·No. 12647·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

KENNAME®, J.

The Whitehead Coal Mining Company, a corporation, and the Consolidated Underwriters, petitioners, instituted this proceeding in this court against the State Industrial Commission and William Walsh, respondents, to reverse an award made on the 28th day of July, 1921. in favor of William Walsh directing the petitioners to pay to the respondent $18 per week until the termination of disability.

*150 'The record discloses that William Walsh was -injured while in the -employ of the Whitehead Coal Mining Company July 1, 1919, while working in a mine, by a rock falling upon his back. That on the 28th day of July, 1919, the Industrial Commission made an award to William Walsh, as claimant, awarding him the sum of $17.31 per week to continue until termination of disability and that they pay all medical expenses incurred by the claimant, not to exceed the sum of $100. That the petitioners paid the award until September 3, 1919, when William Walsh returned to work in the same employment as a coal miner, as an employe of the Whitehead Coal Mining Company, and continued to work at such employment until about the 15th day of March, 1921, at which time William Walsh became mentally incapacitated and was taken to the hospital for the insane at Vinita, Okla.

In July, 1921, Mrs. William Walsh, wife of William Walsh, filed a petition with the Industrial Commission asking for a review of the award made to William Walsh on the 28th day of July, 1919, alleging there had been a material change in the condition of the claimant, William Walsh, since the .award of July 28, 1919, which was a direct result of the injury sustained by the respondent, William Walsh. That the injury sustained had caused a permanent disability. That an X-ray examination had been made of the injury to Walsh which disclosed a crushed vertebra in the dorsal region. That William Walsh, as a result of the injury, had a permanent stiff back. That the claimant, William Walsh, was being treated in the hospital for the insane at Vinita, Okla.

The petition for review of the award was set for hearing on the 28th day of July, 1921. After a hearing upon the petition at Henryetla before Commissioner H. C. Meyers, and the introduction of testimony on behalf of the respective parties, the commission, on the 25th day of August, 1921, made an award awarding William Walsh compensation from March 15, 1921, at the rate of $18 per week to continue during disability.

The petitioners by this action seek to reverse this award, and urge three propositions : First. There is no evidence supporting the order made by the commission. Second. That the commission, after having heard the testimony on the Hearing for a review of the award, made an order that the claimant. William Walsh, undergo an examination 10 be made by Dr. Louis Bag-by, of Vinita, (he examination to be made on August 25, 1921, and that before the examination was made on August 25, 1921, the award herein was made. Third. That -.lie claim of William Walsh is barred under section 17, ch. 246, art. 2, Session Laws 1915, requiring a claim for compensation to lie filed.within one year after the injury.

Upon an examination of this record, it is obvious that there is no merit in this first contention made by counsel for the petitioners. Counsel in their brief have attempted to impose the duty upon this court of weighing the evidence and determining on which side of the controversy the weight lies. It is the settled law in this jurisdiction that this court will not weigh.the evidence presented to the Industrial Commission for the purpose of ascertaining where the weight of evidence lies or on which side it preponderates. Section 10, art. 2, c. 14, Session Laws 1919; Choctaw Portland Cement Company et al. v. Lamb et al., 79 Okla. 109, 189 Pac. 750; Board of County Commissioners of Cleveland County v. Barr et al., 68 Oklahoma, 173 Pac. 206; Raulerson v. Industrial Commission of Oklahoma et al., 76 Okla. 8, 183 Pac. 880; Consolidated Fuel Company et al. v. Industrial Commission et al., 85 Okla. 112, 205 Par. 170.

Dr. W. L. Stevenson, a regular licensed physician who has practiced medicine for 13 years, testified on the hearing for a review of the award made by the commission that he had been the' family physician for the claimant, William Walsh, for 12 years; that he had the' claimant under his observation and treatment ever since his injury until he was carried to the hospital. That Dr. Fishman, of Oklahoma City, made an examination of the claimant in his presence, and that he assisted in making the examination. That they gave the claimant various tests, and that he had considerable vertigo. That he could not stand on one foot or with his feet close together. That his back was very stiff and he would fall forward. Dr. Stevenson stated positively in his testimony that the claimant was never sick before in his life prior to the injury except with smallpox, and that his present condition was the direct result of the injury received 'by him.

The evidence was uncontradicted that Walsh received a serious injury by a heavy rock falling from the roof of the mine on his back.

The report o.f Dr. Louis Bagby, the physician who made the examination of the claimant, which the petitioners comnlaiu *151 was not before the commission at the time the award was made,' shows that he ■ made an- X-ray of the' spine 'of the clairiiant and that the X-ray examination disclosed a lesion of the body of the third lumbar- vertebra and a slight lateral deviation .in the lumbar region. .

The evidence of witnesses who worked with the claimant tended to show that .he had never recovered from the. injury inflicted upon him by the falling rock. With all this evidence in the record, counsel for the petitioners say in their brief that there is no evidence supporting the award made -by the commission. This assertion is based upon the assumption that the commission was bound to give more weight to the evidence of certain medical experts that examined the claimant and who gave testimony in effect that the mental condition of Walsh was due to the disease of syphilis, which was disclosed by the positive Wasserman reaction as shown by' the report and laboratory findings of Dr. C. J. Eishman.

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Whitehead Coal Mining Co. v. State Industrial Commission, 1922 OK 167, 207 P. 305, 86 Okla. 149, 1922 Okla. LEXIS 129 (Okla. 1922).

1922 OK 167 (Whitehead Coal Mining Co. v. State Industrial Commission) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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