Baker v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co.
| Decision Date | 17 January 1961 |
| Docket Number | No. 38636,No. 2,38636,2 |
| Citation | 118 S.E.2d 386,103 Ga.App. 100 |
| Parties | Eugenia BAKER v. LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY et al |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Guy B. Scott, Jr., Athens, for plaintiff in error.
Erwin, Birchmore & Epting, Nicholas P. Chilivis, Athens, for defendants in error.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court
1. On a hearing in a workmen's compensation case to determine change of condition, it appears that the claimant was injured on June 9, and July 28, 1958, that an original hearing was held on October 8, 1958, in which medical depositions were received and filed on December 29, 1958, and an award was entered on January 16, and January 22, 1959, awarding temporary total disability up to December 29, 1958, the date of the last deposition. This award was not appealed from. On the second hearing it further appeared that the claimant had been able to work in a ten-cent store the two weeks prior to Christmas, 1958, but was unable to continue after that time because of pain and numbness in her back and leg; that she also attempted to pick cotton in September, 1959, but was unable to continue at that employment, and has been physically incapacitated from doing any labor since that time. The claimant's testimony was reinforced by that of a physician was examined her on January 13, 1960, found her disability to be total, and swore positively that, although she also suffered from a congenital defect, the present disability was either caused or aggravated by trauma, which in his opinion based on the medical history stemmed from the original injuries. All of this evidence is sufficient to establish a change of condition subsequent to December 29, 1958, and resulting in a present total disability to labor which is in its very nature attributable to the original injury. It affirmatively establishes that the claimant was well enough to work for the two weeks preceding the time when the director originally hearing the case found her disability had ceased, and that she was, as of the date of the present hearing, unable to do so.
This conclusion is not necessarily invalidated as contended by the fact that on cross-examination the claimant replied in the affirmative to the following question: 'Mrs. Baker, are you disabled now to the same extent and degree that you were on October 8, 1958, when we had this last hearing?' For one thing, the director hearing the case found that the claimant was disabled on October 8, and that her total disability...
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