Bilski v. Department of Labor and Industries, 28317.

• Decision Date: 06 May 1941
• Docket Number: 28317.
• Citation: 8 Wn.2d 594,113 P.2d 62
• Court: Washington Supreme Court
• Parties: BILSKI v. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIES et al.

113 P.2d 62

8 Wn.2d 594

BILSKI v. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIES et al.

No. 28317.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

May 6, 1941

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Victor Bilski claimant, opposed by the Department of Labor and Industries of the State of Washington and Willapa Harbor Lumber Mills, a corporation, employer. From a judgment reversing an order of the Department of Labor and Industries and remanding the case, with instructions to reopen the claim, the employer appeals.

Affirmed.

Appeal from Superior Court, Pacific County; John I. O'Phelan judge.

T. J. Hanify, of Tacoma, for appellant.

Harry Ellsworth Foster, of Olympia, and Roy W. Seagraves, of Raymond, for respondents.

SIMPSON Justice.

Victor Bilski was injured while in the employ of Willapa Harbor Lumber Mills March 11, 1936, and thereafter filed his claim for compensation with the department. The claim was allowed and compensation paid to June 9, 1936.

January 10, 1938, claimant filed an application to reopen his claim which application was granted February 10, 1938. He was then examined by physicians for the purpose of ascertaining the nature of his complaint. February 11, 1938, his claim was reopened, effective February 8, 1938, for treatment only. This order was rescinded by the supervisor of industrial insurance April 19, 1938, until the claimant would submit to a cystoscopic examination. Claimant then filed an application with the joint board for the reopening of his claim. That application was granted.

The joint board heard testimony concerning the claim, reversed the action of the supervisor, ordered the reopening of the claim for an award of ten degrees permanent partial disability, and ordered the claim to be closed thereafter.

Claimant appealed to the superior court, and the case was tried to a jury, resulting in a verdict favorable to claimant.

The jury, answering special interrogatories, found that the workman was suffering from total temporary disability as a result of the accident. Judgment was entered upon the verdict, reversing the order of the joint board and remanding the case to the department with instructions to reopen the claim '* * * and to pay him compensation for temporary total disability from the 8th day of April, 1938, and to render him the medical aid provided by law; * * *.'

The employer presented a motion for judgment n. o. v., and in the alternative for a new trial. The motion was denied, and this appeal was taken by the employer.

The assignments of error are (1) a refusal to grant judgment notwithstanding the jury's verdict, (2) a refusal to grant a new trial, and (3) the entry of judgment upon the jury's verdict.

Under the assignments of error, the only question for our consideration is whether there was sufficient evidence to justify the submission of the case to the jury.

'If the evidence introduced at the hearing Before the joint board offers room for a difference of opinion in the minds of reasonable men, then the case must be presented to the jury.' Alfredson v. Department of Labor & Industries, 5 Wash.2d 648, 105 P.2d 37, 39.

Accord, Darling v. Department of Labor and Industries, Wash. 108 P.2d 1034.

In considering the motion for judgment n. o. v., the plaintiff is entitled to have weighed in his favor every reasonable inference to be deduced from the evidence.

The evidence taken Before the joint board and presented to the jury, viewed in the light most favorable to respondent showed that Before the injury he was an able-bodied man, in good health, and able to perform hard manual labor; that at the time of the accident he suffered a severe contusion of the back in the sacroiliac and lumbosacral region by being pressed between a thirty-foot timber and a table of some kind, not definitely described; that he was taken to a hospital, where he stayed for some time, after which he was given additional treatments; and that to support...