Black Mountain Corp. v. Stewart
| Decision Date | 15 February 1938 |
| Citation | 272 Ky. 140,113 S.W.2d 1141 |
| Parties | BLACK MOUNTAIN CORPORATION v. STEWART et al. |
| Court | Kentucky Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Harlan County.
Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Thomas Stewart claimant, and others opposed by the Black Mountain Corporation, employer. From a judgment of the Circuit Court affirming awards of the Workmen's Compensation Board for two separate injuries, the employer appeals.
Affirmed.
B. M Lee, of Harlan, for appellant.
Golden & Lay, of Pineville, for appellees.
CREAL Commissioner.
The Black Mountain Corporation is appealing from a judgment of the Harlan circuit court affirming awards of the Workmen's Compensation Board for two separate injuries sustained by its employee Thomas Stewart.
On the hearing of each of the applications for adjustment of compensation it was stipulated that at the time of the injuries to plaintiff the parties were operating under the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act, Ky.St. § 4880 et seq.; that the injuries arose out of and in the course of the applicant's employment; and that the questions to be determined were the extent and duration of the disability. The first claim arose out of an injury to the eye on February 19, 1936, when struck by a fragment of a steel rail and the second out of an alleged hernia sustained on August 29, 1936, when the employee was attempting to lift a large, heavy piece of coal into a coal car.
The Compensation Board considered the claims together and in one opinion and award found that the injury to the eye resulted in temporary total disability for a period of 10 weeks and thereafter permanent impairment of the vision of 40 per cent., and awarded $13.40 per week for a period of 10 weeks representing temporary total disability, and further compensation at the rate of $4.80 per week for a period of 90 weeks, representing 40 cent. impairment of the vision of the left eye. It was further found that the second injury resulted in a right inguinal hernia which did not exist in any degree prior to the injury; that the hernia appeared suddenly and immediately following the injury; that plaintiff had a chronic disease which rendered an operation more than ordinarily unsafe; that plaintiff was suffering 100 per cent disability of which 75 per cent. was due to pre-existing disease, and 25 per cent. to the hernia; that he recover compensation at the rate of $3 per week for a period of 335 weeks, less 1 week waiting period, representing 25 per cent. permanent partial disability; that he recover 6 per cent. interest on all past-due and unpaid installments on both claims and that defendant take credit by the amount of compensation theretofore paid; that the defendant pay all medical and hospital expenses incurred not to exceed the sum of $100 for each separate injury.
While both claims were vigorously contested before the board, counsel for appellant with commendable fairness and frankness concede that there is a conflict in evidence concerning the extent and probable duration of the injuries to appellee's eye and therefore under the prevailing rule in such circumstances the court is without authority to disturb the board's finding and award. It is further conceded by counsel that, since there is a sharp conflict in evidence as to whether there was a complete hernia or merely an enlargement of the ring without any protusion, the finding of the board in that particular should not be disturbed.
The evidence of physicians who treated Stewart and of physicians who examined him at the instance of appellee is to the effect that after the injuries he was found to be suffering from high blood pressure and some of them testified to disease of the chest and heart. They all testified in substance that independent of the hernia he was wholly incapacitated by the high blood...
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Posey v. Industrial Commission
...The workmen's compensation approach is broader and uses a more liberal construction favoring the employee. Black Mountain Corporation v. Stewart, 272 Ky. 140, 113 S.W.2d 1141. Plainly stated, the purpose of a workmen's compensation statute is to include employees and not to exclude them. Ho......
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Brewer v. Millich
...to withstand the burdens of injury occasioned by his employment and the resultant loss of work. In Black Mountain Corporation v. Stewart, 272 Ky. 140, 113 S.W.2d 1141, 1143, the principle is stated as '* * * While the rule of liberal construction of our compensation law required by the act ......
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Pioneer Coal Co. v. Sparks
...be required to pay for such reasonable medical services as have been or may be required by reason of the injury. Black Mountain Corp. v. Stewart, 272 Ky. 140, 113 S.W.2d 1141. In Leckie Collieries Co. v. Branham, 275 Ky. 748, 122 S.W.2d 776, 778, we said that if the employer had already pai......
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Rudd v. Kentucky Mfg. Co.
...under statutes which were significantly different from the present apportionment statute, KRS 342.120. In Black Mountain Corp. v. Stewart, 272 Ky. 140, 113 S.W.2d 1141 (1938), the employee sustained a hernia in the course of his employment. The employee suffered from high blood pressure and......