Builders Iron Works, Inc. v. Murphy
| Decision Date | 22 November 1968 |
| Docket Number | No. 417-A,417-A |
| Citation | 104 R.I. 637,247 A.2d 839 |
| Parties | BUILDERS IRON WORKS, INC. v. William MURPHY. ppeal. |
| Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
This is an employer's petition to review a decree awarding the employee benefits for partial incapacity. The trial commissioner, finding that the employee's incapacity for work had ended and his earning capacity regained, ordered suspension of the payment of compensation benefits. On review, with one commissioner dissenting, the full commission affirmed, and the case is now here on the employee's appeal.
In 1965 the employer was engaged in the reconstruction of the Crawford Street bridge in Providence and the employee was engaged as a timekeeper at an average weekly salary of $100. He sustained a disabling compensable injury to his right knee on September 24, 1965, and was thereafter paid benefits for disability pursuant to a preliminary agreement. In 1967 on an earlier petition for review he was found to be only partially incapacitated and to have an earning capacity of $42.50 per week which was the amount of his salary as a city councilman. His benefits were then reduced to those payable for partial incapacity with a maximum of $22 a week. In the interval between that decree and the filing of this petition the employee performed no additional work except to run errands for a friend engaged in the insurance and real estate business for which he received a nominal payment.
At the time of his injury in 1965 his duties were to keep records of the hours worked by employees on the bridge construction job, to act as paymaster, to order and buy incidental supplies, and occasionally to drive a truck. In addition he was called upon to deliver instructions and messages from the employer's field office to the workers engaged in constructing the bridge. In order to reach them it was sometimes necessary that he walk along the girders or beams which were being incorporated into the bridge. These girders were eight to ten inches wide and approximately eight to thirteen feet above open water.
The crucial issues are whether the employee has sufficiently recovered from his injury to be able to resume his regular work, or, if not, whether, regardless of any residual effects, he has regained his former earning capacity. Of course, the general rule is that one who has physically recovered to an extent that permits the resumption of his former employment without harmful consequences is not entitled to weekly compensation benefits. E. Turgeon Const. Co. v. Barbato, 81 R.I. 230, 101 A.2d 481. The rule is different, however, where an employee's physical recovery is not complete and he has residual effects from his injury. Then the extent of his earning capacity, rather than his physical capabilities, is all important because under our act compensation is paid not for physical disabilities but for an impairment or loss of earning capacity flowing from the injury. Peloso, Inc. v. Peloso, R.I., 237 A.2d 320; United Wire & Supply Corp. v. Frenier, 87 R.I. 31, 137 A.2d 414; Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co. v. Vincent, 73 R.I. 309, 55 A.2d 729.
The employer in this case, while recognizing these principles, elected to try its case on the theory that the employee's recovery was sufficiently complete to permit him to perform his former duties, and having made that election, it hewed closely to that theory in trying the case and it offered no evidence concerning what effect the residuals of the employee's disabling injury, if any, had on his earning capacity.
The single commissioner found in the employer's favor and, notwithstanding the theory on which the case had been tried, premised his...
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...an employer's petition to review a decree awarding an employee benefits for partial incapacity, we stated in Builders Iron Works, Inc. v. Murphy, 104 R.I. 637, 247 A.2d 839 (1968), that there are two theories on which the employer may prevail. One is that the employee has physically recover......
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...or her health is not entitled to compensation. Geigy Chemical Corp., 106 R.I. at 538, 261 A.2d at 847 (citing Builders Iron Works, Inc. v. Murphy, 104 R.I. 637, 247 A.2d 839 (1968)). Workers' compensation does not substitute as general health insurance or afford full remuneration for all in......
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Beaupre v. Dynachem Corp., 73-116-A
...had to be made on the 'external trauma' question, and, therefore, it is not before us for review. See Builders Iron Works, Inc. v. Murphy, 104 R.I. 637, 247 A.2d 839 (1968); Balcom v. Providence Sheraton Corp., 98 R.I. 357, 201 A.2d 913 (1964). In his appeal to the full commission, petition......
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Geigy Chemical Corp. v. Zuckerman
...believe this portion of Dr. Pike's testimony, which the commission overlooked, to be of particular significance. In Builders Iron Works, Inc. v. Murphy, R.I., 247 A.2d 839, we observed that the general rule is that one who has physically recovered from his injuries to the extent that he can......