Caldwell v. State Comp. Com'r

• Citation: 144 S.E. 568
• Decision Date: 11 September 1928
• Docket Number: (No. 6289.)
• Court: Supreme Court of West Virginia
• Parties: CALDWELL. v. STATE COMPENSATION COM'R.

144 S.E. 568

CALDWELL.
v.
STATE COMPENSATION COM'R.

(No. 6289.)

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Sept. 11, 1928.

[144 S.E. 568](Syllabus by the Court.)

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act (Acts 1915, c. 9, as amended by Acts Ex. Sess. 1915, c. 1) by G. A. Caldwell, employee, for personal injuries, opposed by the Island Creek Coal Company, employer. From a determination of the State Compensation Commissioner, the employee appeals. Reversed, with directions.

Robert E. White, of Huntington, for appellant.

Howard B. Lee, Atty. Gen., and R. Dennis Steed, Asst. Atty. Gen., for commissioner.

HATCHER, J. Caldwell was an employee of Island Creek Coal Company, and seeks compensation for disability which he claims was the result of an injury received while so employed. The compensation commissioner found that the evidence was insufficient to establish that the injury caused the disability.

The injury upon which Caldwell bases his claim was described by him on June 23, 1927, to F. T. Burnham, an inspector of the compensation department, as follows:

"We were unloading a Jeffrey drill off the truck, had raised it up about two feet, when the other boy slipped on some loose coal, throwing all the weight on my left leg right above my knee; if my overalls had not been greasy, it would have broken my leg. It bruised my leg and pained me a good deal, but I worked on and finished the night shift, and have not worked none since. * * * I believe that I waited until the 9th or 10th of April before calling Dr. Van Hoose in. * * * I thought that I was going to be able to go back to work and not be bothered by a doctor. * * * All the pain was in my knee, there was no swelling there, and that was why I thought I would be able to work in a few days."

On February 27, 1928, Caldwell attempted to strengthen his claim by his own affidavit, in which he states that the drill fell on his leg, and by the affidavit of a fellow workman, D. L. White, to the effect that both White and the drill fell on Caldwell's leg, and that the combined weight of White and the drill was 700 pounds. The affidavits are entitled to little consideration, however, as it is hardly reasonable that so great a weight should have dropped two feet on Caldwell's leg and made only a superficial bruise. Dr. Van Hoose states that he found nothing at the time he examined Caldwell to account for the pain complained of, and advised him to go to a hospital. Caldwell entered the Holden Hospital on April 30th...