Continental Casualty Co. v. Industrial Commission of Utah
Decision Date | 11 December 1929 |
Docket Number | 4856 |
Citation | 284 P. 313,75 Utah 220 |
Court | Utah Supreme Court |
Parties | CONTINENTAL CASUALTY CO. et al. v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION OF UTAH et al |
Rehearing Denied January 29, 1930.
Proceeding by the Continental Casualty Company and another against the Industrial Commission and another to review an award of compensation in favor of Corwin R. Graves and against the Yellow Cab Company, employer, and the Continental Casualty Company, insurer. Award of Industrial Commission sustained.
Award of the Industrial Commission is sustained.
George H. Smith, Robert B. Porter, and W. Hal. Farr, all of Salt Lake City, for plaintiffs.
George P. Parker, Atty. Gen., and M. Logan Rich, Asst. Atty. Gen for defendants.
This is a review of an award of compensation in favor of Corwin R. Graves, a taxicab driver in the employ of the Yellow Cab Company. The facts are fairly stated in the findings of the Industrial Commission as follows:
The conclusions from these facts, so far as necessary to state here, are:
"In view of the foregoing findings, the Commission concludes that the applicant herein named, on the 13th day of May, 1928, was injured by reason of an accident arising out of or in the course of his employment while regularly employed by the Yellow Cab Company, and that the injury sustained by him on the 16th day of May, 1928, was the direct result of the injury sustained on May 13th, 1928."
It is contended by petitioners "that the alleged accident to claimant on May 13, 1928, did not contribute to his injury on May 16th and that the decision, of the Industrial Commission awarding him compensation rests entirely upon conjecture." An award cannot rest upon mere conjecture or possibility. Bingham Mines Co. v. Allsop, 59 Utah 306, 203 P. 644. However, in reviewing a record every legitimate inference which can arise from the evidence must be drawn in favor of an employee where, as here, the commission has made findings and an award in his favor. There must be evidence, however, and not mere conjecture. Robertson v. State Ind. Acc. Comm., 114 Ore. 394, 235 P. 684.
The legal principles applicable to this case have been well stated in Workmen's Compensation Acts, a Corpus Juries treatise, at page 70 as follows:
"In determining whether the physical harm sustained by the employee was the consequence of the accident or the injury, the controlling question is the continuity of the chain of causation and the absence of an intervening independent agency; the inquiry as to whether the result is the natural and probable one is immaterial."
The problem before us is to determine from the record whether there is sufficient competent evidence showing such a "continuity of the chain of causation" as that it might be said that the fracture of the bone on the 16th of May was caused or contributed to by the accident and resulting injury on May 13th, and also showing "the absence of any intervening independent agency" causing such fracture. From a careful reading of the record, we are of the opinion that there is evidence to support the commission's findings and conclusions as to both propositions. That the employee was injured on May 13th while performing duties in the employ of the company is not disputed. It is well established by the evidence that he suffered pain and inconvenience, and continued to limp following such accident, notwithstanding he continued his work for the company. That the condition of his leg which caused pain and limping caused or contributed to the fracture of the bone on the 16th is shown by the evidence of the employee, a part of such evidence being as follows:
That a casual relationship existed between the injuries is also shown by the testimony of the medical expert, a part of whose testimony is as follows:
After a careful search, we have been able to find only one case in the books where the facts are practically identical with the facts in this case. That is Hodgson v. Robins, 7 B. W. C. C. 232, decided by the Court of Appeal, England. In that case a charwoman in the employment of a firm of solicitors claimed compensation for an injury to her knee alleged to be due to slipping on the office stairs. On the morning of July 8th she alleged she was coming down stairs in the offices, and her leg gave way under her, bruising it. She did further work that day, but went home early. Next day she came to the office as usual, but limped, and said she felt pain in her leg. After returning home, she slipped on her own kitchen stairs, and found herself unable to move. She was taken to a hospital, where it was found that her kneecap was fractured, and an operation was performed. The master of the rolls, in deciding this case, said:
A recent case decided in this court illustrates the principles upon which this decision stands. In Gunnison Sugar Co. v. Industrial Commission (Utah) 73 Utah 535, 275 P. 777, 779, the employee, who had been injured in the back in the course of his employment,...
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