Fowler v. Continental Oil Company, 1704

• Decision Date: 24 November 1931
• Docket Number: 1704
• Citation: 4 P.2d 1092,43 Wyo. 410
• Parties: FOWLER v. CONTINENTAL OIL COMPANY
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

4 P.2d 1092

43 Wyo. 410

FOWLER v. CONTINENTAL OIL COMPANY

No. 1704

Supreme Court of Wyoming

November 24, 1931

ERROR to the District Court of Converse County; CYRUS O. BROWN Judge.

Proceedings by William Fowler, a workman to establish a claim under the Workmen's Compensation Law, resisted by the Continental Oil Company, his employer. From a judgment disallowing his claim, he brings error.

Affirmed.

For the plaintiff in error there was a brief by James A. Greenwood Attorney General of the State of Wyoming, and Dawson and Daniels, of Douglas, Wyoming.

All of the evidence taken together justifies an award to claimant and there is no evidence of any kind upon which to arrive at a different conclusion. Under such circumstances appellant was entitled to an award. Int. Co. v. Com., (Ill.) 127 N.E. 703, 10 A. L. R. 1015, 28 R. C. L. 814; Carroll v. Comm., (Colo.) 69 A. L. R. 107 and cases cited. Baggott v. Comm., (Ill.) 7 A. L. R. 1611; and authorities referred to in the opinion. The judgment of the lower court should be set aside and a new trial granted.

For the defendant in error there was a brief by Joseph Garst, of Douglas, Wyoming.

The testimony of the physicians who examined claimant clearly support the findings of the lower court. They found no disability resulting from the alleged injury. This case should be governed by the familiar principle, that where testimony is conflicting but there is substantial evidence to support the findings of the trial court, the reviewing court will not review the facts even though it might feel inclined to come to a different conclusion if it had heard the case originally. Christensen v. McCann, 41 Wyo. 101; Knittleson v. Hibbler, 37 Wyo. 332; McMahon v Midwest Refining Co., 36 Wyo. 90; Standard Oil Co. v. Sullivan, 33 Wyo. 223.

RINER, Justice. KIMBALL, C. J., and BLUME, J., concur.

OPINION

RINER, Justice.

These proceedings in error were instituted to review a judgment of the District Court of Converse County disallowing a claim for compensation made by plaintiff in error, William Fowler, under the Workmen's Compensation Law of this state.

Employed as a still cleaner by the Continental Oil Company of Glenrock, Wyoming, the defendant in error, on December 25, 1928, the workman, a boiler maker by trade, in the performance of his duties was--to use the language of his own report of the accident--"lifting a piece of coke preparatory to putting it through still manhole; my right foot slipped, throwing entire weight on my left leg. This caused a strain, diagnosed by Dr. Tabor as swollen gland in groin of left leg. On December 28th, Doctor reported injury as having developed into phlebitis." The nature of the injury was accordingly reported by the workman as "swollen gland groin of left leg--developing later into phlebitis," or inflammation of a vein, resulting in temporary total disability. Under date of January 5, 1929, Dr. Tabor, the attending physician, filed a sworn report stating that he did not think that the injury had resulted in a permanent disability, "as it seems entirely well now," and that the period of disability caused by the injury was six days. At the hearing held on November 29, 1929, and subsequently herein mentioned, to investigate the claim of the workman which was filed after leaving the employ of the defendant in error, the workman stated that he was away from his duties nine days, and that he did not consult the physician about the injury until two days after it occurred. During this period of disability he received full pay from his employer.

Upon returning to duty, Fowler was employed in the boiler room of the defendant in error for four or five days--a lighter class of work than that of cleaning stills--and then resumed his former employment, at which he continued, apparently without further complaint or trouble, until June 21, 1929. On that date the workman was injured again and three days later the employer filed its report stating in substance that the workman suffered a strain during the process of cleaning a still; that when through cleaning a still he noticed a slight pain in his left leg; that he returned home and next morning noticed pain and swelling. Dr. Tabor, who again treated the man for this difficulty, stated in his sworn report that his first treatment for this latter injury was given June 22, 1929, for "an acute phlebitis of the long saphenous vein of the left leg just below the groin and extending about half way to the knee;" that at the time of the report, which was dated July 16, 1929, there was no disability, and that the period of disability caused by the injury thus described was three or four days. The workman testified at the subsequent hearing that he lost six days time from his work. When he reported for duty, he was put with the boiler gang and was thus engaged until August 31, 1929, when he, together with a number of other workmen of the defendant in error, were dismissed from the latter's employ.

During the twenty days following the accident last mentioned--the period allowed by law for filing a report of the accident (Laws of 1927, c. 111, § 1)--the workman filed no report or claims for compensation, but on September 17, 1929, he verified a report of this accident of June 21 aforesaid and made claim thereon for compensation. The date when this report was filed does not seem to appear. In it the cause of the accident was described as "strain occurred in left leg in a lifting operation, during the process of cleaning a still at Continental Oil Company Refinery, Glenrock, Wyoming," and the nature of the injury was alleged to be an incurable, permanent, partial disability in that "the left great saphenous or great external vein of the lower limb is markedly enlarged and tortuous from the knee to its junction with the femoral vein just below the groin; any...