Hall v. Spot Martin, Inc.

• Decision Date: 09 September 1957
• Docket Number: No. 45895,No. 1,45895,1
• Citation: 304 S.W.2d 844
• Parties: Maymie S. HALL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SPOT MARTIN, Inc., and Pacific Employers Insurance Company, Defendants-Appellants, and Maryland Casualty Company, Defendant-Respondent
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 844

304 S.W.2d 844

Maymie S. HALL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SPOT MARTIN, Inc., and Pacific Employers Insurance Company,

Defendants-Appellants,

and

Maryland Casualty Company, Defendant-Respondent.

No. 45895.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

Sept. 9, 1957.

Ralph Shepard, Brandom & Brandom, Kansas City, for plaintiff-appellant, Maymie S. Hall.

Harold T. VanDyke, Davis, Thomson, VanDyke & Fairchild, for defendants-appellants Spot Martin, Inc., and Pacific Employers Ins. Co.

Henry W. Buck, John R. Gibson, Morrison, Hecker, Buck, Cozad & Rogers, Kansas City, for respondent, Maryland Casualty Co.

HOLMAN, Commissioner.

This is a proceeding under the Missouri Workmen's Compensation Law. Section 287.010 et seq. RSMo 1949, V.A.M.S. The employer, Spot Martin, Inc., and insurer, Pacific Employers Insurance Company, have appealed from the judgment of the circuit court affirming an award in favor of the employee. While the appeal was pending in the circuit court the claimant-employee died from a cause which we will assume was not the rusult of the injury or injuries in question, and his widow (the surviving dependent) was substituted as plaintiff-claimant. Section 287.230(2) and 287.240 RSMo 1949, V.A.M.S. She has also appealed and contends that the award should have been for a larger sum than was allowed by the Industrial Commission. The award was for an aggregate amount of $10,894.37. Since the compensation that had accrued at the time this appeal was taken, and the items of medical expense included in the award, totaled $7,884.37, we have appellate jurisdiction by reason of the amount in dispute. Article V, Section 3, Constitution of Missouri, 1945, V.A.M.S.

Two separate claims were filed by the employee. These claims were consolidated and the final award of the Industrial Commission disposed of both. The first claim sought compensation for a back injury which was received on July 10, 1954, in an accident which was alleged to have occurred when the employee 'was pulling hydraulic pump off of tractor and pump fell on employee, knocking him to the ground.' At that time Pacific was the compensation insurer of the employer. In the second claim the foregoing back injury was alleged to have been aggravated by an accident which is said to have occurred on February 15, 1955, while employee was 'moving motor while in twisted position, slipped and twisted back.' At that time Maryland Casualty Company was the insurer for the employer. This second claim was thereafter amended so as to also allege that the accident aggravated a carcinoma from which it was later discovered the claimant was suffering.

In the early part of July, 1955, after a hearing before a referee, temporary awards were entered upon each claim. The referee found that an accident, resulting in injuries and disability to the employee, occurred on each of the alleged dates, and Pacific was ordered to pay compensation and provide treatment, while Maryland was required only to provide medical treatment until further determination could be made. Additional hearings were thereafter held before the referee and finally, on March 2, 22, and 23, 1956, evidence was heard by the Industrial Commission. A final award was entered by the Commission on March 27, 1956, which provided that Pacific pay compensation in the sum of $35 per week for 200 weeks to begin as of July 11, 1954, subject to a credit of $280 for compensation previously paid. That insurer was also directed to pay various medical and surgical obligations incurred by the employee in the total sum of $4,174.37.

The Commission found that the employee was injured in an accident that occurred on July 10, 1954, which happened when 'employee was attempting to pull a hydraulic pump off a tractor that he was working on; the pump suddenly came loose; employee fell backwards 10 or 15 feet and the pump fell with him, and he was knocked down to the plywood floor striking his back,' and as a result thereof sustained 'fifty per cent permanent partial disability of the body as a whole.' We quote from the 'Additional Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law' as follows:

'We find from all the evidence heard before Referee John S. Jenkins and the evidence heard before the full Commission that the employee, Jess W. Hall, sustained an accident on July 10, 1954, arising out of and in the course of his employment with Spot Martin, Inc., and that as a result of said accident, and that accident alone, he sustained 50 per cent permanent partial disability of his body as a whole (50% of 400 weeks, or 200 weeks).

'We further find that the disability sustained by employee as a result of the accident on July 10, 1954, was the result of injuries to his back, and particularly a ruptured or herniated intervertebral disc or discs in his back. We further find that employee is presently suffering from a carcinoma of the prostate with metastasis to the bone, and that by reason of this condition and the disability in his back, employee is now totally and permanently disabled. We have considered granting this employee permanent total disability as provided by Section 287.200, RSMo 1949, [V.A.M.S.], but we conclude and find that employer and its insurers are not responsible for the disability resulting from the carcinoma nor for any aggravation or acceleration of said carcinoma. But this finding does not excuse employer and its insurer, Pacific Employers Insurance Company, from providing medical and hospital attention for this employee and the disability existing in his back.

'We further find that the Pacific Employers Insurance Company is liable to this employee for all of the compensation granted herein and for all the medical and hospital expenses incurred by employee to cure and relieve him of his disability relating to his back and for all future medical and hospital attention required by this employee to cure and relieve him of his disability relating to his back because on or about July 10, 1954, when the accident described in this award occurred, the Pacific Employers Insurance Company was the insurer of the employer, Spot Martin, Inc.; and we further find that all of the incidents and accidents described by the employee as occurring after July 10, 1954, were occasioned by the weakened condition of his back and were the result of the accident that occurred on or about July 10, 1954. Manley v. American Packing Co., 363 Mo. 744, 253 S.W.2d 165; Larson, Workmen's Compensation, Sec. 95.12. * * *

'Maryland Casualty Company is a party to this consolidated case by virtue of the fact that they were the insurer of the employer, Spot Martin, Inc., on February 15, 1955, when the employee suffered a second accident or incident which we have found, as stated above, to be due to the weakened condition of his back, resulting from the accident of July 10, 1954, and, therefore, we find and conclude that Maryland Casualty Company is not liable for any disability relating to this employee's back nor for any aggravation of his back disability or condition as alleged in his claim for compensation dated May 19, 1955. The employee also claims in his claim for compensation, in case No. MM-22374, that the accident or incident of February 15, 1955, aggravated and accelerated the carcinoma of the prostate with metastasis. We are not convinced from the evidence in this case and particularly the medical evidence that the carcinoma which the employee is suffering has been aggravated or accelerated by the accident or incident of February 15, 1955, and, therefore, wa find and conclude that the employer and the Maryland Casualty Company are not responsible for nor liable for any disability and/or medical attention caused or required by the carcinoma.'

Upon this appeal Pacific contends (1) that the Commission erred in concluding that the alleged accident of February 15, 1955, was caused by the weakened condition of the employee's back and was the result of the accident of July 10, 1954; (2) that there was no competent evidence from which it could be reasonably inferred that Hall sustained fifty per cent disability as a result of the accident occurring on July 10, 1954; and (3) that the Commission acted in excess of its powers in ordering payment of medical and hospital bills which were not due to disability resulting from accident. Maryland, of course, seeks to defend the finding of the Commission that all of the employee's disability resulted from the accident of July 10, 1954. Plaintiff-appellant here contends that the award of the Commission should have been for permanent total disability resulting from one or the other, or both, of the alleged accidents.

'In reviewing a compensation case we have the duty to determine whether the Commission's award is supported by competent and substantial evidence upon the whole record. Sec. 22, Art. V, Const. of Mo. 1945, V.A.M.S. This court has said that 'This does not mean that the reviewing court may substitute its own judgment on the evidence for that of the administrative tribunal. But it does authorize it to decide whether such tribunal could have reasonably made its findings, and reached its result, upon consideration of all of the evidnce before it; and to set aside decisions clearly contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Of course, the reviewing court should adhere to the rule of deference to findings, involving credibility of witnesses, made by those before whom the witnesses gave oral testimony.' Wood v. Wagner Electric Corp., 355 Mo. 670, 197 S.W.2d 647, 649; Seabaugh's Dependents v. Garver Lumber Mfg. Co., 355 Mo. 1153, 200 S.W.2d 55, 62.

'In determining whether the Commission could have reasonably made its findings, and reached the conclusion it did reach, upon consideration of all the evidence before it, we view the record in a light most favorable to the findings of the Commission, consider the favorable inferences which the Commission had a right to draw from the evidence...