Harris Cattle Co. v. Parker

Decision Date11 March 1974
Docket NumberNo. 73--257,73--257
Citation256 Ark. 166,506 S.W.2d 118
PartiesHARRIS CATTLE COMPANY, Appellant, v. Hosea PARKER, Appellee.
CourtArkansas Supreme Court

Laser, Sharp, Haley, Young & Boswell, P.A., Little Rock, for appellant.

Kenneth C. Coffelt, Little Rock, for appellee.

JONES, Justice.

This is a workmen's compensation case in which the employer, Harris Cattle Company, appeals from a circuit court judgment affirming an award made by the Workmen's Compensation Commission to Hosea Parker, the injured employee. The question before the Commission was whether Parker's disability associated with two 'building' intervertebral discs was caused by injuries he sustained in the course of his employment. The Commission found for Parker and awarded compensation and medical benefits to be continued until the end of the healing period, still to be determined, and the award of the Commission was affirmed by the circuit court. On appeal to this court the cattle company contends that there was no substantial evidence to support the award of the Commission, because Parker failed to prove by medical evidence a causal relation between the disability and injury sustained in the course of his employment.

Parker testified that he was 64 years of age and had worked for the Harris Cattle Company since February 16, 1969, doing farm work and working with cattle. He said that in August, 1971, he was injured while engaged in hauling hay for the cattle company. He said that on that date he was engaged in unloading hay and his back was injured when he was pinned between a hay loader and the cab of a truck which had been driven, by a fellow-employee, too close to the hay loader. He said he remained pinned between the two vehicles for approximately 15 minutes before other employees were able to extract him. He said his foreman, Mr. Moore, arrived on the scene soon after the accident and offered to send him to a doctor, but that he thought he would soon be all right and so advised his foreman. He said he continued on the job with the same employer but the pain in his back and legs continued to grow worse until on the morning of December 14 he had difficulty getting out of bed and got in touch with his foreman and was taken to the University Hospital. He said he was released from the hospital on January 6, 1972; that he attempted to go back to work on January 18 but reinjured his back in February when lifting a bale of hay and had to go back to the hospital. He said Dr. Don Williams performed an operation on his back and that he is still under the care of the doctors at the University Hospital. He said he has not been able to work since February 25; that he is still having difficulty with his back and both legs and has been advised by the doctors that he needs additional surgery. Parker testified that his employer, Mr. Harris, paid him $42.90 a week from February, 1972, until September 18, 1972, when Mr. Harris told him that the insurance people had told him to pay no more. He said that his compensation payments were started in February when he actually fell out after jerking his back and reinjuring it in handling a bale of hay. He said that when he jerked his back on this occasion, his resulting pain was at the same spot in his back where it was injured when he was pinned between the truck and the loader and where he had been having the trouble with his back all along. He said that following the February injury Mr. Harris told him not to say anything to anyone from the insurance company about his injury in August.

Will Sanford, a fellow-employee, testified that he was working for Harris Cattle Company two or three years before Parker started working there. He said he did not actually witness the accident in August when Parker was injured because he did not arrive on the scene until after Parker had been released from between the truck and hay loader. He said he does not know how long Parker remained off from work, but that he does know Parker was not able to carry his part of the work after he did come back on the job following his August injury. He said he had to carry a part of Parker's work following the injury in August, but that prior to the injury Parker had helped him build fences and 'put out' crossties without difficulty.

Charlie Moore testified that he was foreman for the Harris Cattle Company in August, 1971, and that Parker worked under his supervision. He said Parker was injured in August and while he was not an eyewitness to the accident, he arrived on the scene soon after it happened. He said Parker continued working with a truck on the day of his accident, but that the other employees did the work and Parker was just out there. He said Parker did help haul some hay following his injury in August and prior to his hospitalization in December, but that following the August accident Parker complained of his legs going to sleep. He said he took Parker to the hospital on December 14 and assisted him in getting into the building. Mr. Moore testified that he told the employer, Mr. Harris, that Parker was injured on the job in the latter part of August and so far as he knows, no one connected with the Harris Cattle Company ever denied that Parker sustained his injury while on the job.

On cross-examination Mr. Moore testified that following the August accident, Parker continued to complain of pain in his back and legs, but that he did not take Parker to the hospital until he was called and told that Parker couldn't move. He said that Parker did not ask him to take him to the hospital until December and that as far as he knows, he did not see a doctor until then. He said that an insurance company representative contacted him in regard to the matter and took a tape recording from him. He said he told the insurance representative exactly what he knew about the accident, and that the company knew Parker got hurt in August when he got pinned against the loader.

Several medical reports were introduced into evidence by Parker without objection. A report from the Department of Neurosurgery of the University of Arkansas Medical Center over the typed names of Drs. S. Flanigan and Ron Williams shows that Parker was examined on December 15, 1971; that he had low back pain radiating to the right hip and thigh; that the pain was increased by coughing and that Parker had obtained very little relief from conservative therapy. Under the headings of 'Hospital Course' and 'Final Diagnosis' appear the following:

'The patient was admitted to the Neurosurgery Service on 12--30--71 and was maintained at bedrest and alangesics. (sic) On 1--4--72, a lumbar myelogram was done without difficulty. There was a large defect on the right at the L--4, L--5 interspace with a smaller defect on the left. The patient was advised that he probably had a herniated nucleus pulposus and operation was advised.

He did not wish an operation at this time; however, he preferred to be discharged. He had no difficulty following the myelogram, and was discharged on 1--5--72.

Herniated nucleus pulposus.'

The subsequent medical reports reveal that on March 7, 1972, bulging discs were surgically removed from the L--3--4 and L--4--5 vertebral interspaces; that Parker's pain was relieved by the surgery and he was discharged from the hospital on March 15, 1972.

The uncontradicted testimony of Parker and his witnesses constitutes substantial evidence that Parker sustained two accidental injuries to the same area of his back while in the course of his employment, and that pain in the injured area, associated with numbness in the legs, continued, and grew...

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8 cases
  • American Can Co. v. McConnell
    • United States
    • Arkansas Court of Appeals
    • 8 août 1979
    ...jurisdictions in a footnote to the above-quoted material, one of which is the Arkansas Supreme Court case of Harris Cattle Co. v. Parker, 256 Ark. 166, 506 S.W.2d 118 (1974). In that case, an award to claimant for a back injury, described as a "bulging" intervertebral disc, was sustained de......
  • Crain Burton Ford Co. v. Rogers
    • United States
    • Arkansas Court of Appeals
    • 5 septembre 1984
    ...that the causal relationship between the accident and the disability be established by medical evidence, Harris Cattle Co. v. Parker, 256 Ark. 166, 506 S.W.2d 118 (1974), or that the evidence be medically certain, Colonial Nursing Home v. Harvey, 9 Ark.App. 197, 657 S.W.2d 211 (1983). We th......
  • Click v. Pilot Freight Carries, Inc., 7810IC401
    • United States
    • North Carolina Court of Appeals
    • 5 juin 1979
    ... ... See also Harris Cattle ... Co. v. Parker, 256 Ark. 166, 506 S.W.2d 118 (1974) ...         In the case at ... ...
  • Hawkins Const. v. Maxell
    • United States
    • Arkansas Court of Appeals
    • 21 février 1996
    ...into findings of fact. See Bearden Lumber Co. v. Bond, supra, 7 Ark.App. at 74, 644 S.W.2d at 326. See also Harris Cattle Co. v. Parker, 256 Ark. 166, 506 S.W.2d 118 (1974), where the Arkansas Supreme Court explained that medical evidence is not essential in every workers' compensation case......
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