Hawkins v. Safety Casualty Co.

• Court: Texas Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Folley
• Citation: Hawkins v. Safety Casualty Co., 207 S.W.2d 370, 146 Tex. 381 (Tex. 1948)
• Decision Date: 07 January 1948
• Docket Number: No. A-1369.,A-1369.
• Parties: HAWKINS v. SAFETY CASUALTY CO.

207 S.W.2d 370

HAWKINS v. SAFETY CASUALTY CO.

No. A-1369.

Supreme Court of Texas.

January 7, 1948.

Rehearing Denied February 4, 1948.

Error to Court of Civil Appeals of Ninth Supreme Judicial District.

Suit by William M. Hawkins, employee of the Magnolia Petroleum Company,

against the Safety Casualty Company to set aside an adverse award of the Industrial Accident Board. A judgment on an instructed verdict for respondent was affirmed by the Court of Civil Appeals, 204 S.W.2d 866, and the employee brings error.

Reversed and remanded.

Lamar Hart and David C. Marcus, both of Beaumont, for petitioner.

Walace Hawkins, of Dallas, and Jack Vickrey, of Beaumont, for respondent.

FOLLEY, Justice.

This is a workman's compensation suit in which the trial court instructed a verdict for the respondent insurance company on the sole ground that the claimant failed to raise a fact issue as to "good cause" for not filing his claim with the Industrial Accident Board within the six months required by Sec. 4a of Art. 8307, V.A.C.S. The judgment of the trial court denying recovery was affirmed by the Court of Civil Appeals. 204 S.W.2d 866.

The claimant, William M. Hawkins, who is the petitioner, sustained an accidental injury on July 3, 1945, while in the course of his employment in the paint mill of the Magnolia Petroleum Company. The injury occurred while he was loading one of the mills with lead. In that process he was attempting to place on the mill an iron head weighing about 150 pounds. The head began to revolve causing him to fall in a sitting position on a concrete floor while holding the mill in an effort to prevent spilling its lead contents. While in this position he strained his back, left knee and right shoulder very severely. His foreman sent him immediately to Dr. Williams, the company physician, where he was examined and treated. The physician taped his back, knee and shoulder, had X-rays made of his injuries, and treated him for about seven months thereafter.

The claimant did not remember the exact date he returned to work after his injuries on July 3, but one of his fellow workers testified he resumed his labors on July 5, after the holiday on July 4. This associate also testified that the claimant worked on July 6, and steadily thereafter until the witness left the company the following January, except "he laid off a good many days", and on one occasion was off duty for a period of three weeks.

The claimant testified he resumed his labors at the paint mill soon after his injury. He thereafter performed lighter work than that to which he had been accustomed prior to his injury. His helper and others assisted him in the heavier work. He ceased working for the Magnolia Petroleum Company on March 8, 1946, but the reason therefor was not shown. He then performed yard work and cleaned up trash about various homes in Beaumont. In the early part of April he began working as a longshoreman for P. C. Pfeiffer at the dock in Beaumont. On April 12, while in that employment, he was injured again when some bags of fertilizer fell on him, but recovered from those injuries. His activities thereafter were not shown.

During the eight months he worked at the paint mill following his first injury, the claimant suffered some pain, but was able to perform light work most of the time. He did not know how many days he was off duty during that period, but on cross-examination estimated that he missed working as many as sixty, and possibly ninety, days. From time to time in that period he received treatments from the company physician. It was his uncontroverted testimony that this physician was assuring him all along that his injuries would not be serious. He also thought then that his injuries were not serious and that they would soon "clear up" so he could resume the hard labor to which he had been accustomed.

On March 19, 1946, after the termination of his relations with the Magnolia Petroleum Company, and while raking up trash in some lady's yard in Beaumont, he strained his injured leg and felt a sudden and severe pain. He thereupon had to cease work and go home and to bed. He continued to feel worse, and in three or four days he went to see Dr. Joe Record who examined him thoroughly and informed him he was in "bad shape" and could not get well. On March 27, 1946, claimant for the first time saw his lawyer who mailed his claim that day to the Industrial Accident Board.

On May 13, 1946, and upon three succeeding occasions prior to the time of the trial, claimant was examined by another physician, Dr. Edward C. Ferguson, who had X-rays made of the injuries and examined the claimant's blood and urine in a clinical laboratory. From his examinations he expressed the opinion that the claimant was totally and permanently incapacitated.

In this state of the record, and at the close of claimant's testimony, the trial court granted the motion of the insurance company for a peremptory instruction and rendered judgment thereon denying petitioner a recovery upon the theory that as a matter of law no good cause was shown for the failure of claimant to file a claim for compensation within the six-months period required by law.

It is our opinion that under the facts of this case the trial court was unauthorized to instruct a verdict against the petitioner, and that the Court of Civil Appeals erred in affirming the judgment based thereon.

The term "good cause" for not filing a claim for compensation is not defined in the statute, but it has been uniformly held by the courts of this state that the test for its existence is that of ordinary prudence, that is, whether the claimant prosecuted his claim with that degree of diligence that an ordinarily prudent person would have exercised under the same or similar circumstances. Consequently, whether he has used the degree of diligence required is ordinarily a question of fact to be determined by the jury or the trier of facts. It may be determined against the claimant as a matter of law only when the evidence, construed most favorably for the claimant, admits no other reasonable conclusion. Martin v. Travelers Ins. Co., Tex.Civ.App., 196 S.W.2d 544; Great American Indem. Co. v. Beaupre, Tex.Civ. App., 191 S.W.2d 883; Lacour v. Continental Casualty Co., Tex.Civ.App., 163 S.W.2d 676; Texas Indemnity Co. v. Cook, Tex. Civ.App., 87 S.W.2d 830, writ refused.

The law is well settled that a bona fide belief of a claimant that his injuries are not serious but trivial is sufficient to constitute good cause for delay in filing a claim. It also has been held a number of times that the advice of a physician, upon whom a claimant relies, that injuries are not of a serious nature, but are temporary or trivial, is sufficient to justify a claimant's delay until he learns, or by the use of reasonable diligence should have learned,...