Medart Lockers, Inc. v. Yarbrough, 43190

• Decision Date: 16 November 1964
• Docket Number: No. 43190,43190
• Citation: 168 So.2d 660,251 Miss. 124
• Parties: MEDART LOCKERS, INC. v. Thomas W. YARBROUGH.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 660

168 So.2d 660

251 Miss. 124

MEDART LOCKERS, INC. v. Thomas W. YARBROUGH.

No. 43190.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Nov. 16, 1964.

Lott & Sanders, Greenwood, for appellant.

Bell & McBee, Greenwood, for appellee.

RODGERS, Justice.

This is a workmen's compensation case. It comes to this Court from the Circuit Court of Leflore County, Mississippi, wherein a judgment was entered affirming an order of the Mississippi Workmen's Compensation Commission, approving an award by the attorney-referee in favor of appellee.

Thomas W. Yarbrough, a twenty-eight year old man, was an employee of the Medart Lockers, Inc. He is married and has one child. He has been employed by appellant since January 1961 and has worked regularly except when he was sick with the 'flu', and on another occasion when his eyes were giving him trouble. On October 25, 1961, appellee was working as a welder for appellant, and while he was performing his duties in the course of his employment, a grinding rock burst, breaking apart at high speed and part of the rock struck appellee in the upper quadrant of his stomach. He fell to the floor, and as he attempted to arise, he became unconscious. He was immediately conveyed to the Greenwood Leflore Hospital, where he remained from October 25 to October 29, 1961. He was discharged from the hospital by the attending physician, but as he was being conveyed to his home, the pain in his lower back became so excruciating, he fainted. Appellee's father took him to a hospital in Indianola, where he remained until November 7, 1961. On November 20, 1961, appellant was examined in Memphis, Tennessee, by Dr. J. S. Speed, an orthopedic surgeon, but no disability was discovered from an orthopedic standpoint. Appellee continued to suffer intense pain in the lower part of his back, and he was referred by Dr. Eugene Webb to Dr. John D. Wofford, a specialist in internal medicine, at Jackson, Mississippi. He was examined by Dr. Wofford on December 4, 1961, and was immediately sent to the hospital where he remained until December 20, 1961. He was examined by Dr. Walter Neill on several occasions but he found no disability to appellee from a neurological standpoint. Dr. Wofford testified that appellee was suffering from an acute lumbosacral strain, acute muscle spasm, post-traumatic, growing out of the injury he received. He testified that he discharged appellant on May 15, 1962, and that he had a fifteen percent permanent partial disability of the body as a whole.

Appellee, his wife and father, testified that because of the intense pain appellee suffered, it was necessary for him to sleep on the floor. They testified that he could not do any work that required twisting or lifting.

We have carefully read the lay, as well as the expert, testimony introduced in the trial of this claim, and we have reached the conclusion that there was ample testimony introduced at the hearing before the attorney-referee on which to base the...