Mesite v. International Silver Co.

• Decision Date: 30 July 1926
• Citation: 134 A. 264,104 Conn. 724
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: MESITE v. INTERNATIONAL SILVER CO.

134 A. 264

104 Conn. 724

MESITE v. INTERNATIONAL SILVER CO.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

July 30, 1926

Appeal from Superior Court, New Haven County; Earnest C. Simpson Judge.

Cornelius J. Danaher, of Meriden, for appellant.

George E. Beers, of New Haven, Denis T O'Brien, Jr., of Meriden, and James E. Wheeler, of New Haven, for appellee.

Argued before WHEELER, C.J., and CURTIS, MALTBIE, HAINES, and HINMAN, JJ.

WHEELER, C.J.

The defendant appellant does not assign as a ground of appeal the correction of the finding; the clerk was therefore in error in causing the transcript of the evidence to be printed. The practice outlined in Biederzycki v. Farrel Foundry &amp Machine Co., 103 Conn. 701, 708, 131 A. 739, should be observed by counsel as well as the clerk.

The only assignment of error legally arising on the appeal is that the injuries suffered by the decedent did not arise out of and in the course of his employment upon the facts set forth in the finding. To determine this question of law we must have before us the salient facts upon which the award was made. The decedent on April 19, 1924, and for a period of 18 years prior thereto, had been in the employ of the defendant, and for the past 16 or 17 years had been employed as a sand buffer. This operation required the decedent to hold with one hand sand moistened with oil against a small rapidly revolving wheel, and with the other hand to hold the work to be buffed against the wheel. Pieces of cloth are hung in front of the wheel to protect the operator from the flying sand. The operation causes minute particles of sand to be thrown into the atmosphere immediately surrounding the wheel and some of the particles collect upon the face, hands, and clothing of the operator, although these particles do not fly about so as to fill the room with dust. During a period of years prior to April 19, 1924, the decedent inhaled minute particles of sand thrown out during the buffing process. The inhalation of these particles, and the irritation thus set up, weakened the resistance of the lungs of the decedent and rendered them more likely to infection. Prior to February, 1924, he was not suffering from tuberculosis. At some time between February and July, 1924, the lungs of the decedent, because of the weakened resistance due to the inhalation of the particles of sand, yielded to infection from the tubercle bacilli, and the decedent in consequence began to suffer from pulmonary tuberculosis, which progressed until on April 19, 1924, he was forced to stop work and was totally incapacitated for work on account of the tuberculosis up to ...