Pappas v. North Iowa Brick & Tile Co.
| Decision Date | 15 December 1925 |
| Docket Number | 37040 |
| Citation | 206 N.W. 146,201 Iowa 607 |
| Parties | GEORGE PAPPAS, Appellant, v. NORTH IOWA BRICK & TILE COMPANY et al., Appellees |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
REHEARING DENIED MARCH 12, 1926.
Appeal from Cerro Gordo District Court.--JOSEPH J. CLARK, Judge.
ACTION to recover by plaintiff, as an injured employee, under the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Law of Iowa. The opinion states the facts. Both parties to the action appeal from the judgment entered, awarding to the plaintiff the sum of $ 10.63 per week for a period of 225 weeks, in full compensation due for the loss of his second arm by the accident in question, with interest on the amount of said compensation at 6 per cent from the time each weekly payment became due. On the cross-appeal of the defendants, the judgment is--Modified and affirmed.
Modified and affirmed.
Senneff Bliss & Witwer, for appellant.
B. O Montgomery, for appellees.
DE GRAFF, J.
The claimant, George Pappas, seeks to recover compensation for injury arising out of and in the course of his employment, against his employer, the North Iowa Brick & Tile Company, and the Fidelity Casualty Company of New York, its insurance carrier. The action is predicated on the terms of the Workmen's Compensation Act of Iowa. The facts presently noted are not in dispute.
The matter was originally presented to the industrial commissioner of this state, who awarded compensation for 200 weeks, at $ 10.63 per week. An appeal was taken to the district court of Cerro Gordo County by the claimant, and thereafter, upon a trial of the issues, the decision of the commissioner was modified by awarding the claimant compensation for 225 weeks, at $ 10.63 per week. Judgment was entered for the amount, with accrued interest on each past-due payment for 122 weeks. From this judgment both the claimant and the defendants appeal to this court.
It is the contention of the plaintiff that, by reason of the injury sustained by him, he is entitled to receive compensation for 400 weeks for total permanent disability. This claim cannot be sustained. The defendants contend that the claimant is entitled to receive compensation for the loss of less than an arm, which amount is determined by as many weeks as the portion of the arm actually lost bore to two thirds of that part of the arm between the shoulder joint and the elbow. The commissioner determined the loss to be 200/225ths of the number of weeks to which he would have been entitled, had he lost the whole arm.
The claimant at the time of the injury was a one-armed man. It is shown that, while working on a tamping machine on March 11, 1919, while in the employ of the defendant company, he was so injured that he lost his right arm at the shoulder. He received compensation therefor in the sum of 200 weeks, which was full compensation under the then existing law. Thereafter, while in the service of the same employer, and while engaged in work upon the same or a similar machine, he received an injury on November 15, 1922, whereby he lost his left arm, "at a point where the lower third of the upper arm or humerus joins the middle third of the upper arm or humerus." The quoted fact is found in the filed stipulation.
The instant case is one of exceptional character, and the initial question may be stated: Are the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act of Iowa broad enough and sufficiently explicit to cover the question presented? The true perspective cannot be obtained by taking into consideration any particular section of the law, and it must be borne in mind that the industrial commissioner has no jurisdiction to award compensation other than that provided in the Compensation Act.
Our state legislature seems to have fixed the basis of compensation, having in its legislative mind a standard or normal man, with a body and all members thereof in a serviceable condition. It has provided in the schedules of the law the compensation that shall be paid in the event that any of the members of the body shall be lost through an industrial injury. It is further recognized that there might be cases where multiple injuries would occur, and in such cases it is contemplated that the sum total of all such injuries should not exceed the amount of compensation fixed as the maximum in the event that the workman shall be totally disabled,--that is, 400 weeks. Section 2477-m9 (i), Code Supplement, 1913.
It is also provided that the total of the losses of parts of a member,--for example, the fingers,--shall not exceed the amount provided in the schedule for the loss of a hand. Section 2477-m9 (j) (7), Code Supplement, 1913.
It may also be observed that the original law was found to be uncertain and more or less ambiguous in its application to cases of an unusual type; as, for example, where a one-eyed man subsequently lost the remaining eye, or where a one-armed or a one-legged man subsequently lost the remaining arm or leg. This uncertainty was attempted to be removed by the Acts of the Thirty-seventh and Acts of the Thirty-eighth General Assemblies of Iowa. Prior to the adoption of these amendments, the law provided that the loss of an eye should be compensated by the payment of a percentage of wages during the period of 100 weeks. Nothing was said however, about the period of compensation in the event that such loss was sustained by a workman who, at the time of the injury, had but one-eye. The industrial commission was at liberty to follow the provisions of the law which said that the loss of both eyes should constitute permanent total disability, and could allow such compensation as would be equivalent to the difference between the payments to be made for one eye and the payments to be made for permanent disability. See Jennings v. Mason City Sewer Pipe Co., 187 Iowa 967, 174 N.W. 785. Under the present law, the compensation allowed is for a specific time, by reason of a specific injury.
The original provisions with respect to unusual cases have been corrected by the legislature. For example, it is now provided that the loss of a remaining eye shall be compensated for 200 weeks. It clearly contemplates also the case of a one-armed or one-legged man, and to avoid any uncertainty it is provided that only the loss of two arms or two legs caused by a single accident shall constitute total and permanent disability, to be compensated according to the provisions governing cases of total permanent disability. Chapter 270, Section 7, Acts of the Thirty-seventh General Assembly (Section 1396, Paragraph 19, Code of 1924).
The law applicable to this case is found in Section 2477-m9, Code Supplement, 1913, as amended by Chapter 270, Acts of the Thirty-seventh General Assembly, and Chapter 220, Acts of the Thirty-eighth General Assembly.
Under the stipulation, the loss is agreed to be that of an arm at the juncture of the lower...
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Pappas v. N. Iowa Brick & Tile Co.
...201 Iowa 607206 N.W. 146PAPPASv.NORTH IOWA BRICK & TILE CO. ET AL.No. 37040.Supreme Court of Iowa.Dec. 15, 1925 ... Appeal from District Court, Cerro Gordo County; Jos. J. Clark, Judge.Action to recover by plaintiff as an injured employee under the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Law of Iowa (Code Supp. 1913, 2477m to ... ...