Smith v. Cudahy Packing Company

• Decision Date: 05 April 1924
• Docket Number: 25,444
• Citation: 115 Kan. 874,225 P. 110
• Parties: DAISY SMITH, Appellee, v. CUDAHY PACKING COMPANY, Appellant
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

225 P. 110

115 Kan. 874

DAISY SMITH, Appellee, v. CUDAHY PACKING COMPANY, Appellant

No. 25,444

Supreme Court of Kansas

April 5, 1924

Decided January, 1924.

Appeal from Wyandotte district court, division No. 3; WILLIAM H MCCAMISH, judge.

Judgment affirmed.

SYLLABUS

SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.

WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION ACT -- Compensation Allowable for Injury to Thumb and First Finger Greater Than Loss of Thumb and Finger--One Who Elects to Accept Terms of Law Bound by Its Terms. If the provisions of the workmen's compensation act as interpreted by this court, under which a larger amount is sometimes allowed for an injury to a limb or other member than for its loss, would otherwise make it violative of the fourteenth amendment to the federal constitution, that result is prevented by the fact that the statute binds only those who have voluntarily elected to accept its terms.

J. E. McFadden, and O. Q. Claflin, jr., both of Kansas City, for the appellant.

J. K. Cubbison, and William G. Holt, both of Kansas City, for the appellee.

OPINION

MASON, J.:

Daisy Smith recovered from the Cudahy Packing Company a judgment for $ 2,490, in addition to an allowance for medical attendance, under the workmen's compensation law. Her injury consisted of the cutting of her thumb and first finger in such a way as to render them permanently stiff. There was evidence also that the use of her hand was impaired. The amount of her recovery was based upon the minimum allowance of $ 6 a week for 414 weeks for a permanent partial disability. (R. S. 44-510, paragraph 3, clause c.) The company appeals, contending that the amount of compensation should have been controlled by items (1) and (2) as qualified by (22) of the schedule of allowances for specific injuries in the section just cited, amounting to $ 360 for the loss of the use of her thumb and $ 222 for the loss of the use of her finger. The portions of the statute referred to read:

"Where disability, partial in character but permanent in quality, results from the injury, the injured workman shall be entitled to the compensation provided in paragraph 1 of this section, but shall not be entitled to any other or further compensation for or during the first week following the injury. Thereafter, compensation in a lump sum shall be paid as provided in the following schedule, the average weekly wages to be computed as provided in section 4 of this act, and the compensation to be in no case less than $ 6 per week nor more than $ 12 per week.

"(1) For the loss of a thumb, 50 per cent of the average weekly wages during 60 weeks.

"(2) For the loss of a first finger, commonly called the index finger, 50 per cent of the average weekly wages during 37 weeks.

"(22) Permanent loss of the use of a hand, arm, foot, leg or eye, as a direct result of an injury, shall be considered as the equivalent of the loss of such hand, arm, foot, leg or eye."

It is conceded that to sustain the company's contention would involve the overruling of several recent cases. (Close v. Mining Co., 105 Kan. 257, 182 P. 392; Stefan v Elevator Co., 106 Kan. 369, 187 P. 861; Emry v. Cripes, 110 Kan. 693, 205 P. 598; Anderson v. Oil & Refining Co., 111 Kan. 314, 206 P. 900.) The matter having been so recently and so repeatedly passed upon, no further discussion is regarded as necessary. The...