Star Fruit Co. v. Canady
| Decision Date | 30 September 1947 |
| Citation | 32 So.2d 2,159 Fla. 488 |
| Parties | STAR FRUIT CO. et al. v. CANADY. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Polk County; D. O. Rogers Judge.
Shackleford Farrior & Shannon, of Tampa, and Walter E. Rountree, of Tallahassee, for appellants.
H. E Oxford and Oxford & Oxford, all of Lakeland, for appellee.
This is a Workmen's Compensation case. The record discloses that Henry Canady, a colored man, on January 23, 1946, and for some time prior thereto, was employed by the Star Fruit Company as an orange picker. It is shown that while working for his employer he had climbed near the top of his ladder and had a bag or sack filled with oranges thrown about his shoulder when a rung of the ladder broke or gave way and he fell from the top of the ladder to the ground and in the fall sustained injuries in the lower portion of his back. The Deputy Commissioner, from all the evidence adduced, held that the claimant, Henry Canady, was temporarily totally disabled as a result of the fall from January 25, 1946, to March 19 1946. On appeal this ruling was sustained by the full Commission, but the Circuit Court on appeal held that the claimant was permanently disabled to work and entitled to receive compensation at $21.24 per week not to exceed a period of 175 weeks.
The question here presented on this appeal is whether or not the evidence is sufficient to sustain the order as entered by the Circuit Court.
It is not disputed that the claimant on December 18, 1939 suffered a back injury and was operated upon therefor by a Tampa surgeon and the claimant discharged on June 10, 1941, as fully recovered. The claimant was re-examined on January 23, 1942, and found symptomless. He was instructed to 'do only light work'. It is shown that a deformity exists as a result of the 1939 injury in the claimant's spine in the area of the first operation, and it is argued that such disabilities as claimant has were a result of the first injury and the 1946 injury only aggravated or accelerated the first injury by increasing the pain. Counsel for appellants contend that the medical testimony sustains the conclusion that the 1946 injury to the claimant rendered him only temporarily totally disabled and that the court below should have followed this testimony and in so doing would have entered an order sustaining the conclusions as reached by the Industrial Commission.
The record discloses an agreement between counsel of record to the effect that the claimant, Henry Canady, on January 25, 1946, at the time of the fall from near the top of the ladder when engaged in picking oranges for the Star Fruit Company, was injured in the course of his employment. The claimant testified that after the first injury in 1939 and prior to the second injury in 1946 he picked oranges for four seasons and had no pain or trouble when doing so; that he had during the same period performed hard daily labor, but since the fall in 1946 he has not been able to work. Commissioner:
'
We find no testimony in the record contradictory of the testimony of the claimant on the point of his permanent disability other than the opinion of the doctor to the effect that Canady was physically able to work after sustaining the injury in 1946. The Circuit Judge had a right, as a matter of law, to accept the opinion of the Tampa physician on this point or to reject it and base his conclusions on the testimony of the claimant Canady. We have held that the findings of fact on...
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Town of Crescent City v. Green
...during and in the course of his employment, of a pre-existing condition entitled the employee to compensation. Star Fruit Co. et al. v. Canady, 159 Fla. 488, 32 So.2d 2; Florence Citrus Growers Assn. v. Parrish, 160 Fla. 685, 36 So.2d 369; Enkel v. Northwest Air Lines, 221 Minn. 532, 22 N.W......
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Allman v. Meredith Corp., AT-457
...Inc. v. Truex, 287 So.2d 71 (Fla.1973), Magic City Bottle & Supply Company v. Robinson, 116 So.2d 240 (Fla.1959), and Star Fruit Co. v. Canady, 32 So.2d 2 (Fla.1947), are controlling here. We read these cases as standing for the proposition that under appropriate circumstances lay testimony......
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McCandless v. M.M. Parrish Const., AR-319
...& Supply Co. v. Robinson, 116 So.2d 240 (Fla.1959), Andrews v. Strecker Body Builders, 92 So.2d 521 (Fla.1957), and Star Fruit Co. v. Canady, 32 So.2d 2 (Fla.1947). In Magic City, 116 So.2d at 243, the court This Court has held on many occasions that the opinions of medical experts are not ......
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Tampa Transit Lines, Inc. v. Smith, 3888
...disability was sufficient to uphold the award even though an expert medical witness testified to the contrary. See Star Fruit Co. v. Canady, 1947, 159 Fla. 488, 32 So.2d 2. The opinion states 32 So.2d at page '* * * The Circuit Judge had a right, as a matter of law, to accept the opinion of......