Superior Coal Co. v. Indus. Comm'n
Decision Date | 11 October 1927 |
Docket Number | No. 18172.,18172. |
Citation | 326 Ill. 584,158 N.E. 209 |
Parties | SUPERIOR COAL CO. v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al. |
Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Error to Circuit Court, Macoupin County; Frank W. Burton, Judge.
Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Joe Schieall, claimant, opposed by the Superior Coal Company, employer. From an order of the Industrial Commission, granting an award, claimant appealed to the circuit court, which set aside the award, and claimant brings error.
Reversed, and award confirmed.
A. W. Kerr, of Chicago, and Joseph A. Londrigan, of Springfield, for plaintiff in error.
Vaughn & Nevins, of Carlinville, for defendant in error.
The circuit court of Macoupin county having set aside an award of the Industrial Commission against the Superior Coal Company in favor of Joe Schieall, a writ of error was allowed on his petition to review the judgment.
The plaintiff in error, an employee of the Superior Coal Company, on December 24, 1925, being alone, was setting a prop, on top of which he undertook to drive a wedge or cap piece. In doing so he struck the roof with his sledge hammer, scratching the sulphur, so that some of it fell into his left eye. He finished setting the prop and went home. The mine was not in operation on the 25th, 26th, or 27th, and during that time the plaintiff in error was not bothered much by his eye. He testified before the arbitrator that on the 28th the eye was red and sore, and he went to Dr. Senelick, who was his family doctor. He is probably mistaken about the date, however, for he also testified that he treated his eye for about eight days with some medicine which Dr. Morris, of Springfield, had given for the use of the plaintiff in error's son, whose eye had been hurt in the mine almost three years before, and on the hearing before the commission Dr. Senelick testified, as a witness called by the employer, that he had no record of having been consulted prior to January 4, the date which his record shows of the first visit to his office. On that date two visits were made, on January 6 two, and on January 7 one. On the 4th there was a well-developed ulcer of the cornea and the eye was generally inflamed. The doctor thought the ulcer was the former site of a foreign body, but was unable to find any foreign body. The condition did not improve, but on the 7th was aggravated, and the doctor advised the plaintiff in error to consult a specialist.
The plaintiff in error testified that he did not work on the 28th, or until March 1, because of the condition of his eye. He reported the accident at the mine office on January 8, and was examined and treated by Dr. Sullivan, mine physician at Gillespie, who found the eye badly inflamed, with a hazy area over the entire pupil, and sent the plaintiff in error to Dr. Morris, at Springfield, a specialist in diseases of the eye. He first examined the plaintiff in error on the 9th. There was then a very severe ulcer, covering most of the pupillary area, the inner half of the cornea was hazy, due to an infiltration into the tissue of the cornea, and the inside of the eye was about one-fourth or one-half filled with pus from a perforating ulcer, letting the pus drain down on the inside. It had the appearance of having got in there probably from some particle of dust that caused a break and infection in the corneal epithelium, which usually occurs within 48 hours. As it did not show up until 4 days, it was at first a minor matter, which developed seriously because of neglect and improper treatment. The doctor testified that he had treated the son of the plaintiff in error in August, 1923, and if he then gave him some medicine, which was kept until the first of the year 1926, if there would be any liquid left, it would be almost a mass of crystals, the putting of which into the eye might have caused a traumatic injury, the same as any other foreign body. Any foreign body in the eye which resulted in irritation might have caused the condition which the doctor found on January 9. Dr. Morris put the plaintiff in error in the hospital under treatment until February 18. The eye had then completely healed, leaving a scar covering most of the pupillary area, with a vision of about five two-hundredths.
The award of the arbitrator, which was affirmed by the Industrial Commission and set aside by the circuit court, was $15 a week for 7 6/7 weeks' temporary incapacity and $15 a week for 110 weeks for total blindness of the left eye.
No questions are presented except questions of fact....
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