Wetter v. Mechanics' Iron Works

• Decision Date: 03 May 1932
• Docket Number: No. 22038.,22038.
• Citation: 49 S.W.2d 236
• Parties: WETTER v. MECHANICS' IRON WORKS et al.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

49 S.W.2d 236

WETTER v. MECHANICS' IRON WORKS et al.

No. 22038.

St. Louis Court of Appeals. Missouri.

May 3, 1932.

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court; Claude O. Pearcy, Judge.

"Not to be officially published."

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Joseph Wetter, claimant, for injuries opposed by the Mechanics' Iron Works, employer, and the Zurich General Accident & Liability Insurance Company, insurer. From a judgment of the circuit court affirming an award of the compensation commission denying compensation, claimant appeals.

Affirmed.

S. F. Pinter, of St. Louis, for appellant.

M. L. Lichtenstadt, and Allen, Moser & Marsalek, all of St. Louis, for respondents.

HAID, P. J.

This is an appeal from the judgment of the circuit court affirming the award of the Workmen's Compensation Commission denying compensation to the employee.

As we have said on several occasions, the findings of the commission are in the nature of special verdicts, and, as such, are binding and conclusive if supported by any substantial competent evidence. De Moss v. Evens & Howard F. B. Co., 225 Mo. App. 473, 37 S.W.(2d) 961, 962 and cases cited; Jackson v. General Metals Ref. Co. (Mo. App.) 43 S.W.(2d) 865, loc. cit. 866; Simmons v. Mississippi River Fuel Corp. (Mo. App.) 43 S.W.(2d) 868; Leilich v. Chevrolet Motor Co. (Mo. Sup.) 40 S.W.(2d) 601, loc. cit. 604.

In the present case, the record discloses that the employee was a locksmith finisher in the employ of the Mechanics' Iron Works. On May 20, 1927, shortly before 12 o'clock, he asserts that he was straightening out iron bars and something flew in his left eye; that he started to work at 7:15 and worked until 5 o'clock, thus finishing his work for that day, and worked four weeks after that; that after lunch on May 20, he asked the foreman to look in his eye, but the foreman found nothing in it; that his eye got worse, and after four weeks he could not see; that his face got stiff; that he went to Dr. Mehan on June 19, went to a hospital, and a Dr. McGrath there looked at his eye; after he had been in the hospital Dr. Mason examined him; that he told the foreman about the matter twice during the four-week period, the second time being about eight days after the alleged accident; that he informed his employer about it, who said he would have to report it; that he lost six weeks after the expiration of four weeks from the time of his injury; that his eye bothered him four weeks after he went to the hospital, but that it was all right at the time of the hearing, and he was able to see with it as good as before the accident; that the first four weeks after the accident it became worse every day, it hurt and he could not see with it, sometimes it was a little better and then again it was worse; that his foreman told him it looked red like; that he went to Dr. Mehan about four weeks after the accident and the latter called an eye doctor named McGrath at the hospital, and Dr. McGrath examined him once; Dr. Mehan removed something from claimant's eye and told claimant it looked like a piece of rust or something like that; that while in the hospital his mouth would water and the whole left side of his face was stiff and he could not close his left eyelid for awhile; that after the substance was removed from his eye it started to get better; that when he went to the hospital Dr. Mehan washed his eye.

The foreman was called by the claimant and testified that claimant came to him on May 20 and asked if the foreman could find anything in claimant's eye; that he looked at it but could not find anything; that his eye was all right at the time, it did not look red, but it was watering; that he did not tell him to go to a doctor; he was not injured. In answer to the question, "What was your answer, did you say he was not dangerous or it was not injured?" he answered, "Not dangerous"; that claimant worked about four weeks and at one time said his eye was red, that he thought he had a cold; that the second time claimant told him about his eye he examined it, but could find nothing in it.

Dr. R. E. Mason, for insurer, an oculist, testified that he examined claimant on August 17, 1927, and found no scars or any evidence of injury to his left eye; no marks or inflammation or scars; that the vision of both eyes was normal; that if there was something in a man's eye for four weeks there would be a great deal of inflammation and pain and most likely an ulcer; that he found no ulcer at this time; that lues is syphilis; Bell's palsy is a paralysis of certain muscles of the side of the face and neck; that a foreign body in the eye could not cause stiffness of the side of the face and dribbling of the mouth; that he found nothing in the eye, nothing abnormal at the time of any kind; that the syphilitic condition of the menges or brain that might cause paresis could clear up in six or seven weeks; that he felt confident if a man had a foreign body in his eye four weeks it would have left a scar or inflammation or would have left some trace of it; that he found no trace of it.

Dr. George T. Mehan for the claimant, a physician and surgeon, testified he saw claimant on June 19, 1927, that claimant was brought to him on the 11th, that claimant's immediate condition was an eye condition, apparently a foreign body in the corneal-sclereal junction; that the history showed it to be of four weeks' duration, and there was also a partial paralysis on the left side of the face, which was Bell's palsy; that he took care of the eye on that Sunday, and thought he took a foreign body that was imbedded in the corneal-sclereal junction, that is, he removed a particle but did not know whether it was steel or paper or what it was; but he scraped some material out of the ulceration of the eye but could not tell what it was, it was not pus but he thought it was substance of material but could not determine whether it was steel or wood or dirt or anything else; this foreign body was about a small fraction of a pin point, it was a...