White v. Taylor

• Decision Date: 31 October 1941
• Docket Number: 6429.
• Citation: 5 So.2d 337
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US
• Parties: WHITE v. TAYLOR et al.

5 So.2d 337

WHITE v. TAYLOR et al.

No. 6429.

Court of Appeals of Louisiana, Second Circuit

October 31, 1941

Rehearing Denied Nov. 28, 1941.

Certiorari Denied Jan. 5, 1942.

Appeal from Twenty-Sixth Judicial District Court, Parish of Bossier J.F. McInnis, Judge.

Cook Cook & Egan, E.W. & P.N. Browne, and Albert T. Hughes, Jr., all of Shreveport, for appellants.

Coleman & Morgan, of Shreveport, for appellee.

DREW, Judge.

The lower court has stated the issues and determined the case in the following written opinion:

"This is a suit to collect compensation at the rate of $10.40 a week for 400 weeks and medical and hospital expenses of $250.00. James T. Taylor, principal contractor and his insurer Maryland Casualty Company and R.F. Mullineaux, a subcontractor and his insurer, Employers' Liability Assurance Corporation, are all made defendants and judgment in solido, is prayed for against all of them.

"For a cause of action, plaintiff says in original and supplemental petitions that on or about October 3, 1939, he was employed by the defendant, James T. Taylor, and while acting in the course and scope of his employment, and while he and other employees were loading brick in a wheelbarrow which was resting on an inclined ramp running into the school building which was under construction, and plaintiff was standing on the ground and below the wheelbarrow and had about finished loading the brick, the wheelbarrow tilted over and emptied the load of brick on his back, seriously injuring him, the injuries consisting of a separation of the superior surface of the right sacro-iliac syndesmosis and bruised the muscles near the lower part of his back. He says that while he was suffering from his injuries he continued to work the balance of the day and may have worked the next day, but on the morning of the 7th of October he was directed by a foreman for Taylor to go to work for Mullineaux, the subcontractor, and on the first day of his employment while attempting to lift a sack of lime from a stack slightly higher than his head, he suddenly twisted his back, causing severe pain and seriously aggravating the previous injury which he had received while working for Taylor. That after this second accident, he began to swell over his entire body and was thereafter directed by the foreman for Mullineaux, whose name he does not know, to report to Dr. Birdwell, in Shreveport, and was treated for about 30 days by him.

"Plaintiff says that he was earning $16.00 per week and that he is totally and permanently disabled to do the kind of work he is qualified to do, which is manual labor.

"Exceptions of vagueness were answered by filing the supplemental petition. Exceptions of no cause and no right of action were overruled. Taylor and his insurer then answered denying the substantial allegations of the petition, except they admitted the weekly wages of plaintiff. In the alternative, should the court find that plaintiff is entitled to recover against them by reason of the alleged accident of October 7, 1939, while an employee of Mullineaux, then in that event they are entitled to recover and have like judgment against Mullineaux and his insurer, as warrantors and indemnitors, under the law of Louisiana and particularly Act 20 of 1914, as amended. The prayer is in accordance with the answer.

"Mullineaux and his insurer answered denying that plaintiff sustained any injury while working for Mullineaux, but admit he worked from 8 A.M. to 10:30 A.M. on October 7, 1939, at which time the work for the day was finished and he was laid off. They admit that plaintiff, on Monday October 9, 1939, reported an accident he claimed happened on October 7th and was sent to Dr. Birdwell, who treated him for about 30 days. They say the condition complained of by plaintiff is in no way related to or in consequence of his employment by Mullineaux on October 7th.

"In my opinion, the evidence reasonably establishes that plaintiff sustained an injury on Thursday, October 5, 1939, while working for the defendant Taylor, which did not completely disable him immediately, and that he also sustained another injury on Saturday, October 7, 1939, while working for defendant Mullineaux, and that he was at the date of trial wholly disabled to do work of a reasonable character. Reviewing all of the evidence would serve no useful purpose, but the conclusion is easily reached that in all probability plaintiff was suffering with syphilis at the time of injuries which were to the sacro-iliac region of the back, and this has retarded and will continue to retard recovery.

"This appears to me to be a case where two insurers are trying to put the 'bee' on each other. Counsel for Taylor and his insurer readily admit that plaintiff was seriously injured while working for Mullineaux and that he is now disabled. Counsel for Mullineaux and his insurer readily admit that plaintiff was seriously injured while working for Taylor and that he is now disabled.

"As said above, the negro appeared to be disabled at the time of trial. How long he will be disabled cannot be definitely determined from the evidence. If he had been timely and properly treated immediately after he was injured, he might be well now, but the insurance companies were evidently too busy trying to fasten liability on each other to do much for plaintiff. Neither has paid him any compensation at all. In my opinion, all the defendants should be cast, in solido.

"Plaintiff only proved $10.00 for doctor bills for treatment. That was for Dr. Waller. The other bills he proved were apparently for examinations so the doctors could testify.

"Counsel for Mullineaux and his insurer, in a supplemental brief,...