Williamson v. Texas Indemnity Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 19 February 1936
• Docket Number: No. 6563.,6563.
• Citation: 90 S.W.2d 1088
• Parties: WILLIAMSON v. TEXAS INDEMNITY INS. CO.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

Page 1088

90 S.W.2d 1088

WILLIAMSON v. TEXAS INDEMNITY INS. CO.

No. 6563.

Supreme Court of Texas.

February 19, 1936.

Error to Court of Civil Appeals of Eighth Supreme Judicial District.

Suit by A. E. Williamson against the Texas Indemnity Insurance Company to set aside a ruling of the Industrial Accident Board denying plaintiff's claim for compensation. Judgment of the district court in favor of plaintiff was reversed and judgment for defendant was rendered by the Court of Civil Appeals , and plaintiff brings error.

Judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals reversed, and cause remanded to the district court for another trial.

Winbourn Pearce and Byron Skelton, both of Temple, and Jim Evetts, of Belton, for plaintiff in error.

Don Emery, R. K. Batten, and T. L. Dyer, all of Amarillo, for defendant in error.

SHARP, Justice.

This suit arose under the Workmen's Compensation Law (title 130, articles 8306-8309, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes). A. E. Williamson filed suit in the district court of Upton county against the Texas Indemnity Insurance Company for alleged injuries received by him while in the employ of the Phillips Petroleum Company and in the due course of his employment for that company. In response to answers made by the jury to special issues submitted, the trial judge entered judgment in favor of Williamson and against the Texas Indemnity Insurance Company for compensation to the extent of $8,020, and that of said amount the sum of $3,000 had accrued, and that judgment be entered for that amount and for the further sum of $20 per week from the 18th day of June, 1932, for 251 successive weeks thereafter. The Court of Civil Appeals at El Paso reversed and rendered the cause in favor of the Texas Indemnity Insurance Company. 59 S.W.(2d) 232.

The testimony shows that on July 29, 1929, A. E. Williamson, while in the due course of his employment as an employee of the Phillips Petroleum Company, was seriously injured. It tends to show that he received certain injuries which rendered him physically and mentally incapacitated from attending to his business from the date of his injuries to the date of his trial. The Phillips Petroleum Company was notified of the injuries within 2 or 3 days thereafter, and he was removed to the hospital at Iraan, and shortly thereafter, at the instance of the representative of the Phillips Petroleum Company, he went to the King's Daughters Hospital at Temple. On December 5, 1930, he filed his claim for compensation with the Industrial Accident Board. His claim was denied by the board because of his failure to file same with the board within 6 months after injury, and good cause not being shown for the failure to do so.

The jury found: (a) That Williamson, while working for the Phillips Petroleum Company, on the 29th day of July, 1929, sustained accidental personal injuries; (b) that Williamson, as a result of such injuries, sustained loss of capacity to work; (c) that such incapacity for work commenced on July 29, 1929; (d) that Williamson sustained total loss of capacity for work for a length of time on July 29, 1929; (e) that such total loss of capacity for work was permanent; (f) that Williamson had given notice of his accidental injury to the Phillips Petroleum Company within 30 days after the 29th day of July, 1929; (g) that Williamson had good cause for not filing his claim for compensation within 6 months after the occurrence of such injury.

The honorable Court of Civil Appeals held, as a matter of law, that the evidence is insufficient to excuse the delay for filing his claim with the Industrial Accident Board, and therefore reversed and rendered the cause. In the light of this record, we think this was error.

It appears from the evidence that Williamson was injured and went to the hospital at Temple, where he remained for a long time. It also appears that he was physically and mentally unable to file his claim for compensation sooner than he did file it. He had sustained injuries before while working for the Phillips Petroleum Company, and that company practically took charge of the matter for him and brought about a settlement in payment of his claim. The evidence tends to show that Williamson was confined in a hospital, or in a room near the hospital, for treatment, and that the agents of the Phillips Petroleum Company and the Texas Indemnity Insurance Company talked to him about his injuries, and he believed that his claim was being handled as it had been handled before. When he learned that his claim had not been filed with the Industrial Accident Board, and that the Phillips Petroleum Company and the Texas Indemnity Insurance Company were not looking after the matter for him, he afterwards filed same with the Industrial Accident Board. The evidence is conflicting upon this question, but we think it raises an...