Thomas v. Industrial Accident Commission
Thomas v. Industrial Accident Commission
Opinion of the Court
Petitioner filed his application with the respondent commission for adjustment of his claim for compensation. He had suffered a hernia and the employer had provided a surgical operation and hospital care. Respondent commission found that- petitioner had sustained an injury arising out of and in the course of his employment “consisting of the aggravation into a disability condition of a preexisting left inguinal hernia”. It further found that petitioner had been adequately compensated for the “exacerbation of said hernia” by the furnishing of the surgical operation and hospital care “without compensation for disability” and made its award that petitioner “take nothing further”. Petitioner seeks the annulment of said award.
The evidence before the commission was very brief. Petitioner was the only witness examined orally and his testimony covers less than eight pages of the typewritten record. The only other evidence introduced was the written report of the surgeon who performed the operation. Said report contained no statement with respect to the origin or cause of the hernia. The only portion of said report having any bearing upon the situation was as follows: “November 21, 1933. Bassini operation performed. Operative Findings: Small mass size of a marble protruding from external ring, easily reduced. Coverings of sac easily distinguished and separated. No adhesions internal or external, sac containing small loop of bowel, but patient made an uneventful recovery. ’ ’
The testimony of petitioner showed that he was employed as a concrete worker by the city and county of San Francisco ; that on November 12, 1933, he was pushing a “concrete buggy” containing about 300 pounds of concrete; that while so engaged the buggy suddenly tipped to the side and when petitioner tried to prevent the overturning of the buggy he felt a sharp pain in his left groin; that he was unable to continue work and upon examining himself he “noticed a lump”; that he reported at the office of the employer’s physician the same afternoon but the doctor was not available; that he reported to the doctor the fol
Petitioner contends that the award denying him disability compensation should be set aside as there was no evidence whatever to support the finding that petitioner’s injury consisted of the aggravation of a pre-existing hernia. In our opinion this contention must be sustained. Respondents do not quote any evidence to sustain said finding but they argue that the commission applied to the facts of the present case the knowledge gained from expert testimony in other cases involving similar issues. They then proceed to set forth what purports to be the substance of certain expert testimony given in other hernia eases and dealing with the alleged symptoms of “true traumatic hernia”. None of such expert testimony is to be found in the record before us. Reference is then made by respondents to section 19, sub
Nourse, P. J., and Sturtevanf, J., concurred.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.