St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance v. Durden
St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance v. Durden
Opinion of the Court
The case of London Guarantee Co. &c. v. Ritchey, 53 Ga. App. 628 (186 SE 863), which the full board followed, held: 1. “. . . where . . . an employee receives an injury by burns, not only to three fingers, as expressly described in . . . [Code § 114-406], but also to the ‘back of both hands and both wrists’ and a surgical wound in his abdomen is necessitated to obtain grafts to replace the burned skin, for all of which he receives hospital treatment and by which .he is wholly incapacitated for work, the injury not being restricted to the specific members . . . the total disability compensation is controlled by . . . [Code § 114-404], with 350-weeks maximum, . . .” (2) “Under . . . [Code § 114-709] where a second award is made, ending, diminishing, or increasing the compensation allowed by a previous award, the employee can not be required to account for or be charged with moneys actually paid under the first award. . .” (3) “Under the preceding holdings, there is no merit in the contentions of the employer and the insurance carrier that compensation for total disability was limited to ten weeks, and that the award of the Department of Industrial Relations was error because it failed to allow a credit, on the present allowance for partial ‘industrial
The above quoted decision appears to follow from this reasoning: The original award, based upon the agreement of the parties, showed multiple injuries existed at that time. That award was not excepted to and the facts on which it Was based
Therefore, even though at the hearing in the present case positive evidence of disability resulting from the foot injury was not produced, the London Guarantee case is nevertheless applicable—because it was based on the finality of the former judgment—not on its correctness.
None of the authorities cited by the employer is in conflict with the London Guarantee case or with the judgment on which error is assigned. The employer’s assignment of error shows no grounds requiring a reversal of the judgment of the superior court affirming the award of the full board.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.