Ruth v. Witherspoon-Englar Co.
Ruth v. Witherspoon-Englar Co.
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The defendant appeals from a judgment rendered against it under the workmen’s compensation act.
This is the second time this case has been before this court. (Ruth v. Witherspoon-Englar Co., 98 Kan. 179, 157 Pac. 403.) The former judgment was in favor of the plaintiff for the same amount as the present one.
The plaintiff pleaded total incapacity caused by the breaking of his right leg while in the defendant’s employ. After the broken bone of the plaintiff’s leg had been set and had healed, his injured leg was two inches shorter than the other one. The plaintiff commenced an action against W. F, Fairbanks and H. B. Lemmon, the physicians who had treated him, and against the defendant, for negligence and malpractice in setting the bone. That action was pending and undetermined at the time the present action was tried.
“You are .instructed that the plaintiff is entitled to recover compensation in this cause for his disability, total or partial, that resulted from the injury received in the course of his work, without the intervention of an independent agency.
“If you believe from the evidence that his total or partial inability to work has been caused or increased by improper surgical treatment, or want of proper medical or surgical care, then he can not recover in this cause for any total or partial incapacity due to improper medical care or want of proper medical treatment.”
The court gave the following instruction:
“In determining the compensation to which plaintiff is entitled, you will be careful to ascertain what length of time the plaintiff is necessarily incapacitated from work as the natural and probable result of his*610 injury, excluding therefrom any loss occasioned by any act of the plaintiff, himself, or occasioned from the acts of others occurring since the time of the injury.”
There is no substantial difference between the instructions requested and the one given by the court. The instructions asked by the defendant were specific, while the one given by the court was general. It was clear, and there was not enough difference between it and those requested to justify a reversal of the judgment.
“Question 1. The date of the injury to plaintiff being admitted to be the 5th day of March, 1914, for how many weeks do you find, beginning*611 two weeks after the date of said injury, the plaintiff will be totally incapacitated for labor? Answer. Four hundred fourteen weeks.
“Question 2. For how many weeks, if any, beginning at the end of the period of total incapacity, as-fixed by your answer to question number one, do you find that the plaintiff has been, or will be, partially incapacitated to perform labor? Answer. For rest of life. '
“Question 3. What average amount per week has plaintiff been, or will the plaintiff in all probability be able to earn in some suitable employment or business after the date of the accident and in the future? Answer. None-.”
The defendant says that it was error for the court to submit this case to the jury upon the three special questions, and contends that the jury should, in addition, have been required to render a general verdict. To support its contention, the defendant cites section 295 of the code of civil procedure and a number of decisions by this court in actions for the recovery of money. The abstract does not disclose that either party demanded a jury trial. That section of the workmen’s compensation act providing for a trial to determine the amount of compensation is section 5930 of the General Statutes of 1915, and in part reads:
“A workman’s right to compensation under this act, may, in default of agreement or arbitration, be determined and enforced by action in .any court of competent jurisdiction. In every such action the right to trial by jury shall be deemed waived and the case tried by the court without a jury, unless either party, with his notice of trial, or when the case is placed upon the calendar — demand a jury trial. The judgment in the action, if in favor of the plaintiff, shall be for a lump sum equal to the amount of the payments then due and prospectively due under this act, with interest on the payments overdue, or, in the discretion of the trial judge, for periodical payments as in an award.”
The right to have the jury assess the amount of recovery in workmen’s compensation cases is inconsistent with the powers of the trial judge under the statute quoted. So far as the abstract shows, the parties to this action waived a jury trial. ■ The court must have called the jury for the purpose of having it find the facts on particular issues. Those facts were found. The court rendered judgment accordingly. No error is shown.
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- James H. Ruth v. The Witherspoon-Englar Company
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- SYLLABUS BY THE COURT. 1. Compensation Act — Trial — Instruction Refused ■— Not Reversible Error. It is not reversible error to refuse to give an instruction stating in detail the law covering an issue submitted to the jury, where the court clearly states the same rule in general language in the instruction given. 2. Same — Evidence—Cross-examination refused — No Error. The refusal of the court to permit the cross-examination of a witness to establish a defense, will not cause a reversal of the judgment, where the witness, who was a party to the action, could have been produced by the party seeking to cross-examine him, and where the evidence sought to be introduced by cr'oss-examination was shown by records introduced in evidence by the party cross-examining. 3. Compensation Act — Trial by Jury — Not Demanded. Under the workmen’s compensation act, a jury trial is waived unless demanded, and where it is not demanded, a court may call a jury to find the facts and may render judgment on the findings of the jury.