Allen's Case
Allen's Case
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal by the insurer, the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, from a decree of the Superior Court awarding compensation to the claimant, in accordance with the findings and decision of the Industrial Accident Board. The question raised is whether the evidence justified a finding by the board that the employee’s incapacity since April 8, 1935, was the result of an injury received February 18, 1935.
The employee, a carpenter employed by the Union Street Railway Company, was struck in the right eye by a flying bolt on February 18, 1935, and as a result of his injury lost the sight of that eye. He received specific compensation for this loss from the insurer, which also paid him compensation under G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 152, § 34, until April 8, 1935. The insurer contends that since that date he has ceased to be totally incapacitated for work.
The case was heard by a member of the Industrial Accident Board on May 1, 1936, upon a claim for compensation for total disability since April 8, 1935. The single member heard the evidence and found “that this employee has been totally disabled for work since April 8, 1935, as a result of the injury of February 18, 1935. He is therefore entitled to total compensation at the rate of $15.47 a week.” He was “unable to find that the reduction of vision in the left, uninjured eye since February 18, 1935, is related to the injury to the right eye on that date.” The insurer having filed a claim for review, the reviewing board heard the parties on June 25, 1936. The findings and decision of the single member were affirmed and adopted, and a further finding was made “that the employee was able to perform his work until the injury occurred notwithstanding that he had a cataractous condition of the left eye, that the loss of vision in the right eye resulting from the injury taken in conjunction with the preexisting impaired vision in the
The insurer’s appeal is based upon the contention that the evidence did not support the findings of the single member, or those of the reviewing board; that the theory of the former was that the claimant’s general physical condition brought on by the injury rendered him unfit for work; and that the reviewing board, realizing that the facts stated in the record could not support such a theory, chose an alternative ground upon which to act.
Under G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 152, § 10, the reviewing board has jurisdiction to affirm or reverse the findings of the single member. Fountaine’s Case, 246 Mass. 513, 516. Savage’s Case, 257 Mass. 30, 31. Minns’s Case, 286 Mass. 459, 462. The sole question in the present case is whether the findings of the reviewing board adopting those of the single member find support in the evidence. It is the contention of the insurer that no evidence warrants the find
Decree affirmed.
The record of evidence before the single member disclosed that the employee testified in substance that his left eye began troubling him right away after the accident, that it was “weakened, full of water,” and that it got “worse all the time”; that two months after the accident he got glasses for his left eye, but that he “could not see much” with his left eye. A physician, called by the insurer, testifying as to an examination of the left eye in December following the accident, stated in substance that the employee’s left eye then “showed a marked cataract.” A physician specializing in diseases of the eye, called by the insurer, testified that he examin- d the employee in March, 1936, and that he then found in the left eye “a sign of a very well advanced cataract.” A report of an impartial examination by an eye specialist in January, 1936, concluded: “Left eye — perfectly clear and normal in appearance but according to all tests, he has very little vision. Consequently, he is in no condition for work, with no prospect of improvement.” — Reporter.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Fidel Allen's Case
- Status
- Published