Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1923

Hornetz v. Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Co.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · Decided March 19, 1923 · Frazer, Kephart, Moschziskee, Schaffer, Walling

277 Pa. 40; 120 A. 662; 1923 Pa. LEXIS 359

Cases that cite this one

36 later published cases cite this decision. The 25 that cite it most often are listed here.

Brubacher Excavating, Inc. v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2001)
Powell v. Sacred Heart Hospital (Pa. Commw. Ct. 1986)
Brubacher Excavating, Inc. v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Pa. 2003)
Pittsburgh Hyatt House, Inc. v. Commonwealth (Pa. Commw. Ct. 1981)
Cherneskie v. Bethlehem Steel Corp. (Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas 1974)
Testa v. R. & J. Tanning Corp. (Pa. Super. Ct. 1968)
Brown v. Travelers Insurance Companies (Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas 1965)
Fehr v. YMCA, Pottsville (Pa. Super. Ct. 1963)
Baur v. Mesta Machine Co. (Pa. 1958)
Raines v. Pennsylvania Threshermen & Farmers' Mutual Casualty Insurance (Pa. 1956)
Whitfield v. Daniel Construction Co. (S.C. 1954)
McAvoy v. Roberts & Mander Stove Co. (Pa. Super. Ct. 1953)
Visnic v. Westmoreland Coal Co. (Pa. Super. Ct. 1944)
Kolyer v. Westmoreland Coal Co. (Pa. Super. Ct. 1942)
Royko v. Logan Coal Co. (Pa. Super. Ct. 1941)
Crispin v. Leedom Worrall Co. (Pa. Super. Ct. 1940)
Baker v. Wycoff (Utah 1938)
Gallagher v. Hudson Coal Co. (Pa. Super. Ct. 1935)
Marshall v. Pittsburgh (Pa. Super. Ct. 1935)
Yunker v. W. Leechburg S. Co. (Pa. Super. Ct. 1933)
Jones v. Lehigh Valley Coal Co. (Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas 1928)
Vogel v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. (Pa. Super. Ct. 1972)
Vélez v. Industrial Commission (Supreme Court of Puerto Rico 1964)
Vélez v. Comisión Industrial de Puerto Rico (Supreme Court of Puerto Rico 1964)
Hurchick v. Falls Township Board of Supervisors (Bucks County Court of Common Pleas 1963)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

Per Curiam,

We adopt the following excerpts from the opinion of the court below: “In this case claimant’s husband sustained a compound fracture of the index finger of Ms *41right hand, in the course of his employment, on the 31st of March, 1921. He went to the State Hospital at Fountain Springs the next day [to be] operated on by Doctor J. C. Biddle......His death was due to dilatation of his heart, which was caused by the anesthetic administered to him for the purpose of performing a surgical operation on his injured finger. The injury to his finger was ‘violence to the physical structure of his body’...... The violence caused the injury, .the injury caused the operation, the operation caused the ansesthetization, the ansesthetization caused dilatation of the heart and dilatation of the heart caused death. Hence there was a causal connection between the [original] violence and [the subsequent] death.”

It is necessary to add only that there is ample testimony to sustain the award made by the referee and approved by the compensation board and the court below.

Judgment affirmed.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.