Starrett v. Brown

Urner, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The appellee, in the course of his employment as a car; penter by the appellant, on August 9th, 1929, was struck in the abdomen by the end of a plank. At the point of the impact, there were scars on the employee’s body from an operation for appendicitis in 1898, and from one for adhesions in 1925. The State Industrial Accident Commission awarded compensation to the injured man, to' continue during the period of the total temporary disability which the commission found to exist in consequence of the accident.

Its order to that effect was passed on September 11th, 1929. A later hearing resulted in an order on July 3rd, 1930, terminating the compensation as of September 16th, 1929, because the commission concluded that the claimant’s continuing disa ⁶¹⁶ bility was not due to tbe accidental injury for which compensation had been previously awarded. In the- trial of the claimant’s appeal to the Circuit Court for Dorchester County, the jury answered in the affirmative the following issue: “Did the accident which occurred to the claimant on the 9th day of August, 1929, cause the disability from which the claimant suffered after the 16th day of September, 1929 ?” Erom a judgment in pursuance of the verdict, the employer and insurer have appealed to' this court. The exceptions relate to a ruling on the admissibility of testimony, and to the refusal of the lower court to direct a negative answer by the jury to the issue we Eave quoted.

There- was evidence that the appellee, long before- the accident, had recovered from the effects of the operations referred to, and was able to- work actively and regularly at his trade as a carpenter, and that since the accident he has been prevented from working by pain in his side and weakness. The blow on his abdomen was severe enough to render him unconscious, and to require him to remain in a hospital for a week. When he soon afterwards returned to work, he was compelled by intense pain and nausea to'abandon it after