Case Name: Jessie FORTENBERRY v. Edward C. SCOGIN, H. W. Givens, Inc., O'Neil Peters, and The Aetna Casualty & Surety Co
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1963-01-18
Citations: 149 So. 2d 732
Docket Number: No. 5722
Parties: Jessie FORTENBERRY v. Edward C. SCOGIN, H. W. Givens, Inc., O’Neil Peters, and The Aetna Casualty & Surety Co.
Judges: Before ELLIS, LOTTINGER, HER-GET, LANDRY and REID, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 149
Pages: 732–738

Head Matter:
Jessie FORTENBERRY v. Edward C. SCOGIN, H. W. Givens, Inc., O’Neil Peters, and The Aetna Casualty & Surety Co.
No. 5722.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana. First Circuit.
Jan. 18, 1963.
Rehearing Denied Feb. 22, 1963.
Certiorari Refused April 17, 1963.
Frank S. Bruno, New Orleans, for appellant.
Pittman & Matheny by Iddo Pittman, Jr., Hammond, for appellee.
Before ELLIS, LOTTINGER, HER-GET, LANDRY and REID, JJ.

Opinion:
REID, Judge.
This is a suit for workman's compensation benefits brought under the provisions of the Louisiana Workmen's Compensation Laws. Plaintiff alleged that he hurt his hand when he slipped and dropped a stick of pulp wood on it on October 5, 1960. The defendants, Edward C. Scogin, H. W. Givens, Inc., and Aetna Casualty and Surety Company, filed an answer admitting the accident as alleged in plaintiff's petition but denied the plaintiff was employed by them, asserting he was an employee of an independent contractor, Defendant O'Neil Peters. Seven days before this cause was tried the above defendants amended their answer alleging that the accident did not result from plaintiff's employment but was sustained in a fight in a colored night club prior to October 5, 1960. Obviously plaintiff announced himself ready for trial on June 6 as there is no objection in the record. Defendant O'Neil Peters filed no answer nor other pleadings, nor was he represented by counsel at the trial of this matter.
From a judgment dismissing his suit, plaintiff prosecutes this appeal.
The issue before this Court is purely factual and is whether petitioner injured his hand on October S, 1960 while in the scope and course of his employment or whether he injured his hand in a fight previously while off duty.
Although plaintiff gives a plausible account of the injury, there is no corroboration in the evidence which would support his account. Joe Collins testified on behalf of plaintiff that he did not see the accident, but he remembered plaintiff coming to him and telling him he had just hurt his hand by dropping a stick of pulp wood on it. However, this testimony must be completely disregarded as, on two previous occasions, Collins gave written statements directly contradicting this account and supporting defendants' contention the plaintiff received his injury in a fight in a night club. Both statements are in evidence; one is a statement made to a Notary and two witnesses; the other is a statement given an insurance representative. The latter statement was witnessed by one of the defendants who testified at the trial that the statement was the same that was given by Collins and that it was read back to Collins and signed by him. In view of these statements the Court cannot give any weight to the testimony of Joe Collins.
Plaintiff called his common-law wife in an effort to prove that she first knew of the accident when he came home from work on the evening of- October 5, 1960. However, she testified she first became aware of the injury when the plaintiff came home on the morning of October 5, 1960. The record is clear that it was late in the afternoon before the crew returned from the woods. She testified she had never seen the hand unwrapped before the cast was taken off some five weeks later. On the other hand the plaintiff stated that he showed her the hand with the wrapping off prior to its being placed in a cast.
O'Neil Peters testified the plaintiff showed him his hand on Sunday prior to October 5, 1960 and that he and the plaintiff laughed about the incident and plaintiff expressed concern and doubt that he would be able to work the following Monday. Peters testified the plaintiff had told him the accident occurred in a Negro saloon when his hand was struck by a chair during an altercation over a woman and some whiskey.
Dr. Jacob Kety, the physician who treated the plaintiff, testified he first saw him on October 6, 1960. He stated that from his examination of the hand the injury appeared to be from 48 to 96 hours old. Dr. Kety further testified that following an in jury such as this it would be possible for the plaintiff to work for two or three days after the injury as it would take this long for complications to set in and the pain to become severe enough to prevent heavy work. Dr. Kety's testimony corroborates the testimony of O'Neil Peters wherein he claimed the plaintiff worked Monday and Tuesday but he was limited to light work. Dr. Kety's testimony also casts doubt on the testimony of plaintiff's common-law wife as it shows the hand was untreated for an entire night and it is doubtful that she would not have seen the hand prior to its being placed in a cast.
Although plaintiff steadfastly maintained that he was disabled from the time of this accident until the time of trial the testimony of O'Neil Peters shows that plaintiff had been working for some time prior to trial. This is just another instance where the testimony of plaintiff is frought with in-consistences.
The decisions of our Courts are legion establishing the propositions that the Trial Court's findings of fact will not be reversed unless there is manifest error and that the Trial Court's finding of fact is entitled to great weight. Baker v. Great American Insurance Company (La.App.1961) 134 So.2d 567 and Williams v. Bond (La.App.1961) 126 So.2d 442.
For these reasons the judgment of the Trial Court is affirmed.
Affirmed.