Case Name: Hal T. HART, Claimant-Appellant, v. JACKSON CARTAGE COMPANY and Travelers Insurance Company, Defendants-Appellees
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1979-05-23
Citations: 371 So. 2d 405
Docket Number: No. 51087
Parties: Hal T. HART, Claimant-Appellant, v. JACKSON CARTAGE COMPANY and Travelers Insurance Company, Defendants-Appellees.
Judges: Before PATTERSON, BROOM and BOWLING, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 371
Pages: 405–406

Head Matter:
Hal T. HART, Claimant-Appellant, v. JACKSON CARTAGE COMPANY and Travelers Insurance Company, Defendants-Appellees.
No. 51087.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
May 23, 1979.
Dixon L. Pyles, Pyles & Tucker, Jackson, for claimant-appellant.
Daniel, Coker, Horton, Bell & Dukes, B. Stevens Hazard, Jackson, for defendants-appellees.
Before PATTERSON, BROOM and BOWLING, JJ.

Opinion:
PATTERSON, Chief Justice,
for the Court:
This is a workmen's compensation case which is affirmed under the authority of Georgia-Pacific Corporation v. Charles L. McLaurin, 370 So.2d 1359 (1979).
However, the reversal on appeal to the circuit court was on the basis that the testimony of a medical doctor was erroneously permitted into evidence because it was "hearsay." Had the same testimony been given by the doctor in person, it would have been competent, leaving the probability the case would have been affirmed by the circuit judge on appeal, thereby entitling the claimant to compensation. In our opinion the claimant is entitled to his day in court to develop his claim through competent testimony.
AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART AND REMANDED TO THE WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION COMMISSION FOR REINSTATEMENT OF CLAIM AND HEARING.
SMITH and ROBERTSON, P. JJ., and SUGG, WALKER, BROOM, LEE, BOWLING and COFER, JJ., concur.