Case Name: Evans NORRIS, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. SOUTHERN CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant and Appellant
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1977-01-31
Citations: 342 So. 2d 874
Docket Number: No. 5755
Parties: Evans NORRIS, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. SOUTHERN CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant and Appellant.
Judges: Before HOOD, DOMENGEAUX and WATSON, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 342
Pages: 874–881

Head Matter:
Evans NORRIS, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. SOUTHERN CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant and Appellant.
No. 5755.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.
Jan. 31, 1977.
Rehearing Denied March 2, 1977.
Writ Refused April 22, 1977.
Baker, Culpepper & Brunson by Bobby L. Culpepper, Jonesboro, for defendant and appellant.
Whitehead & McCoy by Charles R. Whitehead, Jr., Natchitoches, for plaintiff and appellee.
Before HOOD, DOMENGEAUX and WATSON, JJ.

Opinion:
DOMENGEAUX, Judge.
Plaintiff, a 58 year old pulpwood worker, filed this workmen's compensation claim for an on the job injury. Made defendant was his employer, Albert Clifton, a pulpwood contractor, and the latter's compensation insurer, Southern Casualty Insurance Company. The district judge awarded Norris a judgment for total and permanent disability benefits, medical expenses, travel expenses for securing medical services, incidental expert witness fees and statutory penalties and attorney's fees of $2,500.00. Defendants have appealed suspensively to this court.
Two issues only are presented:
(1) Is plaintiff totally and permanently disabled within the intendment of the workmen's compensation law?
(2) Were the actions of defendant insurer such as to cause the assessment of penalties and attorney's fees?
Plaintiff was injured on April 24, 1975. He was hired as a woodcutter, and his employment required that he cut pulpwood trees with a gas-powered saw into lengths of approximately 5 feet, weighing up to 50 pounds each. The trees vary in size of from 5 to 10 inches in diameter. Plaintiff was required to stack the pieces of wood into piles. His duties necessitated stooping, squatting and bending with the resulting physical stress and strain. He was paid according to the number of cords of wood he sawed and stacked.
The accident occurred when plaintiff was cutting a tree upon which another partially severed but not fallen tree was resting. When the tree he was cutting fell, it dislodged the second tree which fell on plaintiff, knocking him down. He received a contusion of his head with laceration, a probable concussion, injury to his right thigh and knee, and bruises to the left arm and chest. All injuries healed in time, except those in the area of the right knee and thigh, and it is these which gave rise to this litigation. Accordingly, our discussions concerning plaintiff's condition will be limited to those last referred to injuries.
Plaintiff was hospitalized for two days and treated then and subsequently by Dr. Robert R. Sills, a general practitioner. He was also examined and treated by Dr. Ray J. Beurlot, an orthopedic surgeon and was also examined by Dr. Joseph A. Thomas, a general practitioner, the latter being the last physician to examine plaintiff prior to the trial of this case.
While he was still- under the care of Doctor Sills, plaintiff voluntarily returned to his employment with Alfred Clifton approximately a month after his accident. Plaintiff's basic complaint, is that because of weakness, instability, swelling and pain in the area of his right knee, he cannot perform a full day's work. His knee "gives out" frequently, causing him to lose his balance and fall. Some days he cannot work at all, and when he does work he is limited to from four to six hours per day, whereby prior to his accident of April 24, 1975, his work day was never less than eight hours per day. As a consequence of his reduced working capacity his earnings are proportionately diminished.
Around the first of September, 1975, finding that the area of hills and hollows in which he was working made his job more difficult, plaintiff went to work for another pulpwood contractor, Morgan Shackleford as a woodcutter but under the same work limitations. The area in which the latter's operations were being performed was less hilly.
In addition to plaintiff's testimony concerning his knee condition and the resulting effect which it has on his work ability, there is lay testimony which, in its totality, substantiates plaintiff's claims to an appreciable degree. The lay testimony referred to was elicited from plaintiff's wife, Morgan Shackleford, and one Trent Shackle-ford. Plaintiff's employer, Albert Clifton, admitted that the former had complained to him about his knee trouble since the accident.
Doctor Sills saw and treated plaintiff on April 24, April 26, April 30, May 7, May 19, and finally June 2, 1975. He found that plaintiff's right leg and thigh was contused and swollen. There was pain from the knee to the thigh. The right thigh had some enlargement, particularly on the medial side above the knee. At the last visit of June 2nd, the doctor thought plaintiff was progressing satisfactorily, and advised that plaintiff exercise his right leg and to apply hot packs. The doctor had previously sent a report to the adjuster of the defendant insurer in which he stated "He [plaintiff] might be able to resume regular work on May 30" [1975]. In his deposition the doctor remembered that the referred to report was just about the time that he had last seen plaintiff (June 2, 1975), and he further cautioned "and you notice I said light work as a trial". He said that May 30th would be a projected time when he thought plaintiff might go back to work. On cross-examination Doctor Sills stated that as of June 2, 1975, he would not have passed plaintiff for a full time manual labor job on a 40-hour week. The doctor finally testified that inasmuch as he had not seen plaintiff since June 2, 1975, he could not say whether Norris has or has not sustained any permanent residual disability as a result of the April, 1975, accident.
On June 27, 1975, the adjuster for the defendant insurer received a letter from plaintiff which in pertinent part reads as follows:
". . . . This is to advise you that I got hurt on the job working for Albert Clifton over two months ago at Moro, La. and left me injured in my right leg & left arm and I can't work but 4 or 5 hours a day because my leg gives out on me. but I received about $600.00 compson [sic] and I haven't heard any more from you. I am wondering if you planning on making a settlement with me ."
In response to the letter the adjuster assigned an assistant to contact plaintiff. A nuisance offer of settlement was made and refused, resulting in arrangements being made by the insurance company representative for plaintiff to be examined by Doctor Beurlot in Alexandria, Louisiana.
Plaintiff was seen by Doctor Buerlot on July 21, July 30, August 1, August 14, September 8, September 22, and October 6, 1975. X-rays were taken of the right knee, as was an arthrogram, the latter being a more sophisticated type x-ray of the joint.
Doctor Beurlot found a moderate amount of swelling or effusion of the right knee and a slight laxity in the collateral ligament. X-ray revealed mild degenerative changes in the knee. On August 1st there was still some swelling and a knee support was prescribed, with an exercise regimen. On August 14th there was still effusion present, as well as on September 8th. Plaintiff was told to continue his regular occupation and to return in two weeks. On September 22nd there was no swelling but still some laxity of the collateral ligament. On October 6th swelling was present and the doctor felt that plaintiff's symptoms now were probably due to degenerative arthritic changes which were noted in the original x-rays. He felt that the arthritic changes were not caused by the accident. The doctor testified that effusion means fluid in the knee of either blood, serum or an increased amount of normal synovial fluid. Plaintiff had a restriction of approximately 15 degrees when the foot was brought backwards to the buttocks. He testified that usually when the fluid is due to an injury it dissolves, but not always. In some cases it will not dissolve. It can subside then reappear. He opined that plaintiff could continue his regular occupation without substantial pain, although he admitted that the trauma which plaintiff sustained in this accident could be the cause of the knee instability which plaintiff relates. In that connection, the doctor in response to questions stated:
"Q. Now, he indicated to Dr. Perdue I believe that, when Dr. Perdue took his history on September 22nd, that he had to quit working or had to stop after four to six hours, and he has indicated to me that his knee 'gives out' on him, and he has never had anything like this before prior to this traumatic episode of April— in April of '75. Could this trauma that he sustained in this accident cause this instability or this giving out as he relates?
A. It could, yes.
Q. In fact, it's a medical probability, is it not, or possibility, Dr. Beurlot?
A. Yes.
Q. Particularly in a man of his age?
A. Yes.
Q. And particularly where if the history revealed that he had never had any problems with his knee, that it had been stable and he's been able to work in the woods eight hours a day? And then he sustains trauma and then he has this condition. You would have to relate it to the trauma, would you not?
A. Yes.
Q. You would not find it strange or unusual if the man would relate that he was having problems with his knee? That he had some attendant swelling, that after four to six hours of working in the woods that it gives out on him and he has to quit, you would not find that unusual based upon your treatment of him and what you saw and his age and facts that he related to you, would you Dr. Beurlot?
A. No."
Plaintiff was finally examined by Doctor Thomas on December 29, 1975. X-rays were taken of the right knee. The doctor found that plaintiff was unable to completely flex his knee. He found evidence of intra-articular fluid in the knee joint. He concluded that this fluid could subside, but on the other hand could become worse. There was evidence of degenerative arthritis which probably pre-dated the injury, but in view of the fact that plaintiff had no knee trouble prior to the accident of April, 1975, that the condition is related to the accident. He felt that plaintiff was suffering a 30% disability of the right leg and 15% disability of the body as a whole, and he related that to the knee injury. Doctor Thomas was very definite in stating that as of December 29, 1975, he would not certify plaintiff as capable of competing in the labor market on a 40-hour work week.
The totality of the medical and lay testimony satisfies us that plaintiff received a disabling injury to his right knee from the accident of April 24, 1975. His knee is unstable and does not permit him to carry on his normal duties as a woodcutter past a few hours a day. We find no error in the trial judge's conclusion that plaintiff cannot work an 8-hour day or a 40-hour week without disabling pain. His knee instability causes him to lose balance and sometimes fall after a few hours work, and this of course materially increases the hazard to his health and safety.
Although it is uncertain when and if plaintiff will recover, compensation should be awarded for the maximum number of weeks prescribed for permanent disability, since the defendant is protected by the provision of LSA-R.S. 23:1331, permitting revision of the judgment after six months, should the disability terminate.
We therefore affirm the district court judgment granting plaintiff total and permanent benefits. See Tantillo v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, 315 So.2d 743 (La.1975) on the significance of lay testimony. See also Carroll v. Southern Casualty Insurance Company, 285 So.2d 370 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1973); Sanders v. Boh Bros. Construction Company, Inc., 304 So.2d 812 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1974); Futrell v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company, 276 So.2d 271 (La.1973).
PENALTY AND ATTORNEY FEES
While plaintiff was still under the care of Doctor Sills he voluntarily returned to his former employment with defendant Albert Clifton. Defendant insurer's claim manager, Mr. Hendrick, who had the responsibility of handling plaintiff's claim discontinued plaintiff's compensation on June 9, 1975. He said that on June 4th he received a report from Doctor Sills which stated that plaintiff might be able to return to his regular job on May 30, 1975. He then talked to Albert Clifton on June 9, 1975, who told him that plaintiff had returned to work. He didn't see any reason to have an activity check because Clifton told him plaintiff was back at work.
Mr. Hendrick admitted receiving plaintiff's aforementioned letter on June 27, 1975, and also as aforementioned plaintiff was sent to be examined by Doctor Beurlot. Mr. Hendrick admitted receiving reports from Doctor Beurlot but took the position that plaintiff was not disabled even though one report indicated that plaintiff had some traumatic soreness in his right knee.
Finally, even though plaintiff lived in Lena, Louisiana, a distance of about 25 miles from Alexandria, where Doctor Beur-lot practiced his profession, the plaintiff was not furnished travel expenses for the several trips he made to Doctor Beurlot's office for examinations. In that connection Mr. Hendrick testified:
"Q. Your file does not reveal that you paid this man any expenses for traveling from his home down to see Dr. Beurlot?
A. . None was ever requested. If the man asks us to help him with his travel expense, we will pay him a mileage rate. If he doesn't ask, we don't."
We feel, as did the district judge, that penalties and attorney fees are due plaintiff. Merely because plaintiff went back to work originally was not in itself sufficient grounds to discontinue his compensation. The medical report in the adjuster's possession did not specifically state that plaintiff could return to his former duties on May 30, 1975. In view of this, it was incumbent upon the insurer to determine if plaintiff was in fact performing all of his prior duties.
We also feel that after being placed on notice by plaintiff that he was unable to work more than a few hours a day and with the subsequent reports from Doctor Beur-lot, that the insurer should have at least made an effort to determine whether compensation should have been reinstated. This it did not do. Williams v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, 327 So.2d 462 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1976); Carroll v. Southern Casualty Insurance Company, 285 So.2d 370 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1973); Horn v. Vancouver Plywood Company, 322 So.2d 816 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1975); DeJean v. B. F. Trappey's Sons, Inc., 285 So.2d 297 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1973); Chavis v. Maryland Casualty Company, 307 So.2d 663 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1975), writ refused 310 So.2d 854 (La.).
Defendant's insurer is also vulnerable for penalties and attorney's fees for the reason that it failed to furnish plaintiff with travel expenses for the several trips to and from Alexandria to be seen by Doctor Beurlot. When defendant sent plaintiff to Alexandria for examination by a doctor of its choice, travel expenses should have been furnished. A claimant's travel expenses in seeking medical attention form part of his medical expense claim and same is subject to the statutory penalty provisions. Jack v. Fidelity & Casualty Company of New York, 326 So.2d 584 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1976), writ refused April 23, 1976.
For the above and foregoing reasons the judgment of the district court is affirmed. Costs on appeal are assessed against appellants.
AFFIRMED.
HOOD, J., dissents and assigns written reasons.
. This cause of action arose prior to the effective date of the numerous amendments to the Louisiana Workmen's Compensation Act in 1975.
. On this date plaintiff was seen by Dr. Perdue, an associate of Dr. Beurlot. But Dr. Perdue's notes were testified to by Dr. Beurlot without objection.