Opinion ID: 1732410
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Lawson's Physical Condition

Text: While in the process of settling the Rains family's claims, Wharton learned that Lawson, far from being physically fit prior to his employment, had been rated one hundred percent physically disabled and had severe vision defects. Doctor Robert Ackerman, one of Lawson's treating physicians, testified that Lawson suffered from the following permanent disabilities at the time he applied to work for Wharton: 1. Eyes: Lawson had chorioretinitis in both eyes, a condition which left him with a ninety-five percent loss of vision in his left eye and blurred vision in his right. The condition was permanent and could not be improved with corrective lenses. The overall effect of this condition left Lawson with a loss of sight ahead and to the lower right of his field of vision and with a significant impairment of depth perception. 2. Legs: Following surgery in 1958, Lawson contracted severe osteoarthritis in his left knee which compounded a ten percent loss of flexion and a propensity for the joint to lock, giving him a twenty percent disability to the body as a whole; he also had a functional debility in his right leg and ankle which caused a thirty percent disability to the body as a whole. 3. Spinal Column: Lawson was suffering from a chronic degenerative disc disease which affected his neck and lower back, causing a forty percent permanent disability to the body as a whole. Both pain and problems with manueverability of the neck and head resulted from this disease. 4. Lawson was suffering from chronic fatigue, depression, and emotional exhaustion stemming from his multiple physical ailments. Doctor Ackerman testified that as of 1967, five years before this medical examination, Lawson was one hundred percent permanently physically disabled and unemployable. None of these physical disabilities were listed on the physical examination sheet containing Dr. Bridges' signature, which Lawson submitted to Wharton. Doctor Bridges admitted that in exercising a reasonable degree of medical care and skill ordinarily possessed by physicians in Memphis performing a similar examination the physical disabilities of Martin Lawson would have been discovered. Doctor Bridges also admitted that Lawson's vision defects alone would have disqualified him from driving a truck in interstate commerce under the ICC regulations. Thus, the record reflects evidence from which the jury could conclude that appellee negligently conducted the physical examination. Two issues remain: first, whether material evidence exists from which a jury could reasonably conclude that the negligent examination was a proximate cause of the accident from which appellant incurred the settlement expenses; and second, does appellant have an implied right of indemnity arising out of Dr. Bridges' breach of the contractual duty to accurately disclose Lawson's physical condition.