Court Opinion

ID: 9742002
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:05:12.764344+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:27.730961
License: Public Domain

McCown, J.,
dissenting.
The majority opinion ignores the specific findings of fact of both the Workmen’s Compensation Court and the District Court and determines that the only mistake in this case was a mistake of law and not a mistake of fact. Therefore this court holds that plaintiff’s claim for compensation is barred by the statute of limitations.
It is undisputed that plaintiff had injured his back in a previous accident on November 29, 1972, and had thereafter made a lump sum settlement for that injury. It is undisputed that the plaintiff was still having difficulties with the 1972 back injury up to the time of the second accident on October 23, 1973. It is also undisputed that the October 1973, accident caused an *791ankle and shoulder injury and only some back pain, and that plaintiff experienced no immediate disability because of his back, but his “main concern after the October 23rd incident was the ankle and shoulder.” The critical issue of fact is whether the plaintiff knew or reasonably should have known that the back problems he suffered subsequent to the 1973 accident were the result of the 1973 accident rather than the result of the 1972 accident. The issue is not at all whether he thought they were compensable or not compensable. The issue is one of fact and was so treated by both the Workmen’s Compensation Court and the District Court. The Workmen’s Compensation Court specifically found: “(T)hat plaintiff reasonably believed that the low back and toe numbness symptoms he experienced following his October 23, 1973, accident and injury were a reoccurrence of the back injury of November, 1972, since the same area of his low back was involved and did not know until November 1, 1974, that said symptoms were the result of the October 23, 1973, accident and injury and involved the L5-S1 area rather than the L4-L5 area of his low back; * *
The District Court specifically found: “The evidence also establishes that the back injury suffered October 23, 1973, did not immediately manifest itself; that the plaintiff assumed that the L-4 disc was involved; and that the plaintiff was not told until November of 1974 that the L-5 injury, traced to the October 23, 1973, accident, was not the same as that caused by the November 1972 incident.”
The opinion of the District Court states: “It is my opinion that the plaintiff reasonably did not know or suspect until November of 1974 that the second back injury was or might be compensable; that the plaintiff honestly, though mistakenly, thought the second back problem was an aggravation or result of the original injury for which he had been compensated; that plain*792tiff’s mistake was one of fact; * * * and that there has not been a showing of prejudice to the employer.”
Obviously the District Court, as well as the compensation court specifically found that the plaintiff reasonably did not know that the second back injury was or might have been the result of the second accident rather than the original 1972 injury. The plaintiff did not even know until November 1974, that the second injury and operation involved a different disc in his back, which was only 2 inches away from the 1972 injury. In fact, the same point of incision was used for both surgeries, leaving only one longer scar. The majority opinion has not only ignored specific findings of fact, but has converted them into a conclusion that the plaintiff’s only mistake was a mistake of law. The foundation for that conclusion is that plaintiff did not know that an aggravation to the first injury, if caused by the second injury, would have been compensable. There was more than that that he did not know. He didn’t know that the second back injury and operation were the result of the second accident rather than the first.
Our cases dealing with the statute of limitations in workmen’s compensation cases such as this have consistently held that the statute of limitations begins to run against an employee from the time it becomes reasonably apparent or should have become reasonably apparent that he has a compensable disability of any class from an accident or injury, if the employee is aware that the disability is due to his employment. An accident or injury under such holdings means only the accident or injury out of which the claim for compensation arises. The fact that there may have been other former accidents or injuries in the course of the employment, whether those injuries were compensable or not compensable, does not destroy the requirement that the employee must have known or had reasonable *793grounds to know of the causal connection between the specific accident or injury and the disability.
This case was tried before the provisions of section 48-185, R. S. Supp., 1976, became effective and made findings of fact of the Workmen’s Compensation Court have the same force and effect as a jury verdict. Nevertheless, the law requires in this case if there is reasonable competent evidence to support the findings of fact in the Workmen’s Compensation Court and the District Court, the award will not be modified for insufficiency of the evidence on appeal to this court. Gifford v. Ag Lime, Sand & Gravel Co., 187 Neb. 57, 187 N. W. 2d 285. The Workmen’s Compensation Act should be liberally construed to the end that its beneficent purposes may not be thwarted by technical refinement of interpretation. Thomsen v. Sears Roebuck & Co., 192 Neb. 236, 219 N. W. 2d 746. The majority opinion here ignores both of those principles. The judgment of the District Court should have been affirmed.