360 So. 2d 522 | La. Ct. App. | 1978
Plaintiff received workmen’s compensation benefits in excess of the amount due for the partial loss of function of his two injured fingers. La.R.S. 23:1221(4)(c) and (o j.
The issue is whether there is sufficient evidence to support a finding of disability in addition to the partial loss of physical function in two fingers of plaintiff’s left hand.
Plaintiff was an unskilled laborer who earned the minimum wage in his employment with a painting contractor. He severely fractured bones in the third and fourth fingers of his left hand when' he fell from a riding lawnmower and his hand came in contact with the machine’s spinning blade. Defendant, his employer’s workmen’s compensation insurer, paid all plaintiff’s medical expenses after the accident in addition to weekly disability benefits of $62 each.
The insurer continued payments until the treating physician certified plaintiff was able to return to his former duties approximately eight months after the accident.
Plaintiff testified he was able to, and did, perform the same work for his employer after the injury. However, he stated he could not lift heavy objects and occasionally experienced pain in his left hand while working.
Since plaintiff has already been paid workmen’s compensation benefits in excess of the amount required by the cited statute, the judgment denying him additional relief is affirmed at appellant’s cost.
. § 1221.
Compensation shall be paid under this Chapter in accordance with the following schedule of payments:
* * * * * * *
(4) In the following cases, the compensation shall be as follows:
* * * * * *
(c) For the loss of any other finger, or a big toe, sixty-six and two-thirds per centum of wages during twenty weeks.
* * * * * *
(o) In all cases involving a permanent partial loss of use or function of the members mentioned hereinabove, compensation shall bear such proportion to the amounts named herein for the total loss of such members as the disability to such members bears to the total loss of the member, provided that in no case shall compensation for an injury to a member exceed the compensation payable for the loss of such member.
. Payments of $62 weekly were made for. a period of 37 weeks. Three additional payments of $25 each were made after the date of the physician’s report releasing plaintiff to return to work. The total compensation paid was $2369.