275 N.W. 462 | Neb. | 1937
This is an action for compensation brought by Jean Lang, a dependent minor son, by Hazel Lang Henderson, his mother and next friend, on account of the death of his father, Leo Lang.
It is claimed in the petition that on or about October 17, 1936, while Leo Lang was wheeling rocks in a wheelbarrow out of the river near Blue Springs, Nebraska, over a temporary plank runway, he slipped and fell into the river and became soaked and wet; that he continued to work, was chilled, and contracted a severe cold which later developed into pneumonia, from which he died November 27, 1936, all as a result of the above-described accident.
Both the compensation court and the district court held against appellant, dismissing his respective petitions. The compensation court expressly held that the evidence did not substantiate the claim that Leo Lang’s death resulted from accidental injuries arising out of and in the course of his employment. The district court did not give the explicit reasons for its decision but merely found against plaintiff on the evidence and dismissed the petition.
Dr. Hepperlen was the only medical witness. He testified that he did not know how long Lang had had the flu when he began to attend him on the 24th, that no one could tell definitely, and he did not think Lang told him. In answer to a hypothetical question, stating among other facts that on October 17 Lang fell “into the river and became wet, that water ran into one of his boots and the whole side of his body became wet on the left side,” that he worked the next day, that on that Saturday night he came home and had a cold, the doctor expressed the opinion that the patient’s condition when he first saw him was due to “exposure.” Witnesses had testified that the weather was chilly. The temperature and statements as to the velocity of the wind are lacking in the evidence.
The only accident claimed to have been suffered by the employee in the course of his employment was the slipping from the platform, on which he was pushing a wheelbarrow, into the shallow water. The statute defines an accident as follows: “The word ‘accident’ as used in this act shall, unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context, be construed to mean an unexpected or unforeseen event happening suddenly and violently, with or without human fault, and producing at the time objective symptoms of an injury.” Comp. St. 1929, sec. 48-152.
Blair v. Omaha Ice & Cold Storage Co., 102 Neb. 16, 165 N. W. 893, is a very similar case. There the employee cleaned boiler flues for about a week. It was hot work and caused him to perspire freely. Then he went back to his former work of “pulling” ice — that is, of removing ice from the cans in which it is manufactured. This being in the winter did not take all his time. His claim was that “he was put to work, after the ice was pulled each day, to lower two pumps which were supported by brick pillars above the well outside of the building; that while engaged in this work water dripped upon him and he became- very cold, the temperature being about 15 to- 18 degrees below zero; and that, after having engaged in this work for about a week, he contracted sciatic rheumatism, became unable to work, suffered severe pain and was incapacitated from that time to the time of the trial.” Judge Letton, who wrote the opinion, discusses the cases, distinguishes them, and holds that no compensable accident has been shown under the requirements of our statute.
It has not been shown in this case that such an accident
Our conclusion on the point discussed renders it unnecessary to pass upon the appellee’s challenge of the right of the mother to maintain the suit as next friend of the minor.
Affirmed.