Schiller v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

Citations

• 137 Md. 235

Syllabus

<p>Workmen’s Compensation Act — Employer and Insurer — Issues of Fact — Submission to Jury — Continuing Compensation —Possibility of Operation — Medical Testimony.</p> <p>The provision of the Workmen’s Compensation Act (Code, Art. 101, Sec. 56), that upon'the hearing of an appeal from the Industrial Accident Commission “the court shall, upon motion of either party filed with the clerk of the court according to the practice in civil eases, submit to a jury any question of fact,” is intended to protect the constitutional right to a jury trial of the facts involved, in such a way as to enable the court to apply the law to the facts after they are found by the jury, and contemplates the submission of issues in a manner analogous to the practice in cases sent from the orphans’ courts or courts of equity, when it is desired that a jury pass on the facts.</p> <p>The issues submitted should, so far as practicable, be confined to the ultimate issues involved in the finding of the Commission, such as disability, dependency, whether the injury arose out of and in the course of employment, and the like, according to the ultimate fact or facts to be determined.</p> <p>It was proper to refuse to submit issues which did not raise the real question of fact at issue, or raised it in a form which would require cumbersome and discursive answers, or sought to submit matters not cognizable by the jury.</p> <p>It was proper to refuse to submit, on claimant’s motion, an issue as to the character of the injury, as causing partial or total, permanent or temporary, disability, the award of the Commission showing that it found total temporary disability, and this being all that the claimant claimed.</p> <p>On appeal from the award of the Industrial Accident Commission, it is not within the powers of the jury to find a verdict for any amount or to fix the rate or period of compensation, or to make any award.</p> <p>One cannot continue to receive compensation under the Act, while refusing to su