Wolford v. Geisel Moving & Storage Co.

Citations

• 262 Pa. 454
• 105 A. 831
• 1919 Pa. LEXIS 703

Syllabus

<p>Workmen’s compensation — Negligence—Findings—Evidence— Declarations — Hearsay—Res gestee — Widow—Minor children.</p> <p>1. An award of damages to a widow of a workman, for the death of her husband, will be sustained where it appears that the findings of fact by the referee sustained by the Workmen’s Compensation Board and the Court of Common Pleas and based on sufficient evidence, were in effect, that on a May 4th the deceased was a man of good health and great strength; that on that day he was engaged in moving a heavy piano; that his suffering dated from that time until his death on May 20th, that he continued to work until May 11th when he was compelled to give up because of his being incapacitated ; that his physician found that he was suffering severe pain in his side, down through the abdomen to the leg; that after his death it was found that he had an abscess under one of the kidneys, and that this abscess had produced pneumonia, which had caused his death; that his physician had reported to the Bureau of Vital Statistics that death had resulted from the abscess due to the injury received on May 4th, and that the physician for the insurance company which carried the insurance for the employer, testified that the abscess was the result of an injury, and that the abscess could not have had any natural cause, since the circumstances justified the inference that the accident produced the abscess, and that the abscess caused the pneumonia which resulted in death.</p> <p>2. Such an award will be sustained without taking into consideration declarations of the decedent made on the day of the accident shortly after it occurred and on the day after the accident.</p> <p>3. In claims made under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, liberality in the admission of proof and the inferences reasonably to be drawn therefrom are to be kept clearly in mind, but the referee and the Workmen’s Compensation Board have no right to find material facts on hearsay evidence alone, but the