COMPENSATION CASES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21116, 25 February 1932, Page 15

COMPENSATION CASES.

CLAIM BROUGHT BY BUTCHER. ACCIDENT TO HAND. LIABILITY NOT PROVED. The liability of a shopkeeper for an injury received by a casual helper was challenged in tho Arbitration Court yesterday, when a butcher's assistant, Lindsay Armishaw, claimed compensation from H. T. Read, butcher, of Sandringham, for the loss of portion of tho first finger of his left hand, as the result of an accident in defendant's shop. Mr. Justice Frazer presided, his associates being Mr. W. Cecil Prime and Mr. A. L. Montcith, representing employers and employees respectively. Plaintiff, in evidence, said he was injured on September 26, when a meat chopper ho was using slipped and struck his hand. He was treated at the Auckland Hospital and was still receiving medical attention. A weekly payment of £1 10s 8d as "from tho date of the accident was claimed as compensation. For six weeks prior to the accident he had been employed "on and off" by defendant. Cross-examined, plaintiff said he had never signed any book. Evidence called for the defence showed that no contract of service had existed between plaintiff and defendant, and that plaintiff was not working for defendant at the time of the accident. Plaintiff was in the habit of receiving gifts of meat from defendant, and when he was injured he was chopping bones for his own use. In deciding that plaintiff had .failed to establish a case, His Honor said the claim rested on two circumstances, that the plaintiff was under a contract of service to tho defendant, and that at the time lie was injured he was doing something in pursuance of his engagement. Even if there was a contract of employment it was clear that plaintiff was doing something for his own purposes at tho time of his injury. Judgment was given for defendant with costs. SERIOUS HEART STRAIN. COOPER'S CLAIM SETTLED. An injury received by William Patrick Burns, aged 66, cooper, on March 2, 1931, was the subject of a compensation claim against his employers, Messrs. Whittome, Stevenson and Company, Limited. It was claimed that he suffered severe heart strain through handling casks weighing several hundredweight. The company paid £2 10s a week compensation up to September 8, and plaintiff asked for this to be continued to tho present, and for further compensation. Medical evidence was given that Burns was now permanently totally unfit. The issue before the Court was whether ' the injury which the man had admittedly suffered was the cause of his present incapacity. His Honor said it was a case in which the most expert medical men could only make estimates. The Court djecided tha» plaintiff was entitled to full compensation for two years, together with £lO 10s costs and witnesses' expenses. CARPENTER'S CLAIM FAILS. DELAY IN TAKING ACTION. A claim for compensation for injuries received in an accident, which occurred more than three years ago, was dismissed by the Arbitration Court yesterday on the ground that the action had not been commenced within the time limited by the Workers' Compensation Act, 1922. The plaintiff was James Richard Cross, carpenter, and the defendant, Noel Cole, master builder. In his statement of claim plaintiff alleged that 011 November 30. 1928, while walking down a stairway at defendant s workshop, one of the stair treads turned over and as a result he fell and received serious injuries to his back and spine. Legal action had not been taken sooner as plaintiff did not realise the grave nature and extent of his injuries until they had been disclosed by X-ray photographs. Plaintiff asked for such judgment as the Court might consider him entitled to, £1 medical expenses and costs of legal proceedings. Besides deciding the questions of law raised, Mr. Justice Frazer said that in view of the fact that, apart altogether from periods of absence due to slackness of work, the plaintiff was incapacitated from working on several occasions between February, 1929, and December, 1930, and; was unable to work at all after December 3, 1930, the Court could not regard his failure to. commence proceedings before June 1, 1931, as occasioned by mistake or other reasqnable cause. Leave was reserved to apply for costs.