COMPENSATION CLAIM.

Otago Witness, Issue 3612, 5 June 1923, Page 65

COMPENSATION CLAIM.

A STRAINED HEART. NAPIER, May 29. A compensation claim of some interest to employers of labour was held before the Arbitration Court to-day. John Double claimed that while in the employ of AY. A. Amery and Sons (Napier) in October last he sustained a strain which affected his heart, os the result of a crowbar slipping while he was prising a large stone in a quarry, ancl that in consequence he had been totally incapacitated since-. Plai ntift’ said ths crowbar struck him on j the chest, and that he suffered some pain, and was obliged to ease up. He returned to work the day after the accident, but complained of the effects of the blow, and% after that day he eoulcl not again resume** being compelled to enter a hospital. Defendants denied that there had been any accident, and contended that plaint iff had for some time suffered from aneurism of the aorta,. the natural development of which caused his present condition. The medical evidence was somewhat conflicting, but the court found that although aneurism existed before the date cf the accident there was no evidence to show how far it had progressed. If some change in plaintiff’s condition was caused as the result of the strain, then that was an accident, and the court chose to believe the evidence of the accident given by plaintiff. The medical evidence brought by the defence agreed that plaintiff had had a strain. It may have been that in the course of nature plaintiff Would have become incapacitated, but the court found that he received a strain arising out of the employment by defendants. Plaintiff had been in receipt of £4 Is 7d. and was entitled to 55 per cent, of that amount from the date of the accident till such time as ended, suspended, diminished, or increased by the court. Plaintiff was also awarded £1 medical expenses, and £l2 12s general expenses.