Gamberg v. Industrial Accident Commission

KNIGHT, J. This is a proceeding to review a decision of the respondent commission denying petitioner’s application for compensation for an injury which he claims to have sustained in the course of his employment.

It is conceded by respondents that at the time the application was filed, heard and determined, petitioner was suffering from a left inguinal hernia; but the refusal to compensate him therefor was based upon a finding of the referee that the same was not “caused or exacerbated by injury arising out of and in the course of” his employment.

At the time the injury is alleged to have happened petitioner was and continuously for the preceding nine years had been employed as bookkeeper by Redliek-Newman Company. He was the sole witness before the referee and according to the uncontradicted' testimony given by him he sustained the injury about 4:30 o’clock on the afternoon of Saturday, March 11, 1933, while handling a heavy ledger, weighing between forty and forty-five pounds. There were five such ledgers, each containing approximately 1800 separate accounts; and part of petitioner’s duties required him to distribute the ledgers among girl accountants in the office for the purpose of having them work on the cards contained therein on which the accounts were entered; and [426]in order to transport the ledgers back and forth to said accountants it was necessary for petitioner to lift the ledgers and the trays upon which they rested from a small truck, the bed' of which stood about a foot and a half above the floor, to a larger truck, the bed of which was three and a half feet above the floor. On this particular occasion, while attempting so to transfer one of the ledgers from one truck to the other, the ledger slipped out of his grip and was about to fall to the floor. He stooped suddenly and caught it, and in doing so felt a sharp pain or kink, “needle-like” as he described it, in the region of his hip. For a moment he was unable to straighten up; but shortly after-wards he “braced up” and then sat down to his work. Ten or fifteen minutes later he was seized with pains and cramps in both groins, and in the “lower part of the stomach”. He also “felt a bulge” in his groin and pains in his leg. He mentioned the matter to the foreman in the office, but not realizing anything serious had happened to him he remained at his work the rest of the day. Upon reaching home that evening he felt sick. He was unable to eat, and felt “all jumpy and tired”. He took a hot mustard bath and a physic and went to bed, applying a hot-water bottle to the left inguinal region. He remained in bed all the next day, Sunday. In applying the hot-water bottle he noticed the swelling on the left side. On Monday morning he was still suffering pain, but feeling somewhat better, went to work. He refrained, however, from doing any lifting. After arriving at the company’s office he overheard the secretary arranging for medical care for another employee who had turned his ankle, which prompted petitioner to explain to the secretary the injury he received the Saturday previous; whereupon she instructed him to consult the insurance carrier’s doctor, which he did during the noon hour, and was examined by Dr. Gilbert. The next day, Tuesday, March 14, 1933, he called' at the office of said commission and filed his application for compensation; and at 2:30 of the same day the referee proceeded with the hearing of the application. The insurance carrier, State Compensation Insurance Fund, was represented by its attorney; but petitioner appeared without counsel. He was informed by the referee that he was entitled to a continuance to obtain counsel if he so desired or could proceed at once and they would “find