Opinion
36071.
DECIDED APRIL 24, 1956.
Workmen's compensation. Before Judge Shaw. Fulton Superior Court. November 2, 1955.
Mitchell Walters, Robert L. Mitchell, for plaintiff in error.
Marshall, Greene Neely, Edgar A. Neely, Jr., contra.
1. "The burden of proof is on the claimant in cases arising under the Workmen's Compensation Act to establish the fact that the employee has sustained an accidental injury such as is contemplated by the act." Maddox v. Buice Transfer Storage Co., 81 Ga. App. 503 ( 59 S.E.2d 329). See also American Mutual Liability Ins. Co. v. Harden, 64 Ga. App. 593 ( 13 S.E.2d 685).
2. "The fact that compensation was paid on the original injury does not preclude the employer and insurer from contending that the present disability [if any] did not stem from the original injury." Roberts v. Lockheed Aircraft Corp., 93 Ga. App. 440 ( 92 S.E.2d 51), citing Pepperell Mfg. Co. v. Mathis, 92 Ga. App. 85 ( 88 S.E.2d 201).
3. "In the absence of fraud, findings of fact made by the director and approved on appeal by the full board are binding on the courts if there is any evidence to support them; and, where no error of law appears, such findings will not be disturbed on appeal." Fleming v. Fidelity c. Co. of New York, 89 Ga. App. 405 (1) ( 79 S.E.2d 407).
4. In the present case, where the evidence was in sharp conflict as to whether the claimant was at the present time disabled, and whether any present disability from which she was then suffering was the result of the injury for which compensation had previously been paid, the award of the single director denying compensation, which was approved by the full board, was authorized by the evidence, and the judge of the superior court did not err in affirming such award.
Judgment affirmed. Felton, C. J., and Quillian, J., concur.
DECIDED APRIL 24, 1956.
Mrs. Charlotte H. Rivers filed a claim for workmen's compensation against Howard Johnson, Inc. as the employer, and Travelers Insurance Company as the insurer, in which she sought to recover compensation for an injury alleged to have arisen out of and in the course of her employment. The record shows that the claimant had been injured on September 21, 1954, when she fell while working as a waitress for the employer; that she was paid compensation for this injury for approximately ten weeks; and that the present hearing was requested by the claimant when a physician treating her for the defendants determined that she was no longer disabled and after her family physician advised her otherwise.
On the hearing, the claimant and her husband testified that she was unable to work, and that she had not been able to work since the injury sustained by her on September 21, 1954. A physician witness for the claimant testified that in his opinion the claimant was unable to work, and probably would not be able to work for a year; that the claimant was suffering from a "manic depressive disease"; and that the fall on September 21, 1954, in his opinion, aggravated or precipitated the condition. Physician witness for the employer and insurer testified that the claimant was normal physically and that, although she was a nervous person, there was no reason why she could not perform the same type of duties that she was performing prior to September 21, 1954, when she fell and received the injury for which compensation was paid.
The single director hearing the case found against the claimant and denied compensation to her, as did the full board on appeal. The Superior Court of Fulton County affirmed the award of the full board, and to this judgment the claimant excepts.