WORKER'S CLAIM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 227, 24 September 1940, Page 3

WORKER'S CLAIM.

SEQUEL TO BLAST. A COMPLICATED DISABILITY. A claim against the State Advances Corporation (Mr. Goldstine) for compensation was made in the Compensation Court before Mr. Justice O'Regan to-day by Ivan Jurich, stone wall builder, of Mount Eden (Mr. J. J. Sullivan). Mr. Sullivan said that claimant was working at Ellerslie for the State Housing Department when he was struck on the back by a piece of stone from a blast on the road, receiving injuries to the shoulder, ribs and back. He was some time in hospital and it was found yiat one of his kidneys was ruptured and had to be removed. The operation disclosed that the kidney in question was seriously diseased and "that such operation would have been urgent had there been no accident. Compensation was paid from the date of the accident, April 24, 103S>, to October 27 last. Ever since the accident claimant had been disabled from doing stone wall work. It was claimed that 50 per cent disablement would be j>ermanent and that the disability resulted from the effects of the accident, not from any o]>eratioii or disease of the kidney. Consequently Jurich claimed a permanent weekly compensation or a lump sum. The dispute would rest mostly on medical evidence as to the question of disability. Claimant gave evidence on the lines indicated. He said he was now 47 years of a.ge and had been 30 years in New Zealand. Evidence was given by Dr. J. R. Connolly that claimant at the moment was fitted for light work only and would probably have not been fit for that until a year after the accident. Witness expressed an opinion that claimant's present disability w-as due to some extent to the accident and not to the diseased kidney. Dr. D. RobU agreed that some of claimant's present disability arose from effects of the accident. The defence, said Mr. Goldstine, was that six months was ample time to allow for incapacity as a result of the accident and that any further disability was due to the kidney disease from which claimant was found to be suffering at the time of the accident. Dr. F. Macky and Dr. T. W. J. Johnstone gave evidence on the lines indicated by counsel and his Honor reserved his decision.