Thanks for visiting! Welcome to a new way to research case law. You are viewing a free summary from Descrybe.ai. For citation checking, legal issue analysis, and other advanced tools, explore our Legal Research Toolkit — not free, but close.
Cornish Welding Shop & Traders Insurance v. Galbraith
Citations: 644 S.W.2d 926; 278 Ark. 185; 1983 Ark. LEXIS 1236Docket: 82-236
Court: Supreme Court of Arkansas; January 17, 1983; Arkansas; State Supreme Court
George Galbraith suffered an eye injury on August 1, 1971, when a piece of steel lodged in his left eye. He received medical treatment the same day and was unable to work for five weeks, during which he was paid temporary total disability benefits. Following surgery on October 2, 1971, he was later compensated for a 40% permanent partial disability to his left eye on May 1, 1972. Almost two years later, in February 1974, he experienced complete loss of vision in that eye. On February 5, 1975, he filed a claim for additional compensation for this complete loss. The Court of Appeals initially found the injury compensable and remanded the case to the Workers' Compensation Commission to address issues of latent injury and the statute of limitations. The Commission ruled that the claim was timely and awarded additional benefits, which the Court of Appeals affirmed. However, the Arkansas Supreme Court reversed this decision, stating that the claim was barred by the statute of limitations, as it was not filed within one year of the last compensation payment nor within two years of the injury. The court clarified that Arkansas law treats the date of accident and date of injury as potentially different. It emphasized that the injury was not latent; Galbraith was aware of his injury and its potential implications as early as May 1972, when he was informed of his permanent partial disability. Therefore, the two-year statutory limit to file for additional compensation had already lapsed by the time of his February 1975 claim. Consequently, the Supreme Court dismissed the claim.