Keith v. Clinchfield Coal Corp.

The plaintiff in error, Don Keith, (hereinafter referred to as plaintiff) instituted this action against the Clinchfield Coal Corporation (hereinafter called defendant) on September 14, 1944. It was tried in September, 1947, about three years later.

It appears from the evidence that on September 9, 1943, an X-ray of plaintiff’s chest was interpreted by Dr. Broome, the physician in charge at the Virginia State Sanatorium at Catawba, as showing that the plaintiff was suffering from nodular pneumoconiosis. This is a disease generally known as silicosis, which, according to the medical…