Board of Trustees of Pol. Pen. Ret. Sys v. Faris

1970 OK 87, 470 P.2d 981
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 12, 1970
DocketNo. 42985
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 1970 OK 87 (Board of Trustees of Pol. Pen. Ret. Sys v. Faris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Board of Trustees of Pol. Pen. Ret. Sys v. Faris, 1970 OK 87, 470 P.2d 981 (Okla. 1970).

Opinion

BLACKBIRD, Justice.

This appeal involves the eligibility of the defendant in error, William P. Faris, for policemen retirement benefits under Sections 18 and 19 of an Oklahoma City Ordinance (Tit. 12, Ch. 2, Rev. Ordinances of The City of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 1961) enacted under the specific authority of the Police Pensions and Retirement Act (11 O.S.1961, Sections 541 and 541a to 541 w), and hereinafter referred to as Sections “2.18” and “2.19”.

Faris was employed by the Oklahoma City Police Department continuously for a period of approximately sixteen and one-half years beginning in 1949. In July of that first year, while on duty in downtown Oklahoma City, he arrested a man in a drunken condition. When Faris took him to the police station for booking, the man passed out on the floor, and, when Faris attempted to pick him up, he wrenched his back and was taken to the hospital, where he was treated for lumbar strain. After a week’s treatment, Faris returned to active duty.

Almost ten years later, in March, 1959, Officer Faris used force in making another arrest and his back became painful again. The next day he was taken to a hospital, where, a few days later, a Dr. M operated on him for a herniated disk in his back. After a period of hospitalization and convalescence, Faris again returned to active duty. After several more years of employment by the Oklahoma City Police Department, Faris was discharged for cause in October, 1965.

Thereafter, on December 17, 1965, he filed a pleading entitled “APPLICATION FOR PENSION” with plaintiff in error, The Board of Trustees of the Police Pension and Retirement System of The City of Oklahoma City, hereinafter referred to merely as the “Board”. In said application, Faris, hereinafter referred to by name, or as “Applicant”, set forth the date his service as an Oklahoma City Police Department member began and ended, and, alleged, among other things, that his average final compensation for his services, as such, was $421.17 (per month), and that he had become permanently disabled in line of duty from causes he briefly referred to therein. In said application, Far-is- prayed that he be granted a “monthly disability pension” equal to one-half of his average final compensation.

After two hearings on said application, at the last of which, evidence was introduced as to the injuries Applicant had suffered, at various times from the latter part [983]*983of July, 1949, until May, 1964, while he was employed by the Police Department, the Board rendered a decision on January 21, 1966, denying his application.

Thereafter, when Applicant appealed to the above described District Court, said court, upon consideration of a transcript of the proceedings before the Board, and of the parties’ briefs, entered an order in February, 1967, in which, after finding, among other things, that the Apphcant had sustained “personal injury resulting in permanent disability while in service as an officer with the Oklahoma City Police Department”, and that it was unable to determine the percentage of such disability, it reversed the Board’s decision and remanded the case to said Board to determine such percentage "and thereafter award Applicant disability pension in an amount to which Applicant may show himself entitled.”

After the case’s remand to it, the Board, at a meeting in June, 1967, considered additional medical evidence concerning the Applicant’s condition, and, though it found he had “some permanent partial disability as regards unlimited physical activity”, it also found that his impairment for performing his assigned normal police duties, at the time he was discharged for cause, was “zero per cent”, and again denied his application.

When, after Applicant, in July, 1967, filed in the hereinbefore described District Court action an application to said court to schedule a hearing on the matter, and to order the Board to award Applicant a pension in compliance with its hereinbefore described February order and the applicable ordinances and statutes, the case, by agreement, was submitted to the court on briefs. Thereafter, in January, 1968, the court rendered judgment (again) finding that the Applicant sustained personal injuries resulting on personal disability “while in service as an officer with the Oklahoma City Police Department”, and that, under the applicable State Statutes and City Ordinances, he is entitled to a “disability pension for injury incurred in line of duty from the 12th day of October, 1965 * * *". The benefits awarded Applicant were described in the court’s judgment as follows:

“4. That the said Board of Trustees is hereby ordered and directed to pay to Petitioner the pension due to him and the arrearages due to him under the provision of Title 12, Section 2.18 of the Revised Ordinances, 1960, of the City of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as follows:
“a) Three (3) months at regular pay for the period of October 12, 1965, through and including January 12, 1966, at $468.75, for a total of $1,406.25; and
“b) Twelve (12) months at his calculated pension rate of $179.00 per month for the period January 12, 1966, through and including January 12, 1967, for a total of $2,148.00; and
“c) Ten (10) months at his calculated pension rate of $179.00 per month for the period January 12, 1967, through and including November 12, 1967, for a total of $1,790.00; and
“d) $179.00 per month commencing November 12, 1967, and a like amount each and every month thereafter; and
“e) Petitioner is herewith given judgment against said Board of Trustees in the total amount of $5,344.25 for arrearages due and payable aforesaid as of November 12, 1967, for which let judgment issue.”

The Board thereafter lodged the present appeal asserting various errors in the court’s judgment. In one part of its briefs, the Board takes the position that, even if Applicant might have been entitled to a retirement allowance of $179.00 per month, he was not entitled to the “regular pay" for the three months beginning October 12, 1965, which the court, in its above [984]*984described judgment, allowed him. We think there is merit in this position. Section 541m, supra, authorizes cities or towns, that have Pension and Retirement Systems under the Act, to pay policemen, who are temporarily disabled, temporary disability allowances where their Systems’ Boards of Trustees find they are confined to bed or to a hospital and require professional attention on account of temporary disability incurred on duty and as a consequence of the performance of their duties. The only provision of the Oklahoma City Ordinances (to which our attention has been directed) providing for payment of a policeman’s full regular pay (in the nature of temporary disability allowances) when he is disabled from such a cause, is found in Section 2.18, supra. But said section specifically provides such an allowance “for the first three (3) months of such disability immediately following such injury, * * *". There was no evidence in the present case that the Applicant received any injury on duty only three months before the date of October 12, 1965, which was the beginning of the three-months’ period for which the trial court’s judgment awarded him disability benefits at the rate of his regular pay. That part of said judgment therefore cannot stand.

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Bluebook (online)
1970 OK 87, 470 P.2d 981, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-trustees-of-pol-pen-ret-sys-v-faris-okla-1970.