California Comp. Ins. Co. v. Ind. Acc. Com.

128 Cal. App. 2d 797
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 17, 1954
DocketCiv. No. 20416
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 128 Cal. App. 2d 797 (California Comp. Ins. Co. v. Ind. Acc. Com.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
California Comp. Ins. Co. v. Ind. Acc. Com., 128 Cal. App. 2d 797 (Cal. Ct. App. 1954).

Opinion

128 Cal.App.2d 797 (1954)

CALIFORNIA COMPENSATION INSURANCE COMPANY (a Corporation), Petitioner,
v.
INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT COMMISSION and BADGE MOORE, Respondents.

Civ. No. 20416.

California Court of Appeals. Second Dist., Div. Two.

Nov. 17, 1954.

Kearney, Scott & Clopton for Petitioner.

Everett A. Corten and Gordon W. Winbigler for Respondents.

FOX, J.

Petitioner seeks a review and annulment of an award by respondent commission of maximum temporary partial disability benefits.

On July 2, 1953, Badge Moore, while in the course of his employment as a brick tender, sustained an injury to his back, resulting in temporary total disability. At a hearing on February 16, 1954, respondent commission found that the period of temporary total disability ran from July 3, 1953, to and including October 16, 1953, and entered its award in Moore's favor for the sum of $35 per week for that period. No dispute exists as to the validity of this phase of the matter.

Evidence was taken at the same hearing relative to Moore's condition following the cessation of his total disability. Moore testified that he had been released to light work by his physician, Dr. Ferguson, on October 15, 1953. A report prepared by Dr. Ferguson under that date read in part: "Badge Moore is now ready to do light work. He should not perform any job that requires lifting more than 10 or 15 pounds. I am certain that six weeks from now he will be able to do regular full time work." Another report from Dr. Ferguson, dated February 9, 1954, was received subsequent to the hearing. The following language appears therein: "He [Moore] is partially disabled and I believe that he will not be able to do heavy physical work for at least another three months. I also believe that he should obtain some active physical therapy treatment for the next two months, on a three times weekly basis. At the present time he is capable only of sitting jobs or jobs requiring very light lifting."

Moore testified that even before Dr. Ferguson notified him *803 that he was ready for light work, he had begun to look for employment of this nature, and in particular, for janitorial work. This activity took the form of contacts with several prospective employers and scanning of newspaper ads for offers of work. In addition, within two or three days after Dr. Ferguson informed him of his readiness for light work, Moore applied to the Department of Employment for janitorial work. Simultaneously therewith, he executed a sworn certification to the department of employment that he was ready, willing and physically able to perform the work for which he was registered. Thereafter, he obtained unemployment insurance benefits in the sum of $25 per week, the last payment having been received about one month prior to the hearing. His only employment since the date of the accident consisted of a one week, part-time job as a painter, for which he earned $15.

Moore acknowledged the receipt of a letter from petitioner dated October 27, 1953, which read in part: "Dr. Ferguson has advised us that you are now ready to do light work. If you have not returned to work may we suggest you contact your employer to determine whether or not there is any work available for you." Moore testified he had made no inquiry of his former employer because the work of a brick tender, which entails pitching, picking up and carrying bricks, was not light work and, to the best of his knowledge, his old employer had no light work available to him. Petitioner's counsel thereupon informed Moore, for the record, that the Lesher Company, his employer, had work of a nature which he could perform and would make such work available to him. Moore stated he would apply for such work on the day following the hearing. On March 11, 1954, the referee denied a request by petitioner for an additional hearing on the ground that Moore had failed to report to Lesher for work.

On March 17, 1954, respondent commission issued a Findings and Award, the pertinent part of which reads as follows: "3. Said injury further caused temporary partial disability beginning October 17, 1953, to and including February 16, 1954, and thereafter, entitling the applicant to compensation on a wage loss basis ... [H]e is and shall be entitled to compensation consisting of 65% of the difference between $53.85 and the amount earned in said week or weeks. ..."

On March 25, 1954, petitioner filed with the commission a "Notice of Cessation of Payments of Compensation and Request for Termination of Liability," advising that it had discontinued compensation payments under the last order of the *804 commission on the ground that Moore "has been offered light work which he is physically able to perform and has voluntarily rejected said offer." A supplemental hearing to determine the validity of this petition was set.

On April 5, 1954, petitioner filed a petition for reconsideration of the findings and award, incorporating therein substantially the same contentions on which it has based its petition for the writ of review herein. Petitioner seeks a review of the commissioner's order of May 5, 1954, denying its petition for reconsideration.

Petitioner contends that it was improper to enter a maximum award of temporary partial disability indemnity in favor of Moore for the same period during which he received unemployment insurance benefits. The commission replies that in determining Moore's eligibility for temporary partial disability benefits under the Workmen's Compensation Act it is wholly immaterial that during the period in question he has qualified for and received unemployment compensation insurance payments. [fn. 1] It points out in substance that it has exclusive jurisdiction to determine the extent of a disability produced by an industrial injury; that it is free to exercise this jurisdiction independent of any decision made by the agency charged with the administration of the Unemployment Insurance Act; and that no provision of the Labor Code either expressly or impliedly precludes an employee from receiving workmen's compensation benefits despite the fact that he has accepted unemployment insurance benefits for a part of the period covered by the workmen's compensation award.

The precise issue here posed appears to have received little judicial scrutiny. The factors crucial to its determination must be sought not only in the limited confines of statutory language, but also in the broader areas of principle and policy, and by an analytic examination of the history, background and legislative purpose underlying the enactment of social insurance legislation.

[1] It is a matter of common knowledge that the pattern of wage- loss legislation in this state, as indeed throughout the country, did not evolve full-blown in accordance with a master blueprint but emerged piecemeal in response to society's awakening acceptance of the need for an enlightened *805 system of employee protection. The earliest workmen's compensation legislation in California was the Roseberry Act of 1911 (Stats. 1911, ch. 399, p. 796), which was supplanted two years later by the Boynton Act (Stats. 1913, ch. 176, p. 279). The current law in its original form was enacted in 1917 (Stats. 1917, ch. 586, p. 831). [2] The theory underlying such legislation is, succinctly stated, that industry should bear, in large measure, the burden of industrial accidents. (Western Indem. Co. v. Pillsbury, 170 Cal. 686, 694 [151 P. 398]; 27 Cal.Jur.

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