Clark v. Woods

183 N.E. 804, 95 Ind. App. 530, 1933 Ind. App. LEXIS 177
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 13, 1933
DocketNo. 14,663.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 183 N.E. 804 (Clark v. Woods) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clark v. Woods, 183 N.E. 804, 95 Ind. App. 530, 1933 Ind. App. LEXIS 177 (Ind. Ct. App. 1933).

Opinion

Curtis, C. J.

— This is an appeal from an award of the full Industrial Board entered April 4, 1932. .

Under the award of the full board compensation was awarded the appellant against Hulbert Woods alone, and *532 denied against Fred McManus as administrator of the estate of Thomas McManus, deceased, and Fred Mc-Manus, Harry McManus, Inez Brown, and Carrie Mc-Manus, who were the heirs of the decedent.

The issues were joined upon the appellant’s application for compensation and the answer of general denial under Rule 10 of the board. The appellant excepted to the award of the full board and prayed and perfected his appeal to this court, assigning as the error relied upon for reversal that the said award is contrary to law. This assignment of error is sufficient to present all questions sought to be presented. See Sec. 61, Indiana Workmen’s Compensation Act, Acts 1929, p. 537, ch. 172.

There is no question raised by the appellant as to the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the finding of facts, but the sufficiency of the facts found to sustain the award is challenged by him.

So much of the finding and award of the full board as is pertinent to the questions for determination is as follows: “. . . The board having heard the argument of counsel and having reviewed the evidence . . . finds:

“That Alvin Clark was in the employ of the defendant Hulbert Woods on the 3rd day of May, 1930, at an average weekly wage of $30.00, and on said date he received a personal injury as the result of an accident arising out of and in the course of his said employment by the defendant Hulbert Woods; and as a result thereof he was totally disabled from May 3, 1930, to September 15, 1930, at which time his said disability ceased.
“The board further finds that plaintiff was injured while engaged in painting the residence in the city of Rushville, Indiana, which the said Hulbert Woods had agreed to paint under a contract with Thomas Mc-Manus; that at the time of making said painting con *533 tract with' .the said McManus nor at the time of performing the said work the said Woods had not secured compensation insurance and had not complied with Secs. 5, 68, and 69 of the Indiana Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1929, and the said McManus did not at any time exact from the defendant Hulbert Woods a certificate from the Industrial Board of Indiana showing that the said Hulbert Woods had complied with Secs. 5, 68, and 69 of the Indiana Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1929; that the said Thomas Mc-Manus died on May 20, 1930, and Fred McManus is the duly qualified and acting administrator of the estate of Thomas McManus, and, as such is joined as a party defendant herein; that the defendants Harry Mc-Manus, Carrie McManus, Fred McManus, and Inez Brown are the surviving heirs at law of the deceased, Thomas McManus.
“The board finds that the plaintiff is entitled to an award for compensation as against the defendant Hulbert Woods, and that the finding should be for the remaining defendants on the plaintiff’s application filed herein on May 9, 1931.
Award
“It is therefore considered and ordered by the full Industrial Board of Indiana that the plaintiff be and he is hereby awarded compensation as against the defendant, Hulbert Woods, at the rate of $16.50 per week for a period of 18 2/7 weeks, beginning on May 10, 1930, on account of total disability for said period; that all compensation now due be paid in cash and in a lump sum.
“It is further ordered that the defendant, Hulbert Woods, pay the necessary and reasonable medical, surgical and hospital expenses occasioned by the plaintiff’s said injury for the first 30 days after the date thereto, together with the costs of this proceedings.
*534 “It is further ordered that the plaintiff take nothing as against the defendants Fred McManus, Harry Mc-Manus, Inez Brown and Carrie McManus, and Fred McManus, as administrator of the estate of Thomas Mc-Manus, deceased.”

The appellant, in his reply brief, says that he makes no claim that McManus, the decedent, if living, could be held as an “employer.” The claim is that the right of action created under Sec. 14 of the act by reason of the failure to exact the certificate mentioned therein is an independent right and that the extent of the liability is measured by the compensation due the employee, and that the right survived the death of the decedent and binds his heirs and legal representative. That part of Sec. 14 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, upon which the appellant relies, is as follows:

“Any person contracting for the performance of any work by a contractor subject to the compensation provisions of this act without exacting from such contractor a certificate from the Industrial Board showing that such contractor has complied with Secs. 5, 68, and 69 of this act shall be liable to the same extent as the contractor for compensation, physician’s fees, hospital fees,” etc.

There is no language in said Sec. 14 of the act that provides that the rights created by the section, where there is a failure to exact the certificate mentioned therein, shall survive against the heirs and legal representative of the person so failing to exact the certificate. But the appellant points to Sec. 73 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, supra, which, among other things, provides that “ ‘Employer’ shall include the state and any political division, any municipal corporation within the state, any individual, firm, association or corporation or the receiver or trustee of the same, or the legal representatives of a deceased per *535 son, using the services of another for pay,” and says that it is clear from the language of the act that the cause of action would survive the death of the person who failed to exact the certificate required by said Sec. 14 of the act and that the act as a whole should be construed to bind the legal representative of the decedent in the instant case.

The appellee contends that the appellant is clearly in error in his construction of that portion of said Sec. 73 of the act heretofore set out, and says that the words “legal representatives” as used in said last mentioned section of the act means “legal representatives” who actually employ a person after the death of the decedent, and do not mean that there is a survival of the right of action.

Sec. 6 of the said act provides as follows: “The rights and remedies herein granted to an employee subject to this act on account of personal injury or death by accident shall exclude all other rights and remedies of such employee, his personal representatives, dependents or next of kin, at common law or otherwise, on account of such injury or death.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
183 N.E. 804, 95 Ind. App. 530, 1933 Ind. App. LEXIS 177, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clark-v-woods-indctapp-1933.