Conrad v. State Industrial Commission

1937 OK 675, 73 P.2d 858, 181 Okla. 324, 1937 Okla. LEXIS 148
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 23, 1937
DocketNo. 27838.
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 1937 OK 675 (Conrad v. State Industrial Commission) 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
Conrad v. State Industrial Commission, 1937 OK 675, 73 P.2d 858, 181 Okla. 324, 1937 Okla. LEXIS 148 (Okla. 1937).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This is an original proceeding in this court brought by Frantz C. Conrad, hereafter referred to 'as petitioner, to obtain a review’ of an award made by the State Industrial Commission on the joint petition of John Rosser and I-Ielmer-rich & Payne, Inc., hereafter referred to as claimant and respondent, wherein the fee of the petitioner as attorney for the aforesaid claimant was fixed and approved without notice to him and without an opportunity to be heard thereon.

The record shows that the claimant while in the employ of the respondent, on March 1, 1935, sustained an accidental personal injury w’hich was compensable under the Workmen’s Compensation. Law. The respondent furnished immediate medical attention and care and continued to furnish the same for a period of approximately two years, and during said time paid to the claimant compensation in the aggregate sum of $1,872 for resulting temporary total disability. Employer’s first notice of injury was filed with the State Industrial Commission on March 8, 1935. The petitioner, as 'attorney for the claimant, on July 27, 1935, filed with the Industrial Commission employee’s first notice of injury and claim for compensation. Apparently nothing further was done before the commission until March 4, 1937, at which time the petitioner filed with the commission a notice in which he advised that he had been discharged from the case by his client and th'at he was claiming a fee for the services which he had rendered. On March 10, 1937, the claimant and respondent appeared before the commission with a *325 joint .petition agreement wherein they recited that they had reached a settlement between themselves which they wanted the commission to approve, and therein they requested that the petitioner he allowed a fee of $75 for his services as attorney for the claimant, and that said sum be paid out of the agreed compensation of the claimant. The petitioner waj? given no notice of this action on the part of the claimant 'and respondent and was given no opportunity to be heard regarding his fee. The claimant and respondent waived any formal or statutory notice of hearing and the commission proceeded to hear them upon their joint petition without any further notice or delay. The claimant appears to have been the only witness heard by the commission. It appears from his testimony that he was reluctant to fix the petitioner’s fee and expressed the wish that such fee be fixed by someone else, but finally in response to a leading question stated that he thought a fee of $75 would be enough. The commission thereupon proceeded to approve the joint petition settlement and therein fixed, the petitioner’s fee in the sum of $75 and directed payment thereof out of the compensation to be paid to claimant. The petitioner on March 23, 1937, filed a motion requesting the commission to vacate the aforesaid order and award in so far as it attempted to fix his attorney fee and to grant him an opportunity to present evidence in support of his claim. This motion was denied by the commission on March 25. 1937, for the assigned reason that the commission was without further jurisdiction in the premises. Petitioner thereafter filed another application to vacate the award and to be let in to present his claim for attorney’s fee, which motion was apparently never acted upon.

We. are called upon to review the order and award of March 10, 1937. The questions here presented for determination are: First, Does the petitioner have cap'acity to maintain this proceeding? Second, Does the order of March 10. 1937, deny the petitioner due process of law? Third, Does the State Industrial Commission have jurisdiction to vacate or modify an award based upon joint petition at any time after the entry of said award? And Fourth, When does the lien for attorney fees provided under section 13364, O. S„ 1931, attach? We will consider these matters in their order.

In the ease of Burch v. Slick, 167 Okla. 639, 31 P. (2d) 110, this court pointed out that in a proceeding before the State Industrial Commission, a claim for legal services in connection therewith must be submitted to the State Industrial Commission by the party making the claim and must be heard by the commission, and that an award which attempts to provide for attorney fees not sought by the attorney would be vacated, as to such provision. The reason for the rule is apparent. As said in Corbin v. Wilkinson, 175 Okla. 247, 52 P. (2d) 45:

“Claims for legal services rendered in the Industrial Commission in behalf of claimants shall be determined by the commission and paid in the manner fixed by the commission, and such claims cannot be enforced in the courts of this state by independent actions in the trial courts. Sec. 13364, Okla. Stats. 1931.”

And as further said in the body of the opinion:

“Whether lawyers receive just or unjust compensation for their services is entirely within the control of the Industrial Commission. Lawyers ought not to be required to donate their talents and their services. They are just as much entitled to justice and fair compensation at the hands of the Industrial Commission as the injured workmen themselves.”

Section 13363, O. S. 1931, provides in part as follows:

“The award or decision of the commission shall be final and conclusive upon all questions within its jurisdiction between the parties, unless within thirty days after a copy of such award or decision has been sent by said commission to the parties affected, an action is commenced in the Supreme Court of the state to review such award or decision.”

Since, as has been pointed out above, the State Industrial Commission has exclusive original jurisdiction over attorney fees to be allowed in workmen’s compensation cases, it is manifest that the attorney is affected by any award or decision which attempts to fix or approve his fee, since he will therefore be bound thereby if a proceeding to review such award or decision is not commenced in this court within the 30 days provided by section 13363, supra. It will be noted from a reading of the statute above cited that such a proceeding is commenced by filing with the. clerk of this court a certified copy of the award or decision of the commission attached to a petition wherein the specifications of error or illegality in the award or decision are pointed out. The proviso relative to the giving of a bond as *326 prerequisite to a proceeding to review is confined to proceedings brought by an employer or bis insurance carrier, in which ease the statute expressly requires that the undertaking shall be executed by one or both of said parties. We are of the opinion that under the statute above cited the petitioner has capacity to maintain this proceeding. This right has heretofore been impliedly recognized in the ease of Carr v. State Industrial Commission, 157 Okla. 140, 11 P. (2d) 134, and we now unequivocally affirm the right of an attorney to bring a proceeding in this court to obtain a review of an 'award or decision of the State Industrial Commission when the rights of such attorney are involved therein. A casual examination of the cases of In re Stewart Bros., 53 Okla. 153, 155 P. 1124; In re Assessment of Muskogee Gas & Elec. Co., Muskogee County v. Muskogee Gas & Elec. Co., 83 Okla. 167, 201 P. 358; Fidelity Bldg. & Loan Ass’n v. Newell, 176 Okla. 184, 55 P. (2d) 131. and State ex rel. Hoard v. Ashley, County Treas., 171 Okla. 169, 42 P.

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Bluebook (online)
1937 OK 675, 73 P.2d 858, 181 Okla. 324, 1937 Okla. LEXIS 148, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/conrad-v-state-industrial-commission-okla-1937.