Crawford v. McLaurin Trucking Co.

336 S.E.2d 647, 78 N.C. App. 219, 1985 N.C. App. LEXIS 4247

Opinion

PHILLIPS, Judge.

The decision of the Industrial Commission is correct and we affirm it. Though G.S. 97-85 requires that appeal from an opinion and award of a Deputy Commissioner be taken within 15 days from the date a party is notified of the Deputy Commissioner’s opinion and award; this requirement is based on the presumption that the notice given was correct. G.S. 97-84 requires that when the Commission or one of its deputies determines a dispute before it that a copy of the opinion and award be sent to the parties; this necessarily means a true copy. Since the law permits appeals only from actual rather than supposed decisions, the incorrect notice of a decision that had not been made had no effect on plaintiffs right to appeal from the decision that was made.

Affirmed.

Judges Wells and Cozort concur.