Curtis v. Slater Construction Co.

160 N.W. 659, 194 Mich. 259, 1916 Mich. LEXIS 504
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 22, 1916
DocketDocket No. 4
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 160 N.W. 659 (Curtis v. Slater Construction Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Curtis v. Slater Construction Co., 160 N.W. 659, 194 Mich. 259, 1916 Mich. LEXIS 504 (Mich. 1916).

Opinion

Brooke, J.

Under the provisions of the employers’ liability act the claimant and respondent on December 10, 1913, entered into the following agreement:

“Agreement in Regard to Compensation.
“We, John Curtis, residing at city or town of Pontiac, Mich., and Slater Construction Co., have reached an agreement in regard to compensation for the injury sustained by said employee while in the employ of Slater Construction Co., Pontiac, Mich.
“The time, including hour and date of accident, the place where it occurred, the nature and cause of injury and other cause of ground of claim, are as follows:
“Nov. 20th, 1913, about 10 o’clock a. m. a ditch caved in and bruised said John Curtis about the lower limbs and strained one knee. The said John Curtis was incapacitated for work from Nov. 20th to December 9th inclusive and started to work Dec. 10th, 1913.
“The terms of the agreement follow:
“The average pay for 41 weeks of said John Curtis while in the employ of said Slater Construction Co., covering the period from Nov. 21, 1912, to Nov. 20, [261]*2611913, is ($12.19) twelve dollars and nineteen cents, the said Curtis having worked 41 weeks with a total compensation of $497.73.
“John Curtis.
“Slater Construction Co.,
“By O. A. Slater, Mgr.
“Witness: Geo. E. Sutton.
“Dated at Pontiac, Mich., this 10th day of December, 1913.”
On the same day claimant was paid the sum of $16.26 and executed the following settlement receipt:
“Settlement Receipt.
_ “Received of Slater Construction Co. the sum of sixteen and 26/100 dollars, making in all, with weekly payments already received by me, the total sum of sixteen dollars and twenty-six cents, in settlement of compensation under the Michigan workmen’s compensation law, for all injuries received by me on or about the 20th day of November, 1913, while in the employ of Slater Construction Co. subject to review and approval by the Industrial Accident Board.
“Witness my hand this 10th day of December, 1913.
“John Curtis.
“Slater Construction Co.,
“O. A. Slater, Mgr.
“Witness: Geo. E. Sutton.
“Address: 121 Norton Ave., Pontiac, Mich.”

Later and on January 15, 1914, the industrial accident board approved the agreement in regard to compensation as follows:

“State op Michigan Industrial Accident Board,
“Oakland Building, Lansing.
“In re Slater Construction Co. — John Curtis.
“January 15, 1914.
“Slater Construction Company,
-“Pontiac, Michigan.
“Gentlemen: The agreement in regard to compensation in the above case has been passed upon by the Industrial Accident Board and approved.
“Very truly yours,
[Signed] “R. L. Drake, Secretary.”

[262]*262It is undisputed that, at the time of the payment of the money for which the receipt was given, claimant had returned to work for the respondent, and that he worked for some time. He claims he was able to work but a few days, while the evidence on the part of the respondent tends to show that he continued in the employment from December 10, 1918, to January 9, 1914, a period of about four weeks, at which time he was discharged because respondent had no further work for him to do. According to the contention of respondent and appellant, nothing further was heard of claimant until October, 1914, when claimant made an affidavit setting out the fact of his injury, of the compensation he had received, and the claim that the respondent had known of his continuing illness since the injury.

On December 6, 1914, a petition to reopen the case and grant further compensation was filed with the industrial accident board, in which claimant asserts that his signature to the receipt was obtained through representations made on behalf of the company that the receipt was for the sum of money mentioned therein simply, and was not in full compensation for the injury sustained. The board thereupon gave the following notice to respondent:

“Slater Construction Co.,
“11-71 Parke St.,
“Pontiac, Mich.
“Gentlemen: In re Slater Construction Company— John Curtis.
“You are hereby notified that a hearing on the petition of the applicant in the above entitled cause praying that the case will be reopened, will be held before the Industrial Accident Board at its offices in the City of Lansing, Michigan, on the afternoon of January 27, 1915.
“Very truly yours,
“G. W. Dickson, Secretary.”

[263]*263The case was thereafter reopened, and the testimony of the claimant and his attending physician was taken on his behalf, tending to show that shortly after the accident claimant developed a partial paralysis of his lower limbs, and at the time of the hearing was still suffering from paralysis and Bright’s disease, which in the opinion of the attending physician resulted from the accident. On behalf of the respondent, a physician testified that he examined the claimant on November 20, 1913, the day of the accident, and found him suffering from an injury to one of his knees, but found no other objective symptoms of injury. This physician never saw the claimant thereafter.

On the 23d day of September, 1915, the board made the following order:

“A petition having been filed by John N. Curtis, now deceased, praying for reasons therein set forth that his case be reopened and that he be awarded further compensation therein, and after the hearing of said cause before the full board and before the decision of the same said John N. Curtis, deceased, and thereafter Jessie Curtis was by the probate court of the county of Genesee appointed administratrix of the estate of said John N. Curtis herein, and the board having fully heard said cause and having carefully examined the proofs and evidence therein, and due consideration thereon having been had, it is ordered and adjudged that the prayer of the petition herein be granted and that said applicant, the administratrix _ aforesaid, is entitled to receive and recover from said respondent compensation at the rate of six dollars and nine ($6.09) cents per week for fifty-four (54) weeks _ in addition to the compensation heretofore paid during the lifetime of said John N. Curtis, and that same is due and payable.”

It appears that the claimant had died between the time of the hearing and the award, and that the weekly payments provided for in the award covered only the period from the time of the last payment until the date of claimant’s death.

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Curtis v. Slater Construction Co.
168 N.W. 958 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1918)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
160 N.W. 659, 194 Mich. 259, 1916 Mich. LEXIS 504, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/curtis-v-slater-construction-co-mich-1916.