Federal Cement & Tile Co. v. Pruitt, Admrx.

146 N.E.2d 557, 128 Ind. App. 126, 1957 Ind. App. LEXIS 106
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 19, 1957
Docket19,068
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 146 N.E.2d 557 (Federal Cement & Tile Co. v. Pruitt, Admrx.) 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
Federal Cement & Tile Co. v. Pruitt, Admrx., 146 N.E.2d 557, 128 Ind. App. 126, 1957 Ind. App. LEXIS 106 (Ind. Ct. App. 1957).

Opinions

[128]*128Cooper, J.

This is an appeal from an award made by the Full Industrial Board to one Louise Pruitt as Administratrix of the Estate of William Pruitt, deceased.

The appellee herein has failed to file a brief; however, since the appellee did appear by counsel and personally argue his contentions to the court in oral argument, we will look to the matter upon the merits, rather than to repose our consideration solely upon prima facie error apparent from appellant’s brief, and the assigned error intended to be urged in this appeal is: “That the award of the Full Industrial Board of Indiana is contrary to law.”

All the evidence in this case was stipulated by the parties. The appellee, who was the plaintiff below, is Louise Pruitt, Administratrix of the Estate of William Pruitt, deceased. William Pruitt was employed by the appellant on November 26, 1954, when he was injured in an accident which arose out of and in the course of his employment. The injury was to his left hand and resulted in the amputation.of his left index finger. He was off work as the result of this injury from November 26, 1954, through January 3, 1955, during which period the appellant paid him compensation at the rate of Thirty ($30.00) Dollars per week based on his wages of $68.80 per week. Appellant also furnished the necessary medical services. He returned to work January 4, 1955, and continued to work thereafter. On August 1, 1956, he died from a cause other than said injury, leaving no widow or children under eighteen years of age and no dependents within the meaning of the Workmen’s Compensation Act. Prior to his death he had never reached any agreement as to any additional compensation to which he might have been entitled, nor did he ever file any claim with the Industrial Board for additional compensation.

[129]*129Following William Pruitt’s death, the appellee, the administratrix of his estate, filed Form No. 10, Application of Dependents of Deceased Employee To The Industrial Board For the Adjustment Of Claim For Compensation, alleging that William Pruitt left surviving him as his dependents four daughters and three sons; that he sustained an amputation of his left index finger and a crushing injury of his left middle finger, and that the additional amount claimed as compensation was Thirty ($30.00) Dollars per week for seventy (70) weeks. At the hearing before the single member of the Industrial Board, the single member found that the employee left surviving him no dependents and made an award for the defendant. The plaintiff appealed to the Full Industrial Board, which entered an award for the plaintiff for forty (40) weeks compensation at Thirty ($30.00) Dollars for the amputation of the left index finger. The full board found that compensation for said injury should now be paid to his administratrix regardless of the fact that he left no dependents, as required under the Workmen’s Compensation Act.

The appellee contends that notwithstanding the fact that the decedent left no dependents of the first, second or third class, as defined by §§40-1401 and 40-1403, Burns’ 1952 Replacement, the. Industrial Board had the authority to make an award to the administratrix of the decedent under §40-1701, Burns’ 1952 Replacement (1957 Supp.). We cannot agree with this position. The stipulated evidence in the record before us discloses that the decedent left no widow or children under the age of eighteen and no dependents. Of course, the mere filling out and filing an application claiming or designating any person as a dependent does not, of itself, sustain the claim of dependency.

[130]*130[129]*129It was incumbent upon the appellee to bear the bur[130]*130den of proving every ultimate fact necessary to establish a claim. Lee v. Oliger (1939), 107 Ind. App. 90, 21 N. E. 2d 65, including the fact of dependency. School City of Hammond v. Moriarity (1950), 120 Ind. App. 663, 666, 93 N. E. 2d 367; see also 119 Ind. App. 206, 85 N. E. 2d 273.

Applicable sections of the Workmen’s Compensation Act pertinent to the question involved in the case before us are found in Burns’ Stat., 1952 Replacement, §§40-1401 and 40-1403, as follows:

“When an employee has been awarded or is entitled to an award of compensation for a definite period under this act . . . for an injury occurring prior to April 1, 1945 and dies from any other cause than such injury, payment of the unpaid balance of such compensation, not exceeding three hundred (300) weeks, shall be made to his dependents as defined in section 38 (§40-1403) hereof; provided that where the compensable injury occurred on and after April 1, 1945, and prior to April 1, 1951, the maximum shall not exceed three hundred and fifty (350) weeks. With respect to any such injury occurring on and after April 1, 1951 the maximum shall not exceed three hundred and fifty (350) weeks for dependents of the second or third class and the maximum shall not exceed five hundred (500) for dependents of the first class.”

Section 40-1403, provides as follows:

“Dependents under this act . . . shall consist of three (3) classes, viz. (1) presumptive dependents, (2) total dependents in fact, and (3) partial dependents in fact. Presumptive dependents shall be entitled to compensation to the complete exclusion of total dependents in fact and partial dependents in fact and shall be entitled to such compensation in equal shares.
“Total dependents in fact shall be entitled to compensation to the complete exclusion of partial dependents in fact and shall be entitled to such compensation, if more than one (1) such dependent exists, in equal shares. The question of total de[131]*131pendency shall be determined as of the time of death.
“Partial dependents in fact shall not be entitled to any compensation if any other class of dependents exist. The weekly compensation to persons partially dependent in fact shall be in the same proportion to the weekly compensation of persons wholly dependent as the average amount contributed weekly by the deceased to such partial dependent in fact bears to his average weekly wages at the time of the occurrence of the accident. The question of partial dependency in fact shall be determined as of the time of the occurrence of the accident.”

It will be noted that the aforesaid sections of the Act specifically provide that the compensation therein denoted shall be made to his dependents as defined in the Act. Courts as a rule, in determining questions of dependency and who are dependents, resort for a description thereof to an outlining of the elements thereof rather than to a general definition. After the enactment of §40-1701, Burns’ 1957 Supp., in 1933, our Supreme Court, in the case of Russell v. Johnson (1942), 220 Ind. 649, 663, 46 N. E. 2d 219, held that a dependent is one who looks to another for support and maintenance; one who is in fact dependent; one who relies on another for the reasonable necessities of life.

Our review of the Workmen’s Compensation Act fails to disclose any provision for the survival of an action for compensation benefits in those cases where the employee leaves no dependents. The appellee cites us to no such provision.

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Federal Cement & Tile Co. v. Pruitt, Admrx.
146 N.E.2d 557 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1957)

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Bluebook (online)
146 N.E.2d 557, 128 Ind. App. 126, 1957 Ind. App. LEXIS 106, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/federal-cement-tile-co-v-pruitt-admrx-indctapp-1957.