Fireman's Fund Insurance Company v. Overton

1971 OK 113, 491 P.2d 278, 1971 Okla. LEXIS 330
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 14, 1971
Docket44180
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1971 OK 113 (Fireman's Fund Insurance Company v. Overton) 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
Fireman's Fund Insurance Company v. Overton, 1971 OK 113, 491 P.2d 278, 1971 Okla. LEXIS 330 (Okla. 1971).

Opinion

JACKSON, Justice.

Northeast High School and Capitol Hill School are schools within Oklahoma City School District No. 89. School District No. 89 carried compensation insurance on its school teachers, clerks, and other employees who were compensated out of “appropriated funds.”

Claudell Overton, claimant, was employed as a teacher and coach at Capitol Hill High School. Overton, as a qualified football referee, upon request from a principal of a highschool in the Oklahoma City School System (District No. 89), would referee highschool football games. His regular fee or stipend was $20.00 per game which would be paid by the “host” school from its Student Activity Fund. The Student Activity Fund is a “non-appropriated fund”, although it is under the control of the school board of District No. 89. 70 O.S.Supp.1963, Sec. 4-33.1.

Overton sustained a heart attack on October 10, 1969, while refereeing a game between Star Spencer High School and (host) Northeast High School. He was paid $20.00 by Northeast High School from its Student Activity Fund for refereeing the game.

Overton filed a Workmen’s Compensation Insurance claim and the Industrial Court entered an award for claimant on April 7, 1970, and the insurance company, Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, has petitioned this court for review.

The decisive question is whether the insurance policy provided protection for employees compensated out of Northeast High School’s “non-appropriated” Student Activity Fund.

It is admitted that football refereeing is not classified as hazardous in the Workmen’s Compensation Act. 85 O.S.1961, Sec. 2. Overton’s salary as a teacher and coach at Capitol Hill High School was paid from appropriated funds and was used as a basis for computing the premium to be paid by District 89. It is admitted that Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company would be liable if claimant Overton had suffered a heart attack while engaged in teaching or coaching at Capitol Hill High School. 85 O.S.1961, Secs. 65.2 and 65.3.

The premium basis for teachers and clerks, as shown in the policy (salaries), is in excess of $15,000,000, and the insur- *280 anee rate thereon is .14⅜ per $100.00 of remuneration. The premium basis (salaries) for “All other Employees” is $5,168,112 and the insurance rate is $2.56 per $100.00 of remuneration.

The Chief Accountant for Oklahoma City School Board (District 89) testified that he participated in preparing the estimated payroll audit for premium purposes on this policy, and supplied the insurance company auditor the payroll data that is audited for premium purposes. He gave the insurance company auditor the payroll which is paid from appropriated funds. He did not include the payroll of any employees who might receive compensation from non-appropriated funds such as the Student Activity Funds.

The Senior Premium Auditor for the insurance company produced a copy of the insurance policy in question and testified that Student Activity Funds were not included in the policy as a basis for premium charges “nor is any anticipated under the current policy with respect to the activity fund.” He further testified that in prior policy years no Student Activity Fund of any of the highschools in District 89 had ever been considered or used in determining the amount of premium to be paid by the District. He further testified that the only contract Mr. Overton (claimant) had which was taken into consideration in arriving at premiums to be charged was his teaching and coaching contract at Capitol Hill High School.

On claimant’s cross examination of the company’s Senior Premium Auditor the following questions were asked, and answers given.

“Q. Mr. Boyd (auditor), it says on the policy that the employees are to be included within the terms and benefits on the front page, are professional employees, teachers or clerical, and then it uses the language ‘all other employees’?
“A. Yes.
“Q. So anybody in the School District or system of the Oklahoma County School System who would be an employee would be held within the terms covered by this policy?
“A. Yes, that is correct.
“Q. In other words, I take it that assuming for a hypothetical question that should Mr. Overton be held in this instance to be an employee, then on this year’s audit, you surely will take into consideration those funds of the special activity funds that is going to be used in the hiring of personnel to do activities such as he was doing refereeing of the games; is that right ?
“A. The contract of Mr. Overton is included for premium charges. However, the only contract which refers to his being an instructor at Capitol Hill is the one taken into consideration in arriving at premiums charged on those earnings. Those are the only earnings taken into consideration, are those earned on a contract basis. All earnings of his, under the terms of his contract, are used in computing for premium purposes.
“Q. In other words, Fireman’s Fund is the one who determines on what basis the audit is made and from what fund or groups of funds or monies the audit is based upon; is that correct:
“A. That is correct.”

The last question and answer is only partially true. Where all of an employer’s employees are engaged in hazardous employment, as defined in the Workmen’s Compensation Act, and the employer applies for insurance on all of his employees, clearly the insurance company would have the right to include the total payroll, from whatever fund an employee was paid, as the basis for premium charges. However, where as here, some of the District’s employees are engaged in hazardous employment and others are not, the district clearly has a right to exclude from insurance protection those who are not engaged *281 in hazardous employment. In this case the District voluntarily elected to include teachers and clerks for insurance protection. We know this because they were named by classification and their salaries (payable from appropriated funds) were included on the face of the policy for premium purposes.

The designation on the face of the policy of “All other Employees” is very general. These employees are not identified by name or by class of employment on the face of the policy. The only way to determine who, and what class of employees are included in this group, is to examine the payroll (in this case a $5,168,112 payroll) to see who and what class of employees were included for insurance purposes. When this is done it becomes evident that the District did not provide insurance for employees compensated out of student activity (non-appropriated) funds, else these funds would have been included in the payroll shown on the face of the policy. The fact that Student Activity Funds have not been included in the payrolls for premium purposes in prior years has eviden-tiary value, especially, where as here, there is no evidence that they were left out by inadvertence. In Continental Supply Co. v. Levy (1926), 121 Okl. 132, 247 P.

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Bluebook (online)
1971 OK 113, 491 P.2d 278, 1971 Okla. LEXIS 330, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/firemans-fund-insurance-company-v-overton-okla-1971.