Florida Industrial Commission v. Neal

224 So. 2d 774, 1969 Fla. App. LEXIS 5598
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJune 24, 1969
DocketNo. K-503
StatusPublished

This text of 224 So. 2d 774 (Florida Industrial Commission v. Neal) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Florida Industrial Commission v. Neal, 224 So. 2d 774, 1969 Fla. App. LEXIS 5598 (Fla. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

WIGGINTON, Chief Judge.

Defendants have appealed, and seek reversal of, a summary declaratory judgment holding that appellant Florida Industrial Commission, an administrative agency of this state, is not legally constituted, enjoining it from further considering appellee’s review proceedings pending before it, and staying such proceedings until such time as appellant Commission may be legally constituted.

Appellee filed a claim against her employer under the workmen’s compensation law of this state, asserting that she was injured while in the course of her employment and demanding the benefits afforded her by the act. The deputy commissioner who examined her claim held that appellee was in immediate need of diagnostic procedures consistent with and incident to removal of a herniated disk. The employer’s workmen’s compensation carrier appealed the deputy’s decision to the full Commission, seeking review of the order and contending it to be erroneous.

Appellee claimant then instituted in the Circuit Court of Leon County this action for declaratory judgment, alleging that she is in doubt as to whether her right to a fair and impartial review of her claim by the full Commission as secured to her by the workmen’s compensation act of this state has been rendered impossible or seriously impaired due to the illegal manner in which the Commission is presently constituted.1 She alleges that such doubt arises because of the fact that two of the three members of the Commission are persons who, on account of their previous vocation, employment, or affiliation are classified as representatives of employers contrary to the mandatory prohibitions of the act under which the Commission is established.

The controlling provision of law on which the decision in this case must turn is as follows:

“ * * * There is created the Florida industrial commission, to consist of the workmen’s compensation division, and such other divisions as may be created by law, and except as otherwise provided the commission shall administer the provisions of this act. The commission shall consist of a chairman and two other members to be appointed by the governor. Not more than one appointee shall be a person who on account of his previous vocation, employment or affiliation shall be classified as a representative of employers, and not more than one such appointee shall be a person who on account of his previous vocation, employment, or affiliation shall be classified as a representative of employees. * * * ”2

From the pleadings and affidavits filed in the cause it affirmatively appears without dispute that one member of the Commission, appellant Walter Lightsey, is classified and recognized by the Commission as an employee representative, and that another member, appellant Frank M. Nelson, Jr., is classified and recognized as the employer representative. These two commissioners are holdovers from the previous administration, and continue to serve in the capacities to which they were ap[777]*777pointed. Upon the advent of the present administration, the third commissioner, appellant Thomas W. Johnston, was appointed to serve as Chairman of the Commission. It is his classification which forms the crux of this controversy, and the decision must rest upon a determination as to whether on account of his previous vocation, employment, or affiliation he must be classified as a matter of law either as a representative of employers, a representative of employees, or whether he comes within neither of these classifications. By the judgment appealed the trial court found and determined that Chairman Johnston, because of his vocation, employment, and affiliation prior to and at the time of his appointment, is classified as a matter of law as an employer representative, thereby causing the Commission as presently constituted to have as its members two employer representatives contrary to the proscriptions of the statute under which the Commission is created.

By their first point on appeal appellants challenge the correctness of the trial court’s order denying their motion to dismiss the complaint. They contend that the complaint fails to allege sufficient facts entitling appellee to a judicial declaration of her rights under F.S. Chapter 87, F.S.A., relating to declaratory judgments.3 Appellants contend that by her complaint ap-pellee merely seeks legal advice to satisfy the curiosity, fears, and doubts of her attorney, and the only doubt indulged by her is whether she will receive a fair and impartial hearing before the full Commission. Appellants contend these facts do not sufficiently allege a justiciable issue or controversy justifying declaratory relief, and that the court erred in exercising jurisdiction in the cause. With these contentions we are unable to agree.

The workmen’s compensation act has been held to be remedial legislation intended to secure for employees the benefits specified by the act for death or injuries sustained in the course of their employment. The act contemplates that the decisions of the deputy commissioners will be reviewed, when requested, by a Commission of members legally constituted in accordance with the requirements of the act. The legislative scheme contemplates a full Commission balanced equally between representatives of employers and employees, with the third and perhaps controlling vote to be by a member whose past vocation, employment, and affiliation places him in a classification other than as a representative of either employers or employees. The complaint alleges sufficient facts to indicate that appellee entertains bona fide doubts as to whether it is possible for her to secure an impartial review of her claim, a right and privilege secured to her under the workmen’s compensation act, because of the allegedly illegal manner in which the Commission is constituted.4 Even though there may exist another adequate remedy by which appellee may secure the relief desired, the existence of such remedy will not bar the action.5

By their next point appellants challenge the jurisdiction of the judicial branch of government to question the judgment and discretion of the chief executive in his determination that Chairman Johnston is qualified to serve as the third member of the full Commission. Appellants anchor their position on the doctrine of separation of powers between the executive and judicial branches of government.

The undisputed facts reflected by the pleadings and affidavits on file in the cause establish that for the twenty-one-[778]*778year period of his life immediately preceding his appointment to the office here in question, Chairman Johnston was employed and served in various capacities in the insurance industry. During that time he was employed for the first twelve years as an insurance adjuster in the workmen’s compensation, fire, and casualty fields of insurance. For the next two years he served as a claims examiner and supervisor; for the remaining seven years preceding his appointment to the Commission he was employed by one insurance company as branch claims manager in charge of the office and the personnel employed therein, later serving as home office claims manager administering the claims operation of the entire company, an appreciable percentage of which were in the field of workmen’s compensation insurance.

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Related

State Ex Rel. Axleroad v. Cone
188 So. 93 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1939)
R-C-B-S Corp. v. City of Atlantic Beach
178 So. 2d 906 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1965)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
224 So. 2d 774, 1969 Fla. App. LEXIS 5598, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/florida-industrial-commission-v-neal-fladistctapp-1969.