Industrial Accident Board v. Miears

227 S.W.2d 571, 1950 Tex. LEXIS 494
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 19, 1950
Docket12146
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 227 S.W.2d 571 (Industrial Accident Board v. Miears) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Industrial Accident Board v. Miears, 227 S.W.2d 571, 1950 Tex. LEXIS 494 (Tex. Ct. App. 1950).

Opinion

CODY, Justice.

Plaintiff, the injured employee, was a one-eyed man in November, 1947 at the time he lost the sight of his left eye by a compensable injury under the Workmen’s Compensation Law. Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St. art. 8306 et seq. The compensation carrier promptly paid him the appropriate compensation under the law for the loss of an eye. Previously, in 1929, in connection with his employment by the Southern Pacific Railroad, plaintiff had lost the sight of his right eye by a non-compensable injury. In connection with the loss of plaintiff’s left eye, the Industrial Accident Board awarded plaintiff compensation out of the Second Injury Fund (which was created and set up by the Workmen’s Compensation Law) for 201 weeks. The plaintiff, conceiving himself entitled under the law, to an award out of the Second Injury Fund for 301 weeks disability, filed suit against the Board in the District Court of Harris County, as an appeal from an award of the Board. No question was made before the Board, or before the court below, but that plaintiff was a totally disabled person under the law, and was entitled to participate in the Second Injury Fund to the extent authorized by law for total permanent disability. No contention was made by plaintiff that the insurance company had not fully discharged its liability, and the Board alone was sued by plaintiff, to the end that plaintiff recover 301 weeks compensation out of the Second Injury Fund, instead of the 201 weeks awarded by tlje Board.

The members of the Board filed their plea of privilege to be sued in Travis county, the county of their residence, and the seat of State government. Additionally, the Board alleged that, in substance, plain *573 tiff’s suit was one for a writ of mandamus to require the Board to permit plaintiff to participate in the Second Injury Fund, and that under Subdivision 20 of Article 1995, the suit must be brought in Travis County. Plaintiff seasonably filed his controverting affidavit, and in a trial to the court without a jury, the court overruled the plea of privilege.

The judgment overruling the plea of privilege contains the following findings as facts:

“That this cause is an appeal from a final ruling, decision and award of the Industrial Accident Board of the State of Texas, made and entered by said Board on October 8, 1948, in Cause No. H-6356, entitled F. M. Miears, employee v. Second Injury Fund * * * ; that the final ruling and award of the Industrial Accident Board has been duly and properly appealed from, and this suit has been filed within the time prescribed by law, and that the plea of privilege and controverting affidavit thereto have been timely filed and presented, and that this court has jurisdiction to try and determine this cause * * *

Subject to the plea of privilege, the Board filed its answer which among other things contained a plea in abatement to the effect that the Board could be sued only in Travis county, and that plaintiff’s suit was in substance one for a writ of mandamus. Said plea in abatement was overruled.

The court tried the case on the merits without a jury, and found that plaintiff was entitled “to recover of and from the Second Injury Fund created by Section 12c-2 of Article 8306, R.C.S., as amended [Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St. art. 8306, § 12c-2], being the same Fund administered by the Industrial Accident Board of the State of Texas, 301 weeks compensation at the rate of Twenty-five and no/100 ($25.00) Dollars per week for total and permanent disability. And that said compensation shall be payable in consecutive weekly installments * * * ”.

In response to the Board’s demand, the court timely filed his conclusions of fact and law which fully supported the judgment which was rendered, and need not be here copied, with the exception of this fact finding “18. That the plaintiff, F. M. Miears, if permitted to do so, would in the trial of this cause, have testified to facts, showing that manifest hardship and injustice would result to him, unless the Compensation due him be paid in a lump sum, and that such fact, within the discretion of the court, would have justified the court m granting a lump sum settlement.”

The Board has predicated its appeal upon six points. The plaintiff has appealed from so much of the action of.the court which, after finding that plaintiff should have been permitted to recover a lump sum settlement, declined to award same, upon the conclusion that, where the Second Injury Fund was involved, there was no provision authorizing a lump ■ sum settlement. The six points upon which the Board predicates its appeal are, in substance:

1. That there was neither pleading nor proof legally sufficient to authorize plaintiff to sue the Board in Harris county, against its plea of privilege to be sued in Travis county, its official and actual residence.

2. That plaintiff’s suit was one in the nature of a mandamus against the Board, a department of the State government, and under subdivision 20, Art. 1995, the district court of Travis county has exclusive jurisdiction, and the court erred in not sustaining the plea of privilege.

'3. That plaintiff’s suit was in the nature of a mandamus against the Board to modify and set aside its order with respect to plaintiff’s participation in the Second Injury Fund, and the Board beipg a head of a department of state government, the suit could be maintained only in Travis county, ánd the Board’s plea in abatement should have been sustained.

4. That the Board’s requested findings of fact and conclusions of law should have been granted.

5: That the court erred in awarding compensation to plaintiff for 301 weeks instead of 201 weeks.

6.- There being no provision of law for allowance of interest in awards out of the *574 Second Injury Fund, the court erred in adjudging interest on its award.

The Board’s points 1 to 3, inclusive, complaining of the court’s refusal of the Board’s dilatory pleas, are overruled.

By force of Section 5, Article 8307, only the courts of the county where the injury occurred have jurisdiction to try an appeal of a controversy in which the Board has made its final award. Mingus v. Wadley, 115 Tex. 551, 285 S.W. 1084. In the cited case the court said: “The Workmen’s Compensation Act having created the rights to be enforced and provided the ■remedy therefor, each step in the progress of the maturity of a claim from the time of the injury to its final adjudication is a mandatory requirement, necessary to the exercise of jurisdiction by the first and succeeding statutory agencies.” Id., 115 Tex. at page 558, 285 S.W. at page 1087; and see 43 Tex.Jur. 710; and Alpha Petroleum Co. v. Terrell, 122 Tex. 257, 59 S.W.2d 364, opinion adopted by the Supreme Court.

Notwithstanding the decisions by the Supreme Court to the effect that our Workmen’s Compensation Act is a complete system within itself, a system “where the cause of action and the remedy for its enforcement.

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Bluebook (online)
227 S.W.2d 571, 1950 Tex. LEXIS 494, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/industrial-accident-board-v-miears-texapp-1950.