Jutton-Kelly Co. v. Industrial Commission

264 N.W. 630, 220 Wis. 127, 1936 Wisc. LEXIS 228
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 7, 1936
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 264 N.W. 630 (Jutton-Kelly Co. v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jutton-Kelly Co. v. Industrial Commission, 264 N.W. 630, 220 Wis. 127, 1936 Wisc. LEXIS 228 (Wis. 1936).

Opinion

Fritz, J.

On May 5, 1930, the defendant, Jansen, who, on that date and continuously for many years preceding, was a resident of this state, was injured while temporarily working in the state of Michigan for the plaintiff, Jutton-Kelly Company, which was a Wisconsin corporation, and had its principal office and place of business in this state. Jansen did not file any application in Wisconsin for workmen’s compensation under the laws of this state until June 13, 1934; but he was paid $18 per week for two hundred and fifteen weeks by the plaintiff, Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company, his employer’s insurer, under a contract which was signed by him and the insurer under date of September 4, 1930. That contract was on a printed form prepared by the department of labor and industry of Michigan, and it was stated therein that it was in accordance with the Michigan [129]*129compensation act. Jansen’s application for an award by the Wisconsin Industrial Commission was opposed by the plaintiffs in the proceedings before the commission, as well as in the subsequent trial in circuit court and on this appeal, on the grounds, (1) that he and his employer were not subject to the Wisconsin compensation act at the time of his injury; and (2) that his claim for compensation was barred by sec. 102.12, Stats.

In respect to the first ground, the examiner, in making a temporary award which was affirmed by the Industrial Commission, concluded that the Industrial Commission of this state had jurisdiction to make an award “where the offer of employment was made and accepted in Wisconsin, by residents of Wisconsin, even though the injury takes place in another state.” That conclusion was based on findings of fact made by the examiner in detail, which were supported by credible evidence, and under which the ultimate facts were that, at the time of the injury, Jansen was in the employ of the Jutton-Kelly Company by reason of his acceptance, in Wisconsin, on about February 17, 1930, of a definite offer of employment by the Jutton-Kelly Company which it, on February 15, 1930, had authorized the Joseph McCarthy Construction Company, located at Kaukauna, Wisconsin, to make as its agent to Jansen; and that, immediately upon his acceptance of that offer, and in furtherance of the resulting contract of employment, he went to Detroit and worked there for the Jutton-Kelly Company under that contract until he was injured on May 5, 1930. Upon those facts, the examiner and the commission rightly concluded that, when Jansen was injured, the status of employee and employer existed between him, as an employee whose residence was in Wisconsin, and the Jutton-Kelly Company, a Wisconsin corporation, which had become his employer under a contract of employment entered into between them in this state; and that the existence of that status, created under those circum[130]*130stances, warranted the conclusion that they were both under the Wisconsin Workmen’s Compensation Act at the time of the injury, even though no work was performed by Jansen within this state. Val Blatz Brewing Co. v. Industrial Comm. 201 Wis. 474, 230 N. W. 622; Interstate Power Co. v. Industrial Comm. 203 Wis. 466, 234 N. W. 889; Anderson v. Miller Scrap Iron Co. 169 Wis. 106, 170 N. W. 275, 171 N. W. 935; Zurich G. A. & L. Ins. Co. v. Industrial Comm. 193 Wis. 32, 213 N. W. 630; and McKesson-Fuller-Morrisson Co. v. Industrial Comm. 212 Wis. 507, 250 N W. 396.

In relation to the plaintiffs’ second ground of objection to an award, the ultimate facts, as found by the examiner and adopted by the commission, and upon which the examiner and the commission' based their conclusion that Jansen’s claim was not barred by the statute of limitations, were: “That the applicant sustained injury on May 5, 1930, and application for hearing was filed with this commission, on June 13, 1934; . . . that compensation has been paid by the respondent under the provisions of the Michigan Workmen’s Compensation Law at the rate of $18 per week for two hundred and fifteen weeks, the last payment being made during 1934.” Those findings were based- on proof that, under date of September 4, 1930, Jansen had signed a' contract, which was on the official printed form of the department of labor and industry of the state of Michigan, and in which it was provided that for the injuries sustained by him on May 5, 1930, the Hartford Accident & Indemnity'Company, as insurer for the Jutton-Kelly Company, was to pay compensation to him at the rate of $18 per week during disability of two hundred and fifteen weeks; that the rate of compensation must not be changed except by supplemental agreement approved by the Michigan commission or by an award in accordance with the provision of the Michigan Workmen’s Compensation Act. It was also proven that all [131]*131of those weekly payments of $18, calculated pursuant to the Michigan act, had been made to Jansen in Wisconsin.

Plaintiffs contend that, inasmuch as those payments to Jansen were made pursuant to the provisions of the Michigan Workmen’s Compensation Act and not as payments of workmen’s compensation under the Wisconsin act, and no application had been filed under the latter act within two years from the date of injury, no award could be made on his application, filed on June 13, 1934, because he could not establish, as was necessary for him to do in order to avoid the bar of the two-year limitation in sec. 102.12, Stats, (see margin),1 and to be entitled to have the period of six years within which to proceed, as recognized in sec. 102.17 (4), Stats, (see margin),2 that compensation under the Wisconsin act had been paid to him.

Those contentions are well warranted by the fact that the word “compensation,” as used in those sections, and throughout the entire chapter constituting the “Workmen’s Compensation Act,” is expressly defined to mean “workmen’s [132]*132compensation” in that portion of sec. 102.01 (2), Stats., which reads:

“ ‘Act’ as used in this chapter means ‘chapter‘compensation’ means workmen’s compensation; . . . ” and the term, “workmen’s compensation,” is, in turn, expressly defined in that portion of sec. 102.01 (1), Stats., which reads: “. . . allowances, recoveries and liabilities under or pursuant to this act constitute and may be known, designated and referred to as ‘Workmen’s Compensation.’ ”

Those unambiguous definitions preclude holding that the word “compensation,” as used in the “Workmen’s Compensation Act,” means or includes anything other than “workmen’s compensation” consisting of “allowances, recoveries and liabilities under or pursuant to this act.” To hold otherwise would disregard legislative definitions designed to promote certainty, and would render the meaning and scope of those terms uncertain and indefinite. Thus, in sec. 102.12, Stats., which has the conditional provision, “if no payment of compensation ... is made” (which the respondents contend means any payment whatsoever made by an employer to compensate for a wage loss resulting from injury, regardless of whether he had the subjective intention of making such payment under the Wisconsin Workmen’s Compensation Act), the word “compensation” is used in two other clauses in which it was clearly not intended to mean anything other than the payment of workmen’s compensation under or pursuant to the Wisconsin act.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
264 N.W. 630, 220 Wis. 127, 1936 Wisc. LEXIS 228, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jutton-kelly-co-v-industrial-commission-wis-1936.