Loucks v. Bauman

97 N.W.2d 321, 356 Mich. 514, 1959 Mich. LEXIS 399
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 12, 1959
DocketDocket 100, Calendar 47,631
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 97 N.W.2d 321 (Loucks v. Bauman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Loucks v. Bauman, 97 N.W.2d 321, 356 Mich. 514, 1959 Mich. LEXIS 399 (Mich. 1959).

Opinions

[515]*515Dethmers, C. J.

On Jane 20, 1947, plaintiff suffered an accidental injury necessitating amputation of his left leg. On March 15, 1948, the workmen’s compensation commission awarded him compensation for 200 weeks for specific loss of his left leg, payments ending April 20, 1951.

On November 12, 1954, plaintiff filed application for hearing and adjustment of claim for injuries to his right leg sustained in that same accident on June 20, 1947. On June 4, 1957, the workmen’s compensation appeal board made a further award to him for total disability based on its finding that, “The record clearly indicates that the plaintiff has been totally-disabled from performing the work of a pumper since his injury, not only because of the amputation of his left leg but also by reason of the unstable condition of his right leg independent of his left leg.” They awarded compensation from May 11, 1951, to December 31, 1952.

Defendants appeal and rely on CL 1948, § 413.14 (Stat Ann 1950 Rev § 17.188), which provides:

“If payment of compensation is made (other than medical expenses) and an application for further compensation is later filed with the commission, no compensation shall be awarded by the commission for any period which is more than 1 year prior to the date of the filing of such application.”

Defendants urge as controlling Lynch v. Briggs Manufacturing Co., 329 Mich 168, which applied the quoted statutory 1-year limitation on the retroactive effect of an order for further compensation. On this authority, defendants contend that, it was not competent for the appeal board to allow compensation [516]*516for any period before November 12, 1953, that being 1 year prior to plaintiff’s filing of his application, and that because the award, as made, is for a period antedating that date it is void and should be reversed.

Plaintiff relies on Morgan v. Lloyds Builders Inc., 344 Mich 524. There the plaintiff had suffered an accidental eye injury on January 14, 1948, a piece of metal having entered his eye, which, after a course of treatment, was surgically removed from his eye. In that connection he had been paid compensation from January 15 to January 31, 1948, and from December 13, 1948, to January 11, 1949. In 1951 further difficulty developed in his eye, for which he was treated by doctors, which resulted in loss of vision in the eye on May 9, 1951. On July 28, 1953, plaintiff filed an application for hearing and adjustment of claim. This Court held him entitled to compensation for loss of the eye as from May 9, 1951, the date of its loss, which was over 2 years prior to the filing of the application. This Court held the mentioned 1-year statutory limitation inapplicable because the application filed on July 28, 1953, was not, in the language of the statute, “an application for further compensation,” but, rather, “a petition for loss of vision,” which amounted to a “further development” occurring after the original disability for which compensation already had been paid. Thus, Morgan was distinguishable from Lynch, in which the 1-year limitation was applied, because in Lynch the application was for “further compensation” inasmuch as plaintiff there was held to be “still totally disabled in his skilled employment because of his occupational injury of 1946” (date of original injury) and there was no finding of subsequent development as in Morgan.

In the instant case, plaintiff speaks of a further development, after loss of the left leg, in that the “increased weight-bearing due to the loss of Louck’s left leg directly contributed to and aggravated the [517]*517unstable condition of his right leg.” The appeal board made no such finding of fact that the disability of the right leg was a further development, and there is no testimony to support such theory in the appendix. On the contrary, the appeal board expressly found that plaintiff’s total disability resulted from both the amputation of the left leg and the unstable condition of the right leg which had existed since the date of his accidental injury on June 20, 1947. This is, then, according to the finding of fact of the appeal board, not a case of a further development, resulting in a disability which did not exist when compensation-was allowed for the loss of the left leg, but, rather, an application for further compensation for a disability existing from the date of injury, on which an award of compensation may not, under the quoted language of the statute, be made for any period more than 1 year prior to filing the application on November 12, 1954.

The award of the hearing referee found that plaintiff had a disability resulting from an injury which, arose out of and in the course of his employment, but that he had suffered no wage loss since November 9, 1953, that being 1 year prior to the date appearing on the application for further compensation, and that, therefore, he was not entitled to compensation benefits. The referee thus having applied the mentioned 1-year limitation of the statute and denied plaintiff compensation benefits, there was no occasion for defendant, on appeal to the workmen’s compensation appeal board from the referee’s finding of disability arising out of and in the course of employment, to urge the bar of the statute to compensation for any time antedating the 1-year period. Necessity therefor arose only on appeal here, after the appeal board granted compensation in violation of that statutory bar. The provision of the statute in question does not impose a limitation of actions, fixing a time [518]*518limit within which actions may be brought, which may be deemed waived by defendant’s failure to assert it in defense, but, on the contrary, it places a limitation on the power of the appeal board which cannot be waived by parties. We allowed appeal expressly limited to the sole question of the effect and applicability of this statutory limitation or bar. Plaintiff has briefed that question only in this Court, as has defendant, and has not raised the point that defendant failed to raise or argue the statutory bar before the appeal board. It is properly before us on this appeal.

The award is reversed and set aside insofar as it provides for compensation prior to November 12, 1953.

Carr and Kelly, JJ., concurred with Dethmers, C. J.

Black, J.

(for dismissal of writ). Lawyers and judges are wont to say that hard cases make bad law. Yet the contemplative student of appellate decisions knows that the antithetic soft case- — the one of apparent insignificance and indifferent presentation— has always been our greatest breeder of regrettable precedent. This, depending on the swing of majority vote, may become such a case.

Our special order granting certiorari in this case was entered November 26, 1957. It reads as follows:

“In this cause an application is filed by defendants for leave to appeal from an order of the workmen’s compensation appeal board and an answer in opposition thereto having been filed by plaintiff and due consideration thereof having been had by the court, it is ordered that the application be and the same is hereby granted, limited to the single question of appellants’ claim that CL 1948 § 413.14 (Stat Ann 1950 [519]*519Rev § 17.188) bars or limits the award currently under consideration.”

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Loucks v. Bauman
97 N.W.2d 321 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1959)

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Bluebook (online)
97 N.W.2d 321, 356 Mich. 514, 1959 Mich. LEXIS 399, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/loucks-v-bauman-mich-1959.