Nash v. Nash

22 N.E.2d 896, 107 Ind. App. 56, 1939 Ind. App. LEXIS 16
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 17, 1939
DocketNo. 16,457.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 22 N.E.2d 896 (Nash v. Nash) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nash v. Nash, 22 N.E.2d 896, 107 Ind. App. 56, 1939 Ind. App. LEXIS 16 (Ind. Ct. App. 1939).

Opinion

Curtis, J.

This is an appeal from a final award of - the full Industrial Board of Indiana. We quote from that award as follows:

“And the full Industrial Board, having heard the argument of counsel, having reviewed the evidence and being duly advised therein, now finds that on November 28, 1938, one Phillip O. Nash was in the employ of the defendant, Morgan Coal Company, at an average weekly wage of $30.00; that on November 28, 1938, the said Phillip O. Nash suffered an injury as the result of an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, of which the defendant, Morgan Coal Company, had knowledge and furnished medical attention; that a compensation agreement was approved on December 27, 1938, providing for the payment of compensation at the rate of $16.50 a week during- temporary total disability, not exceeding the period fixed by law, *58 and that pursuant to the terms of said agreement defendant paid compensation for a period of two weeks, from December 5, 1938 to December 18,1938, in the total sum of $33.00; that the said Phillip O. Nash died on December 29, 1938, as a direct result of the injury sustained on November 28, 1939; that on February 14, 1939, plaintiffs herein, Doris Nash and Phillip Nash, filed their application for the adjustment of a claim for compensation in which Nicie Nash was made a party defendant.
“It is further found that defendant, Morgan Coal Company, has paid the statutory burial allowance of $150.00.
“And the full Industrial Board now finds for the plaintiffs on their application, that the said Doris Nash, daughter, and Phillip Nash, son, were living with and wholly dependent upon the said Phillip O. Nash at the time of his death.
“It is further found that at the time of his death the said Phillip Nash was married to one Nicie Nash, defendant herein, who was living separate and apart from the said Phillip O. Nash at the time of his death, and that the said Nicie Nash was not a dependent of the said Phillip O. Nash within the meaning of the Workmen’s Compensation Act.
AWARD
“It is therefore considered and ordered by the full Industrial Board of Indiana that there is awarded plaintiffs, Doris Nash and Phillip Nash, compensation at the rate of $16.50 a week, share and share alike, for 298 weeks, or for such period of time as they, would remain dependents under the provisions of the Indiana Workmen’s Compensation Act.
“It is further ordered that said compensation payments shall be made payable to a duly qualified guardian appointed by the Circuit Court of Greene County, Indiana.
*59 “It is further ordered that all compensation now due and unpaid be brought up to date and paid in cash and in a lump sum.
“It is further ordered that Nicie Nash, not being a dependent of the said Phillip O. Nash within the meaning of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, shall take nothing.
“It is further ordered that the defendant, Morgan Coal Company, pay the costs of these proceedings. ’ ’

Nicie Nash,.the appellant, is the widow of the deceased employee. She was not living with her said husband at the time of his death. From the award denying her any part of the compensation awarded against the appellee Morgan Coal Company on account of the death of her said husband she has brought this appeal. The error assigned is that the award of the full Industrial Board is contrary to law. This assignment presents for review all questions which she raises. The sole question for our determination is whether or not the said award of the full Industrial Board denying her any part of said compensation should be allowed to stand. The employer, Morgan Coal Company, does not deny its liability under the award.

Taking the evidence most favorable to the award, as we are required to do, it tends strongly to show that at the time of the marriage of the appellant to the decedent Phillip O. Nash both parties had previously been married and each .had children by former marriages; that decedent maintained a home in which the appellant and two of her children by a former marriage resided with him and some of his children by his former marriage; that there was much quarrelling and bickering in the-family mostly over trivial matters; that they sepa *60 rated in mid August 1938 and did not thereafter live together; that the home at that time was at Crystal City, Missouri; that just preceding the separation there had been a violent quarrel between the husband and wife over the question of lending an iron to the deceased’s daughter who was not living in the household and also over the question as to how long-one of his daughters was to be permitted to live in the home. The evidence discloses that the appellant at that time said to the decedent “You take your kids and support them and pull my trailer down to Cape Giradeau and I will support myself”. The husband obeyed her request and the separation was effected. He then came to Indiana about the first of November 1938 and established a home for himself and his own children in Greene County, Indiana where he resided at the time of his death which occurred in December 1938. She never came to this state to live. At the time she went to Cape Giradeau, Missouri, to live she took her property and personal effects with her and secured employment in a hotel there. There was evidence that after the separation the husband did not support the appellant. After his death she came to Indiana where the Circuit Court wherein his estate was pending- set off to her all of his property, the estate being worth less than $500.00.

The statute involved in the instant case is section 38 of the Indiana- Workmen’s. Compensation Act, Acts 1929, page 537, §40-1403 Burns 1933, §16414 Baldwin’s 1934, from which we quote as follows: “The following- persons shall be conclusively presumed to be wholly dependent for support upon a deceased employee: (a) A wife upon a husband with whom she is living at the time of his death, or upon whom the *61 laws of the state impose the obligation of her support at suoh time. ... In all other cases, questions of total dependency shall be determined in accordance with the fact, as the fact may be at the time of the death”.

The above statute has been construed by this court in several cases. In the case of Jelicic v. Vermillion Coal Company (1924), 81 Ind. App.. 675, 678, 144 N.E. 38, this court said: “Under the law as it has existed since 1919, three classes of widows of deceased employees are entitled to receive compensation, as dependents, where facts are found showing liability, viz: (1) Those living with their husbands at the time of their deaths; (2) Those, not living with their husbands at the time of their deaths, but dependent upon them for support; (3) Those not living with their husbands at the time of their deaths, and not dependent upon them for support, but who nevertheless were entitled to support from their husbands at the time of their deaths by virtue of the laws of the state. Acts 1919 p. 165, §8020vl Burns’ Supp. 1921; Collwell v.

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Bluebook (online)
22 N.E.2d 896, 107 Ind. App. 56, 1939 Ind. App. LEXIS 16, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nash-v-nash-indctapp-1939.