Parkhill Truck Co. v. Wilson

1942 OK 168, 125 P.2d 203, 190 Okla. 473, 1942 Okla. LEXIS 123
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 28, 1942
DocketNo. 29437.
StatusPublished
Cited by57 cases

This text of 1942 OK 168 (Parkhill Truck Co. v. Wilson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Parkhill Truck Co. v. Wilson, 1942 OK 168, 125 P.2d 203, 190 Okla. 473, 1942 Okla. LEXIS 123 (Okla. 1942).

Opinion

ARNOLD, J.

T. E. Wilson filed this action in the district court of Tulsa county for damages for personal injuries alleged to have been caused by the negligent acts of the defendant, Parkhill Truck Company.

The plaintiff was an employee of the Osage Construction Company. The Osage Construction Company had a contract with the Continental Oil Company to remove and recondition certain pipe. The Osage Construction Company entered into a subcontract with the defendant, Parkhill Truck Company, to pick up the pipe, which had been recovered from the ground by the Osage *474 Construction Company, and haul it to certain racks for reconditioning and then to return and string said pipe along the pipe line right of way belonging to the Continental Oil Company.

The Osage Construction Company came within the purview of the Workmen’s Compensation Act. The plaintiff, while engaged in his duties as an employee of the Osage Construction Company, was injured by reason of the alleged negligent acts of the defendant, Parkhill Truck Company.

It is admitted that, under the conditions which the plaintiff was injured, he would be entitled to recover against his employer, the Osage Construction Company, under the Workmen’s Compensation Act. He filed his claim with the State Industrial Commission and immediately thereafter filed an application requesting the commission to hold his claim in abeyance pending the outcome of an action to be filed by him at common law against the defendant, a third party, for negligence. He expressly stated therein that he elected to sue the third party. The State Industrial Commission thereafter entered an order, recognizing plaintiff’s election to proceed at common law against the third party and holding the claim in abeyance pending the outcome of the contemplated action against the third party. There was no written assignment of the cause of action against the third party required nor made.

Prior to filing the claim with the commission, the plaintiff had entered into a written agreement with his employer to the effect that, whereas he desired to prosecute a claim against the third party, the employer would pay medical bills and an amount equal to compensation in the meantime; that it would continue to pay him $18 per week in lieu of compensation during the period of his disability, or until his claim against the third party was terminated; that he was to retain any amount received in excess of the amount advanced, but hold his employer and its insurance carrier harmless to the extent of only the amount recovered by him.

The trial judge on the trial of this case instructed the jury that, if they believed that the aforesaid advances were really intended as compensation and that the notes given for the advancements were signed merely for the purpose of deceiving defendant and the State Industrial Commission and for leading defendant and the commission into the belief that the money was advanced as a loan, when in fact it was intended as compensation, then the verdict should be for defendant. The jury returned a verdict for the defendant. Thereafter the trial judge sustained plaintiff’s motion for a new trial; one of the grounds given by him being that he had erred in instructing the jury in the manner stated above. The defendant appealed. The parties will be referred to herein as they appeared in the trial court.

The defendant contends that the question of whether plaintiff accepted the benefits of the Workmen’s Compensation Act and what his “intention” was in “so doing” were proper questions of fact for the determination of the jury; that the jury finding thereon was binding because properly submitted. The defendant further contends that the question of contributory negligence was an issue under the evidence and properly submitted by the court. The defendant also contends that it was not a so-called “third party,” but, on the contrary, was a co-employee of the plaintiff, and that by reason of this fact the plaintiff had no cause of action against it; that the demurrer to the evidence should have been sustained by the court and plaintiff’s cause of action dismissed; that the evidence amply sustains the verdict of the jury in every respect, and the trial court, therefore, abused its discretion in sustaining the motion for a new trial.

Plaintiff contends that it is the duty of the trial court upon a motion for a new trial, which challenges the verdict upon the ground that it is contrary to the evidence, to weigh the evidence and approve or disapprove the verdict; that if the verdict is such that in the opinion of the trial court it should not be per *475 mitted to stand because the court cannot conscientiously approve same, and it believes that it should have been for the opposite party, then its duty is to set the verdict of the jury aside and grant a new trial. Plaintiff also contends that the evidence in the case was not sufficient to raise the question of contributory negligence and that the court erred in submitting same to the jury; he further contends that the question of whether he had elected to accept benefits under the Workmen’s Compensation Act was wholly immaterial as regards the issues between him and the defendant company; that whether or not he had complied with the provision of the Workmen’s Compensation Act relative to his right to proceed against a negligent third party presents issues that concern no one except the Industrial Commission, his employer and insurance carrier. He further contends that in any event such issues do not present questions of fact for the determination of a jury; that the trial court having committed errors of law and having concluded that it could not conscientiously approve the verdict of the jury, either as to law or fact, the court did not abuse its discretion in granting a new trial.

The Workmen’s Compensation Act was enacted by the Legislature for the benefit of injured employees engaged in the hazardous employments described therein. Such an employment was that of the plaintiff at the time of his injury. By this act it was not intended to affect, in any manner, the right of one to proceed against a negligent third party for personal injuries. The Workmen’s Compensation Act provides compensation for injury without regard to negligence. It is obvious, therefore, that a cause of action arising under the Workmen’s Compensation Act is by nature distinctly different from the common-law remedy for damages resulting from negligence. Although both arise by reason of injury, yet, under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, the recovery is without regard to negligence and is governed by a scale or rate fixed by the Legislature and is in lieu of wages, while the common-law action for personal injury must be based upon and flow directly and proximately from negligent acts. It was never intended by the Legislature by the enactment of the Workmen’s Compensation Act to abrogate, modify, or in any way affect the common-law right to exact payment of a negligent third party or tortfeasor. The whole act, construed in its proper light, shows that the Legislature never intended such an injurious effect. Since a greater responsibility was placed, by said act, upon those conducting hazardous employments, for the benefit of their injured employees than that placed upon such employers under the common law, the Legislature made provision therein for the protection of employers and their insurance carriers operating within its purview. Such a protective section is 13368, O. S. 1931, 85 Okla. St. Ann. § 44:

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Bluebook (online)
1942 OK 168, 125 P.2d 203, 190 Okla. 473, 1942 Okla. LEXIS 123, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parkhill-truck-co-v-wilson-okla-1942.