Quave v. Progress Marine

721 F. Supp. 784, 1989 WL 117024
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedSeptember 8, 1989
DocketCiv. A. Misc. No. 2823
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 721 F. Supp. 784 (Quave v. Progress Marine) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Quave v. Progress Marine, 721 F. Supp. 784, 1989 WL 117024 (E.D. La. 1989).

Opinion

CHARLES SCHWARTZ, Jr., District Judge.

On May 5, 1989, plaintiff Fred Quave (“Quave”) filed an “Application for Entry of Judgment Pursuant to United States Code 33 Section 918,” seeking to enforce a “Supplemental Compensation Order Declaring Default” issued by Deputy Commissioner Donnette S. Glenn on March 22, 1989. Shortly thereafter, defendants Progress Marine, Inc. (“Progress Marine”), plaintiff’s employer, and American Home Assurance Company c/o American International Adjusting Company (“American Home”), Progress Marine’s insurer, filed a Motion to Dismiss plaintiff’s Application for Entry of Judgment. Following oral argument and the submission of additional memoranda, defendants’ motion to dismiss was taken under submission. For the following reasons, defendants’ motion to dismiss is hereby GRANTED.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff is a claimant seeking Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act benefits from his employer and his employer’s insurance carrier. On December 2, 1987, an Administrative Law Judge (“AU”) issued a “Decision and Order on Remand,” pursuant to which the AU de[785]*785termined that plaintiff was entitled to temporary total disability benefits for a specified time period, as well as permanent partial disability benefits for a time period extending from 1978 to 1987. However, the AU did not calculate the specific amount of plaintiff’s permanent partial disability benefits.1 Instead, the AU directed the deputy commissioner to make the appropriate calculations based upon “the dif-. ference between Claimant’s average weekly wages of $897.48 at the time of injury and his post-injury wage earning capacity of $106.00 per week [minimum wage] commencing September 5, 1978, and continuing thereafter,.... ” The AU further directed the deputy commissioner to adjust the claimant’s wage earning capacity to “reflect the increases in minimum wage since 1978.”

On December 11, 1987, despite the deputy commissioner’s failure to calculate the precise amount of plaintiff’s benefits, defendants mailed plaintiff a cheek in the amount of $90,002.47, which reflected the amount which defendants estimated plaintiff’s temporary total and permanent partial disability benefits to be. Subsequently, plaintiff filed with the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, Seventh Compensation District, an application for a “20% penalty” plus the difference between what plaintiff estimated his benefits to be and what defendants estimated plaintiff’s benefits to be. In a March 22, 1989 “Supplemental Compensation Order Declaring Default,” the deputy commissioner made the following calculations:

(1) That plaintiff’s temporary total disability benefits were $3,017.08; and,
(2) That plaintiff’s permanent partial disability benefits were $97,067.96.

Based on these calculations the deputy commissioner determined that defendants owed plaintiff $7,065.49 in permanent partial disability benefits. The deputy commissioner further determined that pursuant to the provisions of 33 U.S.C. § 914(f), defendants owed plaintiff $19,413.59 (20% of $97,067.96) as a penalty for untimely payment of plaintiff’s permanent partial benefits; and that defendants owed plaintiff interest in the amount of $11,293.63.

The Court’s review of this matter, pursuant to the provisions of 33 U.S.C. § 918, is limited. A district court may review a deputy commissioner’s supplemental compensation order for the purpose of determining whether the order is “in accordance with law and accurate as to the amount in de-fault_” Henry v. Gentry Plumbing & Heating Co., 704 F.2d 863, 864 (5th Cir.1983). Having undertaken such a review, the Court finds that the deputy commissioner’s supplemental compensation order is inaccurate as to the amount in default.

As stated earlier, the AU ordered that plaintiff was entitled to compensation for permanent partial disability “with the claimant’s earning capacity to be periodically adjusted to reflect the increase in minimum wage.” However, in her supplemental compensation order declaring default, the deputy commissioner used the 1978 minimum wage of $106.00 per week; (40 hours @ $2.65 per hour) as a constant for the calculation of the permanent partial disability award from 1978 to 1987. Defendants submit, and the Court agrees, that the deputy commissioner should have adjusted the permanent partial disability rate over the course of 484 weeks to reflect the increase in minimum wage from 1978 to 1987. As referenced in the report of Kenneth J. Boudreaux, Ph.D. (a copy of which is annexed hereto), the minimum wage rates increased as follows:

1/ 1/78 through 12/31/78 $2.65 per hour
1/ 1/79 through 12/31/79 2.90 per hour
1/ 1/80 through 12/31/80 3.10 per hour
1/ 1/81 through 12/31/81 3.35 per hour

Using the proper minimum wage rates, Professor Boudreaux calculates that plaintiff’s temporary total and permanent partial disability compensation totals $89,-320.86. Having determined that Professor Boudreaux’s calculations are correct, the Court hereby adopts said calculations and finds that plaintiff’s temporary total and [786]*786permanent partial benefits equal $89,-320.86. Since defendants delivered to plaintiff a check in the amount of $90,-002.47, a sum greater than the amount actually owed, the deputy commissioner clearly erred in assessing against defendants an additional $7,065.49 in permanent partial disability benefits.

It is equally clear that the deputy commissioner erred in assessing against defendants the sum of $19,413.59 as a penalty pursuant to the provisions of 33 U.S.C. § 914(f). 33 U.S.C. § 914(f) provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

If any compensation, payable under the terms of an award, is not paid within ten days after it becomes due, there shall be added to such unpaid compensation an amount equal to 20 per centum thereof, which shall be paid at the same time as, but in addition to, such compensation....

In the instant action, it is undisputed that plaintiffs permanent partial disability compensation became due on Wednesday, December 2, 1987, the date on which the AU’s Decision and Order was filed in the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Seventh District Office. It is also undisputed that plaintiff received his compensation payment from defendants on Tuesday, December 15, 1987. It is equally clear, pursuant to the provisions of § 914(f), that defendants were required to pay plaintiff his compensation within ten (10) days from December 2, 1987, or be subject to a penalty in the amount of 20% of the compensation due. The dispute arises with regard to when this ten (10) day time limit expired. Specifically, whether December 15, 1987, the date on which plaintiff received his compensation payment, is or is not within this ten (10) day time limitation. For the following reasons, the Court finds that Tuesday, December 15, 1987, is within the ten (10) day time limitation.

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Bluebook (online)
721 F. Supp. 784, 1989 WL 117024, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/quave-v-progress-marine-laed-1989.