Rezaldo v. Industrial Commission

213 P. 1083, 61 Utah 412, 1923 Utah LEXIS 19
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 17, 1923
DocketNo. 3898
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 213 P. 1083 (Rezaldo v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rezaldo v. Industrial Commission, 213 P. 1083, 61 Utah 412, 1923 Utah LEXIS 19 (Utah 1923).

Opinions

FRICK, J.

Plaintiff made application to this court for a writ of review directed to tbe Industrial 'Commission of Utab, hereinafter called Commission.

Tbe record of the proceedings bad before tbe Commission has been duly certified, and tbe case was submitted by tbe respective parties to this court upon the record as certified, which discloses that on April 30, 1921, tbe plaintiff wrote a letter which in due time was delivéred to tbe Commission, although it was not addressed to any one in particular. Tbe letter, including tbe date and address of the plaintiff, reads as follows:

“Holy Cross, April 30, 1921.
“Dear Sir: I was working for the Spring Canyon Coal Company at Storrs, Utah. Was paying my hospital fees each month, and there was some difficulty over my being sent to the hospital. My foot was injured in their mine. Have been here for three months and am paying my own bill.
[414]*414“Would appreciate very much a visit from one of your representatives so X could explain this matter to him.
“Waiting a reply from you X remain,
“Sincerely yours, Fred Rezaldo.
“My address: Fred Rezaldo, Ward K, Holy Cross Hospital, Salt Lake City.”

From the record it further appears that the letter was by the Commission called to the attention of one F. D. Brown, who was in the employ of the company mentioned in plaintiff’s letter in its welfare department; that, pursuant to the statements contained in the letter, Mr. Brown called on the plaintiff at the hospital for the purpose of obtaining the explanation from him to which he referred in the letter; that after the interview with the plaintiff Mr. Brown, on May 3, 1921, wrote the Commission as follows:

“In line with our conversation this morning, I called on Mr. Fred Rezaldo, Ward K, Holy Cross Hospital. This party was taken to the hospital hy John Ferrando as a private ease — Dr. Osborne.
“I find from conversation with Mr. Rezaldo that'he was injured in January, 1919, while employed hy the Extension Gold Mining Company, at Tonopah, Nev., at which time he sustained a crushing injury to his right ankle. The infected condition of the foot when he was taken to the hospital, together with subsequent operation for the removal of dead bone, was the result of injury sustained in January, 1919, at Tonopah, Nev.
“On behalf of Mr. Rezaldo, may I ask that you be kind enough to take this matter up with the Industrial Commission of Nevada, or the Extension Gold Mining Company, to the end that the benefits of the Nevada Compensation Law may be applied in his case.
“Mr. Rezaldo arrived at the Holy Cross Hospital on February 13, 1921, with his right foot in a very badly infected condition. I am sending copy of this letter to our superintendent with the request that he advise date on which Mr. Rezaldo laid off on account of this injury.”

In pursuance of the request contained in the foregoing letter, the Commission took up the matter with the Industrial Commission of Nevada, and thereafter, on the 7th day of October, 1921, plaintiff made a formal application to the Industrial Commission of Nevada for compensation for an injury which he alleged he had received on February 20, 1919, while in the employ of the Tonopah Extension Gold Mining Company in its mine at Tonapah, Nev. The appli[415]*415cation and claim of plaintiff, filed as aforesaid, were supported by a statement made by Mm under oatb in the form of an affidavit which was filed with the Industrial Commission of Nevada, and in which statement the time and place of the alleged accident and injury while working in the mine aforesaid, together with the particulars of how the accident occurred and the extent of the injury, were fully set forth.

Pursuant to the plaintiff’s application, the Industrial Commission of Nevada made an investigation respecting his claim, and after doing so reported to the Utah Commission that the claim had to be denied upon the ground that the application was not filed within the time required by the Nevada statute.

¥é remark that the record also contains a mass of correspondence from which it is made to appear that the Commission, as well as others, including the Industrial Commission of Nevada, made special efforts to ascertain the real facts concerning plaintiff’s claim, and that they took great pains to aid and assist him in obtaining compensation if it should be found that he was legally entitled thereto.

From the record it also appears that some time before plaintiff filed his claim with the Industrial Commission of Nevada he had a conference with a member of the Utah Commission to whom he made substantially the same statements and representations that he subsequently set forth in the affidavit filed with the Industrial Commission of Nevada in support of his claim against the Tonopah Extension Gold Mining Company, and that the Utah Commission suggested to the plaintiff that he make an application to the Industrial Commission of Nevada for compensation.

It further appears that after the Industrial Commission of Nevada, had denied plaintiff’s claim he, on the 20th day of July, 1922, made what is called a formal application to the Commission for an alleged injury which he claimed to have received on the 2d day of January, 1921, while employed by the Spring Canyon Coal Company, the company [416]*416mentioned in bis letter of April 30, 1921, and hereinafter referred to as defendant.

The defendant, by its attorneys, resisted plaintiff’s claim npon the ground that the same was barred by the statute of limitations. In order to avoid the plea of the statute of limitations, the plaintiff1, on the 24th day of August, 1922, through his attorneys, asked leave of the Commission to file, and they did file, what they call an “amendment to his [plaintiff’s] formal application for adjustment of claim.” We have given the form of the so-called amendment in counsel’s own words for the reason that all through the record plaintiff’s application which he made on the 20th day of July, 1922, is referred to as his “formal application,” while in this court plaintiff’s letter written on the 30th day of April, 1921, is also called an application.

So far as the record discloses, the Commission never made any order either allowing or denying plaintiff’s so-called “amendment” to his “formal” application. The so-called amendment is made a part of the record and was undoubtedly considered by the Commission. It is, however, material only for the reason that the plaintiff alleges therein that he was induced to make the application to the Industrial Commission of Nevada by and through the advice, direction, and importunities of Mr. Brown, defendant’s employé, and that the same were made by Mr. Brown to shield the defendant and were made in fraud of plaintiff’s rights, etc. It is therefore insisted that, inasmuch as plaintiff was by Mr. Brown induced to make an application to the Industrial Commission of Nevada for the alleged purpose of shielding the defendant, it is estopped from successfully interposing the plea of the statute of limitations in this case. In this connection it is, however, also insisted with much vigor that plaintiff’s letter of April 30, 1921, constituted a sufficient application to arrest the running of the statute of limitations against his claim.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
213 P. 1083, 61 Utah 412, 1923 Utah LEXIS 19, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rezaldo-v-industrial-commission-utah-1923.