Savannah Lumber Co. v. Burch

142 S.E. 83, 165 Ga. 706, 1928 Ga. LEXIS 53
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 20, 1928
DocketNo. 6017
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 142 S.E. 83 (Savannah Lumber Co. v. Burch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Savannah Lumber Co. v. Burch, 142 S.E. 83, 165 Ga. 706, 1928 Ga. LEXIS 53 (Ga. 1928).

Opinion

Bussell, C. J.

This was an action in the superior court, to obtain a judgment against the Savannah Lumber Company upon an award rendered 'by the Industrial Commission of Georgia against the Savannah Lumber Company as an employer, and the Integrity Mutual Casualty Company as insurance carrier or security. It appears that on November 13, 1922, A. B. Burch, who was an employee of the Savannah Lumber Company at a salary of $29.25 per week, was injured while in the course of his employment, and an agreement was had between the employer and the employee for the payment of compensation during his disability at the rate of $14.63 per week, this compensation to be paid by the Integrity Mutual Casualty Company. The agreement, however, became immaterial in this case, because later, on August 4, 1925, an application for a hearing before the industrial commission, based upon a change in the condition of the employee, was made by the employer and the insurance carrier, and the requested hearing was had in the City of Savannah on August 28, 1925, and the claim adjudicated by the industrial commission. At the hearing evidence was introduced and the presiding commissioner, Hon. H. M. Stanley, made an award in due form in favor of Burch for compensation for total permanent disability for a period of 350 weeks from November 13, 1922, at the rate of $14.63 per week. This award was to be paid by the Savannah Lumber Company, employer, as principal, and the Integrity Mutual Casualty Company, insurance carrier. On a petition for review the matter came before the full commission on October 30, 1925, and the award previously made by Commissioner Stanley was confirmed. From this award no exception was taken. On May 22, 1926, Burch received a check drawn by the Integrity Mutual Casualty Company on the Harris Trust & Savings Bank of Chicago, Illinois, for $29.26, covering the 182d and 183d payments of the 350 weeks which had been allowed. The payment of this check was refused, with a notation: “On account of receivership proceedings the Integrity Mutual Casualty Company [708]*708refuses to accept draft.” On September 1, 1926, Burch died, as alleged, “as a result of the injuries he sustained.” The plaintiff alleges that she was his wife, and that at the time of his death she was dependent solely upon him for support, and that she is entitled to receive from the Savannah Lumber Company the balance due upon said award; and she prays judgment for that amount. Demurrers, hereafter more specifically referred to, were overruled, and the cause was carried by writ of error to the Court of Appeals, where the judgment of the superior court was affirmed. Application for the writ of certiorari was . granted by this court, in view of the gravity and importance of some of the questions affecting the rights of all employers, and especially employees in cases where, as in the present instance, the insurance carrier may become insolvent, a point which has not been ruled on by this court, and was specifically dealt with in the opinion of the Court of Appeals. No objection has been made in this case to the procedure adopted, nor has it been? suggested by demurrer or otherwise that there may be others than the wife interested in the award rendered in behalf of her husband.

The first ground of demurrer, that the petition “fails to set forth any cause of action or any right to summary or remedial relief against defendant,” was properly overruled, because, if for any reason the petitioner is not entitled to the relief she seeks, the demurrer is too general to call attention to the specific point, and a special demurrer was required to point out distinctly and particularly such defect. The second ground of demurrer, that the petition fails to show any right on the part of the plaintiff to bring suit for the homicide of her husband, is without merit, because the petition is very plainly based upon an award by the industrial commission of weekly compensation for a fixed period of time, for injuries received by the husband, and not an award for his homicide. In view of the fact last stated, there is no merit in the third ground of the demurrer, which complains that a named paragraph of the petition fails to disclose the capacity in which Burch was employed or the nature of the injury suffered by him. All inquiry into these matters was foreclosed by the award of the entire commission, from which no appeal was taken. Likewise, there is no merit in the fourth ground of demurrer, which complains specially because paragraph 2 of the petition fails to [709]*709disclose the nature of the alleged agreement between the employer and the employee; for the agreement became immaterial in view of the later hearing before the industrial commission and the final award before the commission as a whole.

The court did not err in overruling the fifth ground of demurrer. We have already called attention to the fact that no objection was made, by demurrer or otherwise, to the form of procedure adopted by the plaintiff. Therefore, whether the action be treated as if it were a suit upon an ordinary award, in which the judgment is asked to enforce the award of arbitrators in a statutory arbitration, or as a proceeding to obtain a judgment under the provisions of section 60 of the workmen’s compensation act of 1920 (G-a. L. 1920, p. 200), the amount of the judgment must be fixed by the sum awarded by the industrial commission. In the section cited it is expressly provided “that any person at interest may file in the superior court . . a certified copy of . _. an award of the commission, unappealed from; . . whereupon the court shall render judgment in accordance therewith, and notify the parties.” There having been no appeal from the award of the commission, but on the contrary compliance with the award on the part of the surety until its insolvency, the plaintiff in error was precluded to assert that the award which it was sought to enforce by judgment was excessive. From the failure to appeal, a waiver of the right to object may be implied as against the employer.

In ground 6 of the demurrer paragraph 8 of the petition is specially demurred to as failing to show why collection from the insurance carrier has not been made or further attempted, and why the defendant is liable for default in payment by the insurance carrier. It is alleged in the petition that the insurance carrier is in the hands of a receiver and has failed and refused to make payment since May 22, 1926. Being in the hands of a receiver, it may be presumed to be insolvent. If so, the question is raised whether the defendant is relieved because it complied with the requirement of the statute by insuring Burch and others of its employees. As to this there can certainly be but one answer, and that in the negative. One of the purposes of the workmen’s compensation act was to provide for the safety and protection of employees; and to this end the act provides methods of insuring the payment of such compensation as injured employees may be [710]*710entitled to for personal injuries sustained by them in the course of employment; and it was certainly not intended to exempt a solvent employer upon his taking out the policy of insurance with a company that might or might not be solvent. The employee has no part in procuring the policy of insurance. The selection of tile company which is to act as insurance carrier 'is altogether with the employer; and if such employer selects a company of doubtful solvency, he must be held to do so at his peril.

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Bluebook (online)
142 S.E. 83, 165 Ga. 706, 1928 Ga. LEXIS 53, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/savannah-lumber-co-v-burch-ga-1928.