Sinclair Prairie Oil Co. v. Stevens

1949 OK 187, 211 P.2d 286, 202 Okla. 181, 1949 Okla. LEXIS 439
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 20, 1949
DocketNo. 33499
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1949 OK 187 (Sinclair Prairie Oil Co. v. Stevens) 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
Sinclair Prairie Oil Co. v. Stevens, 1949 OK 187, 211 P.2d 286, 202 Okla. 181, 1949 Okla. LEXIS 439 (Okla. 1949).

Opinion

O’NEAL, J.

This is the second pro- - ceeding brought to review the award entered by the State Industrial Commission in this case. The first proceeding is Sinclair Prairie Oil Co. v. Stevens, 194 Okla. 109, 148 P. 2d 176, and the opinion therein contains a full and complete statement of all the facts and issues presented in the original proceeding and the nature and extent of review in the second proceeding. Reference is made to that opinion for a full development of the case.

The claim is founded upon a statement that on February 20, 1940, while starting a gas engine a wheel struck the toe of claimant’s left foot which aggravated a diseased condition known as Buerger’s disease, leading to the amputation of the leg. The defense was that since no claim was filed until October 11, 1941, it was barred by 85 O.S. 1941 §43.

In the original proceeding and the review thereof by the Supreme Court, it is stated:

“In determining whether payments made by an employer to an employee constitute compensation (a money allowance payable to an employee for disability resulting from accidental personal injury sustained by the employee arising out of and in the course of the employment, 85 O.S. 1941 §3, subs. 6, and section 11) or remuneration in lieu of such compensation, the knowledge of the employer actual or imputed as of the time of payment with respect to the accidental personal injury and his intent as established or reasonably ■inferable in, making such payments must be taken into consideration.”

The cause was remanded to the State Industrial Commission for further proceedings in connection with the directions in the above statement.

In the opinion, the court stated:

. It is only by careful decisions upon this question of fact that generous employers desiring in good faith to provide benefits for sickness as distinguished from accidental injuries can be protected from undue added legal hazards, and that employees can be protected against unscrupulous employers who might be disposed to use this type of plan to defeat the purposes of the Workmen’s Compensation Law.
“The finding of the commission in this case was such as to impel a conclusion that the point was decided upon the theory that the company’s payments of temporary disability benefits excused delay in filing the claim even though the company was not aware or should not have been aware of the accidental injury at the time the payments were made, and believed it was paying purely ‘sick benefits.’ ”

On the retrial it was the position of claimant that there was no need to examine any further witnesses or to take any further testimony, but the review of the question presented as to whether or not the payments were made within the knowledge of the petitioner, as suggested in the above quotations, was to be determined wholly from the record. It was the position of petitioner that further testimony should be taken in order to determine the question of whether the petitioner had made the payments in lieu of com[183]*183pensation or as contended by the petitioner as payment for sick benefits under the sick benefit plan in operation by the petitioner. The trial commissioner adopted the theory of petitioner and for this purpose two witnesses were examined. Henry W. Boggess stated that he was in charge of the payments for sick benefits used by the petitioner; that his office and his department had no information that claimant had sustained an accidental injury resulting in any disability. R. L. Ziegler stated that he was in charge of the department of petitioner known as the Workmen’s Compensation Department; that it was his duty to classify and pay all claims arising by reason of disability resulting from accidental injury; that he was never advised of any accidental injury resulting in disability in connection with claimant. Claimant’s wife testified that at least on two different occasions she had signed the receipts for the money paid by petitioner to the claimant, and that on these occasions the bearer of the checks had stated that these checks were to pay compensation.

It will be noted that there was a specific direction for the State Industrial Commission to find whether or not the payments were made to the claimant with the knowledge that there had been an accidental injury and a resulting disability. There is a finding in the award sufficient to meet the requirements set out in the former opinion on this issue, and the question here presented is whether the finding is sustained by the evidence.

The evidence of the witness Boggess is sufficient to establish that the department operating the sick benefit did not know claimant had sustained an accidental injury resulting in disability. The evidence of the witness Ziegler is likewise sufficient to establish that his department had never been advised of any disability resulting from an accidental injury arising out of and in the course of claimant’s employment. However, the record discloses sufficient evidence which, if believed, reasonably tends to support the finding that petitioner knew claimant had sustained an accidental injury on February 20, 1940, for the reason that it was reported to the superintendent of petitioner, John Stoker. We do not deem it necessary to set forth in detail such evidence. It may be noted, however, that the Industrial Commission has twice found that respondent herein had actual notice of the accidental injury. Claimant testified that he notified John Stoker, respondent’s district superintendent, the same day the accident occurred, namely, February 20, 1940. Stoker specifically denied that fact, but he admitted that he met and talked with claimant at the time and place testified to by claimant and that he discussed with claimant the condition of his foot. The commission on this conflicting evidence found that respondent did have actual notice of the accidental injury, and that finding of fact is binding upon this court. Stoker was district superintendent and if notice to him of the accidental injury was notice to the company, it was likewise notice to the company that it would be liable for compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation Law if the disability caused by the injury continued beyond the statutory five days’ waiting period. The fact, if it is a fact, that Stoker failed to notify subordinate departments of the company whose duty it was to carry out the details in making compensation payments, that the cause of claimant’s absence from his work was an accidental injury, did not relieve the company of its duty to make payments of compensation or remuneration in lieu of compensation. These subordinates, whose duties were purely ministerial, in computing the amounts of the payments and preparing the checks to be delivered to claimant and the receipts for claimant to sign, may have been justified in calling the payments “gratuitous allowances” or “sick leave payments,” but that did not alter the fact that respondent was actually liable for compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation Law.

It may also be noted that all, or nearly all, of the payments made to claimant fell short of the amount which was actually due him under respondent’s so-called plan for disability and gratuity payments to employees who were off duty because of illness, etc.

The record shows that claimant’s daily wage was $5.52; that he had been with the company for more than 15 [184]*184years. The so-called plan provided for absentee payments to employees who had from 10 to 15 years service at seven days full time and more than seven days half time.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1949 OK 187, 211 P.2d 286, 202 Okla. 181, 1949 Okla. LEXIS 439, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sinclair-prairie-oil-co-v-stevens-okla-1949.