Sorenson v. Department of Labor & Industries

143 P.2d 844, 19 Wash. 2d 571
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 4, 1943
DocketNo. 29119.
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 143 P.2d 844 (Sorenson v. Department of Labor & Industries) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sorenson v. Department of Labor & Industries, 143 P.2d 844, 19 Wash. 2d 571 (Wash. 1943).

Opinions

Millard, J.

The claim of Edwin C. Sorenson for compensation for injuries sustained by him January 10, 1929, *572 while engaged in extrahazardous employment in the employ of Weyerhaeuser Timber Company was allowed by the department of labor and industries. Sorenson was classified as permanently and totally disabled, on which basis he was awarded a pension.

July 21, 1936, upon the petition of claimant, the department converted his pension into a lump sum payment of $2,795.90, which was fifty per cent of the computed value of his pension reserve at that time. The departmental order approving the settlement recited that it was made pursuant to Rem. Rev. Stat, §§ 7681, 7684 [P. C. §§ 3475, 3478], with the understanding that the claimant was to return to his home in Norway. The sections of the statute cited provide that, in the event any payment shall be due an alien residing in a foreign country, the department may settle the same by making a lump sum payment in such amount to which the alien may agree not to exceed fifty per cent of the value of the annuity then remaining.

Shortly following receipt of the lump sum payment, claimant returned to Norway where he remained for more than a year. Upon his return to this country, he was physically much improved, and, from November, 1937, to May, 1938, he worked at various places at various employment. May 10, 1938, he reentered the employment of Weyerhaeuser Timber Company at .extrahazardous work and, while so employed May 25, 1938, he sustained a further injury to the foot which was previously injured and for which he was awarded a pension as stated above.

Sorenson’s claim based on the second injury was rejected by the department. The departmental decision was sustained on appeal by the claimant to the superior court. In Sorenson v. Department of Labor & Industries, 12 Wn. (2d) 355, 121 P. (2d) 978, we reversed the judgment of the superior court dismissing the claimant’s appeal from the joint board, and remanded the cause with direction to proceed in accordance with the views expressed in our opinion. Following entry of judgment in the superior court upon the remittitur from this court, the department paid to the claimant $1,204.10, thus making the full sum of four thou *573 sand dollars paid to claimant, and closed the original claim. The claim for the second injury was closed without payment. Claimant retained the additional payment from which settlement he appealed to the superior court for King county, which entered judgment sustaining the action of the department. The claimant appealed.

Appellant contends that, as the order of settlement of July 21, 1936, under which his pension was converted to a lump sum payment was void, and he physically recovered thereafter and returned to his extrahazardous employment where he sustained a second compensable injury, he is entitled to compensation for the combined effect of his injuries, less the amount which he has already received as a lump sum settlement. Appellant’s counsel argues that, pursuant to the mandate of this court in Sorenson v. Department of Labor & Industries, 12 Wn. (2d) 355, 121 P. (2d) 978, the trial court should have directed the department to do two things:- (1) Allow all temporary total disability compensation due to the appellant for his second compensable injury — thirty-five dollars monthly fromAJune 3, 1938 — and continue such payments on a monthly basis; (2) place the appellant on the pension roll for the combined effect of his injuries and apply lump sum payment already made as an advance payment on the monthly amounts, until the sum of $2,795.90 has thus been exhausted, or else it should take credit for that amount as a partial conversion after the value of appellant’s annuity has been fixed by the state insurance commissioner, and then continue to make monthly payments, reduced accordingly and proportionately.

Counsel for the department and counsel for the employer insist that, as appellant was classified under his first claim as permanently and totally disabled — highest disability rating known to the law — and Upon that rating was granted the highest compensation allowable under the workmen’s compensation act, he may not, if he physically recovers from the first injury, be compensated from the accident fund for further injuries received while in extrahazardous employment.

The sole question is whether there has been a com *574 pliance with the direction of this court in Sorenson v. Department of Labor & Industries, 12 Wn. (2d) 355, 121 P. (2d) 978. In that case, answering the argument of the department that appellant’s condition was due to his former condition of permanent total disability, we stated appellant’s second injury suffered in the course of his employment was a compensable injury under the workmen’s compensation act, under the definition of “injury” which we had consistently defined as one which resulted from exertion which the workman was unable to endure in his then condition of health.

We held, citing Harrington v. Department of Labor & Industries, 9 Wn. (2d) 1, 113 P. (2d) 518, and quoting therefrom as follows, that, if appellant had been fully compensated under his first claim for permanent total disability, he was not entitled to any further award for the second injury:

“Having been classified as permanently and totally disabled, respondent could not, in law, be further disabled. He had already received the highest disability rating known to the law, and upon that rating had been granted the highest compensation allowable under the workmen’s compensation act.
“The mere fact that a workman may recover from an injury which has been classified as a permanent total disability, and for which he has been fully compensated, does not negative the fact that he has already received all the benefits that may be allowed for permanent and total disability.”

Citing Booth v. Department of Labor & Industries, 189 Wash. 201, 64 P. (2d) 505, and Horton v. Department of Labor & Industries, 199 Wash. 212, 90 P. (2d) 1009, we held that, as the department had failed to pay the full amount of four thousand dollars to which appellant was entitled, the lump sum payment considered as a final settlement was void, but that

“ . . . appellant may not directly be awarded the additional compensation which he was entitled to receive on his lump sum settlement because he did not appeal from the *575 joint board’s order denying his application to reopen his earlier claim.”

We did not hold that, because the department failed to pay appellant the full amount of four thousand dollars at the time of conversion to a lump sum settlement, the steps antecedent to the payment were void. We held that the order fixing the amount to be paid on conversion was void in the sense that it did not relieve the department from payment of the full amount due to the appellant. The additional compensation which appellant was entitled to receive on his lump sum settlement could not be directly awarded,

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Bluebook (online)
143 P.2d 844, 19 Wash. 2d 571, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sorenson-v-department-of-labor-industries-wash-1943.