Special Indemnity Fund v. Bramlett

1949 OK 124, 206 P.2d 972, 201 Okla. 415, 1949 Okla. LEXIS 318
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 31, 1949
DocketNo. 32920
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 1949 OK 124 (Special Indemnity Fund v. Bramlett) 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
Special Indemnity Fund v. Bramlett, 1949 OK 124, 206 P.2d 972, 201 Okla. 415, 1949 Okla. LEXIS 318 (Okla. 1949).

Opinion

GIBSON, J.

In this case the Special Indemnity Fund, hereinafter referred to as the Fund, seeks to review and vacate an order of the State Industrial Commission awarding compensation to respondent, A. F. Bramlett. An award was also made against Luper Transportation Company, employer of respondent, and its insurance carrier.

The trial commissioner, in substance, found that on the 24th day of June, 1944, respondent, while in the employ of Luper Transportation Company, sustained an accidental personal injury arising out of and in the course of his employment consisting of an injury to his right eye, right leg and right side, and scarring of the face around the eye. That as a result of such injury he sustained a 50 per cent loss of vision of the right eye; that respondent was then a physically impaired person in that as a result of a previous injury he had sustained the loss of use of his left eye; that as a result of both injuries he sustained a 75 per cent permanent partial disability to his body as a whole. The commissioner further found that the employer, Luper, Transportation Company, had secured the payment of compensation benefits to its employees by obtaining guaranty insurance from the Postal Mutual Indemnity Company of Dallas, Tex. Upon such findings an award was entered by the trial commissioner against Luper Transportation Company and its insurance carrier in the sum of $900, and against the Fund in the sum of $5,850. The award was sustained on appeal to the commission en banc.

The Fund contends that the finding and award of the commission is not sustained by the evidence and is contrary to law.

It is urged that the evidence is wholly insufficient to sustain the finding of the commission that the Luper Transportation Company, employer of respondent, had secured compensation payments by obtaining guaranty insurance, and that the commission was without authority to enter an award against the Fund but that the entire award should have been assessed against Luper Transportation Company.

The record discloses that respondent sustained his last injury on June 24, 1944. His right to participate in the Special Indemnity Fund is therefore governed by the 1943 Act, chap. 8, 85 O. S. 1943 Supp. Section 172 of that Act, after providing that a physically impaired person who sustains a subsequent accidental injury compensable under the Workmen’s Compensation Act shall receive full compensation for the disabil[417]*417ity sustained as a result of his combined injuries, and that the employer shall be liable for the percentum of disability sustained by the last injury alone and that the Fund shall be liable for the balance, further provides:

“ . provided, however, the provisions and benefits of this Act shall not be available to any employee, who is a ‘physically impaired’ person, and who is employed by an employer as defined by the Workmen’s Compensation Law who shall fail to secure the payment of compensation benefits as required by law, but such employee shall not be precluded from receiving compensation for a later injury while employed by such employer, as is now provided by law, all of such benefits to be paid by such employer, aforesaid; ...”

85 O. S. 1941 §61 provides that an employer shall secure compensation to his employees in one of the following ways:

“(b) By obtaining and keeping in force guaranty insurance with any company authorized to do such guaranty business in this State; . . .”

The record discloses that prior to the time the award herein was made a previous hearing was held before a different trial commissioner, at which hearing counsel who then appeared for the employer, Luper Transportation Company, agreed and stipulated that the company had failed to secure compensation for its employees and also failed to secure an own risk permit from the commission. The trial commissioner thereupon dismissed the case as against the Fund and made an award against the employer, Luper Transportation Company, for the entire disability sustained by the respondent as a result of his combined injuries.

An appeal was thereafter taken by the employer from such award to the. commission en banc. At the hearing on appeal different counsel appeared on behalf of the employer and presented a motion to vacate the order of the trial commissioner and to reassign the case for further hearing. The motion was predicated on the ground that at the time of the last accidental injury it had in force and effect a guaranty insurance policy issued by the Postal Mutual Indemnity Company of Dallas, Tex., which it contended constituted guaranty insurance within the meaning of the statute. The motion was granted and the case reassigned for further hearing.

The employer at the present hearing introduced in evidence an insurance policy issued by the Postal Mutual Indemnity Company which it relied upon to sustain its contention that it had secured compensation insurance for its employees and insisted that the furnishing of such policy constituted guaranty insurance. The statute does not definitely define the term “guaranty insurance”. We have, however, been referred by the Fund to 18 O. S. 1941 §481, for a definition of the term. This section, in substance, provides that any corporation, incorporated under the laws of the United States or any state, when qualified so to do, may engage in the business of guaranteeing the faithful performance of certain undertakings and obligations therein mentioned. Section 482 provides the manner in which a corporation may be qualified to transact such business in the State of Oklahoma. It must obtain a permit from the State Insurance Commissioner authorizing it to engage in such business and in order to obtain such permit it must comply with the conditions therein specified.

Postal Mutual Indemnity Company, alleged insurance carrier herein, did not apply for nor was it granted a permit by the State Insurance Commissioner to transact business in the State of Oklahoma such as is mentioned and Specified in section 481, supra. It made no attempt to show that it had qualified so to do under section 482. It made application for and was granted a permit to write accident and health insurance in the state. A permit was granted it and a license was issued authorizing it to engage in such business.

[418]*418The policy introduced in evidence is termed “Employer’s Safeguard Policy.” It is a group accident insurance policy covering employees of Luper Transportation Company employed in this and other states, and provides for the payment of indemnities to employees of that company, whether engaged in hazardous or nonhazardous employment, resulting from accidental injuries subject to certain conditions, limitations and restrictions contained in the policy. It does not purport to secure the payment of compensation benefits to employees under the Workmen’s Compensation Act of this state. Section 64 of 85 O. S.

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Related

Lekan v. P & L Fire Protection Co.
1980 OK 56 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1980)
King v. Craig
1966 OK 128 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1966)
Special Indemnity Fund v. Acuff
1963 OK 142 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1963)
Luper Transportation Company v. Bramlett
1955 OK 91 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1955)
Special Indemnity Fund v. Dailey
1954 OK 167 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1954)
Bramlett v. Luper Transp. Co.
258 P.2d 895 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1953)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1949 OK 124, 206 P.2d 972, 201 Okla. 415, 1949 Okla. LEXIS 318, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/special-indemnity-fund-v-bramlett-okla-1949.