Sullivan v. J. B. Fluke & Co.

14 Pa. D. & C. 787, 1930 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 368
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Blair County
DecidedJuly 14, 1930
DocketNo. 75
StatusPublished

This text of 14 Pa. D. & C. 787 (Sullivan v. J. B. Fluke & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Blair County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sullivan v. J. B. Fluke & Co., 14 Pa. D. & C. 787, 1930 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 368 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1930).

Opinion

Patterson, P. J.,

This is an appeal by the Utica Mutual Insurance Company from the decision of the Workmen’s Compensation Board dismissing a petition for termination of a compensation agreement.

[788]*788Edward Barr, employed by J. B. Fluke & Co., Inc., was injured in the Course of his employment Sept. 16, 1925, and died as a result thereof Oct. 3, 1925, leaving as dependents his widow, Eva Gertrude Barr, and Walter John Barr, five years of age and son of a former wife from whom he had been divorced. The Utica Mutual Insurance Company was the insurance carrier of the employer. The minor son is supported and maintained in the home of his maternal grandfather, W. C. Walker. A compensation agreement was entered into by the insurance carrier with the widow personally for payment of 299 weeks at $8 per week, or $2392, and with the minor son, through his grandfather, W. C. Walker, for payment at $2 per week from Oct. 5, 1925, to June 27, 1931, $595, and at $3 per week from June 28, 1931, to Aug. 8, 1935, $644.14, or a total sum to the minor son of $1242.14. This agreement, numbered 1872659, was approved by the board Dec. 11, 1925. Edward Barr lived one week after the injury and received compensation for that time. Payments under said agreement were made to the widow in the sum of $206, and payments for medical, hospital and burial expenses in the sum of $426, a total of $632. Payments were made to W. C. Walker for the minor child continuously to July 12, 1929, a total of $394.

The widow entered suit against the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the third person liable for the death of Edward Barr, and settled the same for $5000, out of which she paid attorneys’ fees of $1468 and refunded to the insurance carrier $632 for compensation and other items paid by her, leaving in her hands the net sum of $2900. In order to induce the widow to proceed with her settlement with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and allow her the net sum of $2900, the insurance carrier, appellant, agreed with her that her part of the agreement be terminated, and that instead of charging any part of said settlement to payments made and to future instalments to become payable to the minor child, payments were to be continued to him under the existing agreement until he should become sixteen years of age. A guardian, J. Austin Sullivan, Esq., was appointed by the Orphans’ Court of Blair County, who filed a bill in equity against the widow on Aug. 16, 1926, to recover from her the minor’s share of said $2900, and this action resulted in a settlement approved by the court Dec. 21, 1926, in which the widow paid to the guardian $1000. The decree of court in the settlement of the equity suit of the guardian against the widow provided that the payment to the guardian of said $1000 “shall not affect the right of said Walter John Barr receiving the compensation as was awarded him by the Workmen’s Compensation Board.” The appellant carrier was not made a party to said equity suit, neither was it given notice of the same, and when it learned of the said equity suit and the payment of $1000 by the widow to the guardian, it filed its petition with the compensation referee to terminate the agreement and to credit said $1000, less $200 attorneys’ fees, or $800, as an advance payment on account of future instalments of compensation. Answer was filed for the guardian of the minor and hearing had before Jacob Snyder, Esq., referee, who made an order dismissing the petition for want of jurisdiction. This order was later affirmed and appeal dismissed by the Workmen’s Compensation Board, whereupon the present appeal was taken to this court.

The question involved, as stated by appellant, is as follows: Should the net fund collected by the guardian of the minor as his share, out of the settlement for the death of the deceased employee, made with the third party responsible for the death, be credited as advanced payment of compensation?

Section 319 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1915 provides as follows:

[789]*789“Where a third person is liable to the employee or his dependents for the injury or death, the employer shall be subrogated to the right of the employee or the dependents against such third person, but only to the extent of the compensation payable under this article by the employer. Any recovery against such third person in excess of the compensation theretofore paid by the employer shall be paid forthwith to the employee or to the dependents and shall be treated as an advance payment by the employer on account of any future instalments of compensation.”

It is under this section that counsel for appellant contends that the employer (in this case the insurance carrier) has the right to demand subrogation on account of the compensation due the minor under the original agreement to the extent of $800, this being the amount his guardian has received from the $2900 paid by the third party, the wrongdoer. And with this contention we would be bound to agree if it were not for the fact that the evidence shows that the $2900 paid by the wrongdoer to the widow was for her exclusive personal use, and that while the suit against the Pennsylvania Railroad Company (as a result of which said sum was recovered) was originally instituted for the widow and the son, the settlement was made for the widow alone and with the clearly expressed understanding that said settlement was not in any wise to affect the payment to the minor son as provided for in the compensation agreement.

Mr. Max W. Dickey, who was assistant secretary of the Utica Mutual Insurance Company, appellant, and claims manager for the State of Pennsylvania, and who had personal supervision of the present case and personally represented appellant at the time Eva Gertrude Barr made settlement of her suit against the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, testified (page 29) as follows: “Q. Well, Mr. Dickey, when you made the agreement with Eva Gertrude Barr, whereby she released her compensation, except $206, and was allowed to receive the $2900 from the railroad company in settlement of the trespass case she had brought, you didn’t make any contention to her that your insurance company had any control over the money she received from the railroad company in settlement of that case? A. No; we had no control over that; that was her money.” And, again, on page 30, Mr. Dickey further testified: “A. We attempted negotiations to have the settlement protect our subrogation for both Mrs. Barr and the minor child.” Question by Mr. Nesbit: “Q. And then you made the concession of continuing the payments of the child to the guardian, the grandfather, for the purpose of allowing Mrs. Barr to get the $2900? A. That is correct.” And later, on the same page, question by Mr. Henderson: “Q. But, as you have testified, you had no control over the amount of money which Mrs. Barr received — that is, she could use it as she saw fit? A. If you mean after negotiations were all through, any sums of money that she received then were hers. We had no control after that point.” And on page 28, testimony of Mr. Dickey: “Q. Well, now, when you came to make the agreement, when Eva Gertrude Barr settled with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, you left in full force and effect that portion of the agreement between the insurance carrier and Mr. Walker, the grandfather of Walter John Barr, the original payment of compensation as contained in that agreement? A. Yes; have been continuing in this one agreement; no other agreement was ever entered into. Q. And it was understood that he should be paid these payments in full? A. Under certain circumstances. Q. Well, the circumstances you have already related — that Mrs.

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Bluebook (online)
14 Pa. D. & C. 787, 1930 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 368, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sullivan-v-j-b-fluke-co-pactcomplblair-1930.