Tipton v. Industrial Commission

734 P.2d 1036, 153 Ariz. 80, 1987 Ariz. App. LEXIS 366
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedJanuary 20, 1987
DocketNo. 1 CA-IC 3512
StatusPublished

This text of 734 P.2d 1036 (Tipton v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tipton v. Industrial Commission, 734 P.2d 1036, 153 Ariz. 80, 1987 Ariz. App. LEXIS 366 (Ark. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

HAIRE, Judge.

This is a special action review of an Industrial Commission award denying death benefits. Two issues are presented: (1) whether the Industrial Commission (Commission) had jurisdiction to adjudicate a widow’s claim for death benefits; and (2) whether reasonable medical evidence supports the conclusion that the employee’s death was unrelated to his industrial injury. Because we find that the Commission had jurisdiction and that reasonable medical evidence supports the award, we affirm the award.

On June 21, 1972, the employee suffered trauma to his head when a tornado demolished his workplace. The carrier accepted his compensation claim and subsequently closed it with a 10% permanent impairment. No permanent disability benefits were awarded.

In May 1975, the employee petitioned to reopen his claim. After a hearing, reopening was granted based on a finding “that at the time of the subject industrial injury the [employee] suffered organic brain damage, which has now resulted in an organic mental syndrome involving loss of mentation, double vision and ataxia, that this organic mental syndrome is directly related to the subject industrial injury.” This award also found that the employee was 70% impaired as a result of this condition. The employee subsequently was awarded permanent total disability benefits.

This disability status continued until the employee died on November 10, 1984. The State Compensation Fund (Fund) then issued a notice of claim status terminating disability benefits. This notice also specified that the employee died “from causes other than his industrial injury.” Attorney Bernard I. Rabinovitz, the authorized representative of the employee’s estate, requested a hearing and alleged that “Charlotte P. Tipton, widow, is entitled to death benefits for the reason that [the employee’s] death was related to his industrial injury/injuries.” Hearings were duly scheduled.

[82]*82The widow and three medical experts appeared at these hearings. We will discuss the substance of their testimony below. Regarding the jurisdictional issue, however, the following is relevant.

During the widow’s testimony, Attorney Rabinovitz responded to an objection by arguing that the widow “has a separate claim to her husband’s claim____ She has the right to present her own case.” In addition, the widow submitted a post-hearing memorandum “in support of her widow’s claim.” But after the administrative law judge entered his award denying death benefits, the widow for the first time filed a formal claim for widow’s benefits and also asserted on administrative review that the Commission lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate death benefits in this proceeding.

The administrative law judge summarily affirmed the award. This special action followed.

On review, the widow again challenges the Commission’s jurisdiction to adjudicate death benefits. She asserts that she protested the termination of her husband's benefits solely to avoid preclusion:

“[Bjecause [the Notice of Claim Status] went on to state that the [employee’s] death was not related to the industrial condition, Petitioner felt that it was necessary to protect her right to a Widow’s Claim to protest that Notice of Claim Status. The alternative would have been to allow the Notice of Claim Status to become final and then possibly face a res judicata argument later when she did file her Widow’s Claim.”

This assertion is factually unsupported. The Fund had the right to terminate disability benefits regardless of the cause of the employee’s death. See A.R.S. § 23-1045(B) (permanent total disability benefits “shall be paid during the life of the injured person.”) Yet the widow made no effort to. resolve administratively her alleged concern about preclusion. To the contrary, she unequivocally claimed death benefits in her own behalf in her hearing request, during the hearings, and in her post-hearing memorandum.

The widow contends that she must have filed a formal claim for death benefits before the Commission could obtain jurisdiction. We disagree.

The current statute requires a party entitled to death benefits to file a written claim with the Commission within a year after the right to benefits accrues. A.R.S. § 23-1061(A). The statute makes no other formal requirements.

“Neither § 23-1061 nor any othér statute within the Workmen’s Compensation Law establishes any particular form or requirements for an application for compensation____ In the absence of anything indicating either a broader or more restrictive meaning, ... [a claim] is simply an unequivocal, written manifestation of an intention to claim benefits for an injury compensable under the terms of the Workmen’s Compensation Law. An application need not ‘follow any particular form or language’.” McNatt v. Industrial Commission, 13 Ariz.App. 158, 160, 474 P.2d 1010, 1012 (1970) (citation omitted).

The authority on which the widow relies is consistent with McNatt. In Van Sickle v. Industrial Commission, for example, the employee had filed claims for two industrial injuries but had not filed a claim for a third injury. The court did not hold that a claim must meet certain formal requirements, as the widow urges, but instead merely held that the employee must file a claim pursuant to A.R.S. § 23-1061(A) for the Commission to obtain jurisdiction to adjudicate a claim for this third injury. Van Sickle v. Industrial Commission, 121 Ariz. 115, 117-18, 588 P.2d 857, 859-60 (App.1978). The authority cited in Van Sickle also involved failure to file any claim whatsoever. See Sun Control Tile Co. v. Industrial Commission, 117 Ariz. 268, 571 P.2d 1064 (App.1977); Young v. Industrial Commission, 19 Ariz.App. 304, 506 P.2d 1089 (1973).

In the present case, the widow unequivocally manifested in writing her intent to claim death benefits within one year of her husband’s death. She accordingly claimed benefits within the meaning of [83]*83A.R.S. § 23-1061(A). The Commission, therefore, had jurisdiction to adjudicate her claim for death benefits.

The policies behind the Workers’ Compensation Act support our determination to treat the request for hearing as a claim for widow’s benefits. Under similar circumstances, the legislature has recognized that the name given a document is not determinative of the effect the Commission should give it. Instead of relying solely on the name of the document, the administrative law judge may look to the substantive content of the document and treat it as the correct claim even though it is misnamed. Pursuant to A.R.S.

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Related

Pearce Development v. INDUS. COM'N OF ARIZONA
712 P.2d 429 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1985)
Sun Control Tile Co. v. Industrial Commission
571 P.2d 1064 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1977)
Young v. Industrial Commission
506 P.2d 1089 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1973)
Van Sickle v. Industrial Commission
588 P.2d 857 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1978)
State Compensation Fund v. Industrial Commission
535 P.2d 623 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1975)
McNatt v. Industrial Commission
474 P.2d 1010 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1970)
Soto v. Industrial Commission
500 P.2d 313 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1972)
Graver Tank & Manufacturing Co. v. Industrial Commission
395 P.2d 712 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1964)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
734 P.2d 1036, 153 Ariz. 80, 1987 Ariz. App. LEXIS 366, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tipton-v-industrial-commission-arizctapp-1987.