Wesley v. Industrial Commission

209 P. 337, 60 Utah 415, 1922 Utah LEXIS 53
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 8, 1922
DocketNo. 3839
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 209 P. 337 (Wesley v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wesley v. Industrial Commission, 209 P. 337, 60 Utah 415, 1922 Utah LEXIS 53 (Utah 1922).

Opinion

FRICK, J.

Tbe plaintiff, hereinafter called applicant, pursuant to tbe provisions of our industrial act, commonly known as tbe Workmen’s Compensation Act (Comp. Laws 1917, §§ 3061-3165), made application to tbe Industrial Commission of Utab, hereinafter styled Commission, for compensation upon tbe grounds hereinafter stated. In her application she alleged that she was tbe “widow” of one Frank 0. Wesley, who was employed by tbe defendant Martin Coal Company, and that, as such employé, on tbe 13th day of August, 1921, in tbe course of bis employment, was injured, from tbe effects of which injury be, on tbe 20th day of that month, died. There was a bearing before tbe Commission upon tbe application at which considerable evidence was produced, to which reference will be made hereinafter in connection with tbe propositions to which tbe evidence relates.

Tbe Commission, after finding the jurisdictional facts, in substance found that said Wesley was injured in tbe course of his employment; that be died from tbe effects of such injury; that bis daily earnings amounted to $3.65, working seven days in each week; that prior to tbe death of said Wesley the applicant bad obtained a decree of divorce from him; that at the time of bis death she “was not living with or [417]*417dependent npon him in any way for ber maintenance and support. ’ ’ The Commission also found that said "Wesley left no dependents. Upon substantially the foregoing facts the Commission entered its conclusion of law that the applicant was not entitled to any compensation. The Commission, however, required the employer of said Wesley to reimburse the applicant in the sum of $150 “as reasonable funeral expenses. ’ ’

The applicant, in due time, made application to said Commission for a rehearing, which was denied. She then made application to this court for a writ of review, which was granted, and the matter has been duly argued and submitted to this court upon the record certified to this court by the Commission in response to the writ aforesaid.

Counsel for applicant urges that the Commission exceeded its powers or jurisdiction in its conclusion and decision. He also insists that some of the findings are not complete, and that others are not supported by the evidence. We shall not specifically refer to those matters, but shall discuss them in the course of the opinion.

At the hearing before the Commission a record of the proceedings had in the action commenced in the district court of Salt Lake county, wherein the applicant was plaintiff and said deceased was defendant,, was introduced in evidence, from which it was made to appear that both parties to said action more than one year prior to the commencement of the action had been, and then were, bona fide residents of Salt Lake county; that they intermarried in said county on the 25th day of February, 1915, and ever since said date, and at the time of the trial of said action, were husband and wife, and that there was no issue of said marriage; that for one year “last past the defendant has failed, neglected, and refused to provide the plaintiff with the common necessaries of life, although during said time the said defendant has been in the employ of a coal company and has been earning about $20 per week; that the plaintiff has a beneficial interest in the benefit certificate named in the amended complaint of the value of $1,000, and that the plaintiff is entitled to a reason[418]*418able sum as alimony, and that the sum of $1,000 is a reasonable sum to be allowed to .plaintiff as permanent alimony. * # #>> Pke eourt aiSo made the following conclusions of law, namely That the plaintiff is entitled to a decree “dissolving the bonds of matrimony heretofore existing between plaintiff and defendant”; that plaintiff is entitled to permanent alimony in the sum of $1,000, to be paid by the defendant as follows: $50 to be paid forthwith, and the balance in weekly payments at the rate of $5 per week — that the “plaintiff is entitled to a lien upon the benefit certificate” aforesaid “to secure the payment of said sum of $1,000,” etc.

The district court entered a decree in such action, in which, among other things, it is decreed that the bonds of matrimony existing between said parties be, and the same are, dissolved, and that “they are hereby freed and released from all the obligations thereof.” The court, after decreeing that plain= tiff have a lien upon said certificate of $1,000 for the payment of said alimony, and after enjoining the defendant from changing the beneficiary in said certificate, further decreed that, in the event of the death of defendant before said alimony is fully paid, “any sum which may be paid to plaintiff upon said certificate in excess of the balance then remaining unpaid upon said sum of $1,000 shall be applied, as far as necessary, to the payment of the expense of the funeral and last illness of the defendant, and of any debts he may owe.” The decree concludes as follows:

“It is specifically provided that this decree of divorce shall not become absolute until the expiration of six months from the date of its .entry, and upon the expiration of six months from the date of the entry hereof, unless proceedings for a review are pending, or the court, before the expiration of said period, for sufficient cause, upon its own motion, or upon the motion of any party, whether interested or not, otherwise orders, this decree shall become final and absolute.
“Done in open court this 2d day of June, A. D. 1920.

The applicant, at the hearing before the Commission, testified that she had received from the defendant as part payment of the alimony awarded to her in said decree, prior to his death, the sum of $230; that the sum of $1,000, the [419]*419amount specified in said benefit certificate, bad been paid to ber in full; and that she had paid the funeral expenses of the deceased, amounting to the sum of $228. She also claimed that she had paid some additional claims, but the amount so paid, if any, is not made clear. It also was made to appear that the employer of said deceased had paid all of the doctor’s fees, the cost of medicines, and the hospital expenses incurred by reason of the injury and death of the deceased. The Commission also ordered that the employer reimburse the plaintiff in the sum of $150 as funeral expenses.

The evidence therefore discloses these facts: (1) That an interlocutory decree of divorce was entered in the divorce proceedings in favor of the applicant more than 14 months prior to the death of the deceased, upon the ground that the' deceased had failed and neglected to support her; (2) that said decree, by virtue of our statute (Comp. Laws Utah 1917, § 3002), and by its own terms, had become absolute more than eight months prior to the injury and death of the deceased; (3) that the applicant was awarded the sum of $1,000 as permanent alimony, and was given a lien upon the $1,000 benefit certificate hereinbefore mentioned; (4) that before the injury and death of the deceased he paid the applicant the sum of $230 to be applied upon the alimony aforesaid; (5) that, in addition to said $230, the applicant, after the death of the deceased, had received the sum of $1,000 as payment of said benefit certificate, as provided in the decree of divorce, and in addition to that was allowed $150 as funeral expenses. She has thus received, including the said $150, the sum of $1,380, or $380 in excess of the amount allowed her as permanent alimony.

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Related

Utah Fuel Co. v. Industrial Commission
245 P. 381 (Utah Supreme Court, 1926)

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Bluebook (online)
209 P. 337, 60 Utah 415, 1922 Utah LEXIS 53, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wesley-v-industrial-commission-utah-1922.