Insurance Co. of North America v. Jewel
Insurance Co. of North America v. Jewel
Opinion of the Court
The sole question here is whether a claimant, who entered into a ceremonial marriage with the employee when claimant had a living husband and the employee a living wife, although claimant did not know the employee had such wife at the time of the ceremonial 'marriage to the employee, but discovered this fact a month later and continued to live with the employee, is entitled to an award as a dependent under the Workmen’s Compensation Act. Code § 114-414, after clarifying and providing for priority as to certain dependent members of the family of the deceased employee, says: “In all other cases, questions of dependency, in whole or in part, shall be determined in accordance with the facts at the time of the accident.”
There are a variety of cases from other states which have similar statutory provisions.
In cases where the claimant has in good faith entered into the ceremonial 'marriage with the employee, the courts have generally held the claimant to be entitled to an award based on dependency. Eason v. Alexander Shipyards, Inc. (La. App.) 47 S2d 114; Freeman v. Fowler Packing Co., 135 Kan. 378 (11 P2d 276); Perry v. Sun Coal Co., 183 Tenn. 141
The case of Zachery v. Royal Indem. Co., 80 Ga. App. 659 (56 SE2d 812), upon which one of the dissents is based, decides a question not reached in the majority opinion here, and therefore affords no basis for dissent. In that case, it was merely held that where one entitled to a prior claim of compensation, as a dependent, a widow, waives her claim to compensation, then a beneficiary secondarily entitled thereto may recover. With this decision, we have no dispute. What we decide here is that the claimant is not one secondarily entitled or otherwise entitled as a dependent. Whether, if she be so entitled, she could recover, is not the question before the court, nor is any decision made thereon.
Accordingly, the trial court erred in affirming the award of the State Board of Workmen’s Compensation granting the claim
Where, as in the present case, the notice of appeal describes a judgment appealed from as “an order of the Superior Court of Oconee County, Georgia, dated and entered February 6, 1968, said order affirming the award of the full board of the State Board of Workmen’s Compensation dated November 19, 1965,” and there is a judgment in the record answering such description except that, though dated February 6, 1968, it was not entered until February 8, 1968, such description is a sufficient “concise statement of the judgment, ruling or order entitling the appellant to take an appeal,” and sufficiently identifies the order appealed from to meet the requirements of Section 4 of the Appellate Practice Act of 1965 as amended (Ga. L. 1965, pp. 18, 20; Ga. L. 1966, pp. 493, 495; Code Ann. § 6-802). Langdale Co. v. Day, 115 Ga. App. 30 (153 SE2d 671). The decisions in Olson v. Austin Enterprises, 116 Ga. App. 197 (156 SE2d 655); Hardnett v. U. S. Fidel. &c. Co., 116 Ga. App. 732 (158 SE2d 303); Walker v. Walker, 222 Ga. 521 (150 SE2d 635); Bowers v. Gill, 222 Ga. 529 (150 SE2d 653) do not require a different ruling. Accordingly, the motion to dismiss the appeal is denied.
Judgment reversed.
Concurring Opinion
concurring specially. While there may be merit in the views of Judges Jordan and Hall as to the proper interpretation of the Compensation Act on the matter of dependency, I do not see how we can reach the result they do under the facts of this case so long as Reese v. American Mut. Liab. Ins. Co., 67 Ga. App. 420 (3) (20 SE2d 773) stands. We are bound by it. And in Maryland Cas. Co. v. Campbell, 34 Ga. App. 311
The case of St. Paul-Mercury Indem. Co. v. Robinson, 88 Ga. App. 217 (76 SE2d 512) may appear to be in conflict with it, but the other cases are older; further, as the majority point out, there is language in the opinion indicating that the holding was not intended to be in conflict with the prior cases.
Moreover, even if Reese were overruled and the interpretation urged by Judges Jordan and Hall adopted, a reversal must still result. The finding of the board was of total dependency and the award was made accordingly. This is unsupported in the record. Claimant testified that she worked, that from the time of her purported marriage with the deceased she earned $15 per week and that, pooling their earnings, they just “split the cost of living.” Thus, a finding of total dependency was unauthorized, and the award was improper. See Maryland Cas Co. v. Bess, 33 Ga. App. 798 (127 SE 828), where there was a finding of partial dependency and an apportioned award based upon the extent of the dependency was made. If an award based upon total dependency is to be permitted when partial depen
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Bell and Judge Deen join in this special concurrence.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. In my opinion the case of Zachery v. Royal Indem. Co., 80 Ga. App. 659 (56 SE2d 812), is controlling, and 'under the ruling therein made the trial court did not err in affirming the award of the full board granting compensation to the claimant.
It was stipulated by the parties that the only question for determination by the board was that of the dependency of the claimant. The board made a finding that such dependency existed, and there is sufficient evidence to support this finding. The board further found that no claim was filed by the “legal” widow of the deceased within the statutory period of one year, and therefore her claim for any benefits to which she might have been entitled would be barred. Under these conditions, where the widow has waived her right to benefits by failing to file a claim within the period of limitation, the claimant became a beneficiary secondarily entitled to recover by reason of dependency not related to kinship but established by facts and circumstances. Code § 114-414.
As was stated, in Zachery, supra, “Upon the death of the employee, the liability of the employer becomes fixed and he is bound to pay the death benefits under the Act. If the beneficiary primarily entitled thereto waives compensation, beneficiaries secondarily entitled thereto may recover.”
The judgment of the trial court affirming the award of compensation should be affirmed.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. The Workmen’s Compensation Act was not enacted for the purpose of preserving chastity, but “to alleviate human suffering and to contribute to human need when accidental injury is suffered in the manner prescribed by the statute.” Lumbermen’s Mutual Cas. Co. v. Griggs, 190 Ga. 277, 288 (9 SE2d 84). An actual dependent is a dependent in the same way a rose is a rose. The question here is not whether the claimant is given a right by the Workmen’s Compensation Act (the evidence supports the award), but rather whether
There is no provision under the Act which states that a claimant forfeits his or her rights under the Act for violating sex laws, drug laws, alcoholic beverage laws, traffic laws, gambling laws, etc. On the contrary, the Act must be liberally construed in favor of the claimant. Neither the board nor the courts are empowered under the Act to go on a puritanical witch hunt with the avowed purpose of scouring the claimant’s so-called unclean hands. Both should confine the inquiry to the question of actual dependency under the Act and should not go looking under or into the claimant’s bed.
The award is not based upon any finding of conclusive dependency (that of a wife) but upon actual dependency. The evidence clearly supports this finding and a reversal grounded upon the claimant’s so-called morals, casts this court into the role of Keystone Cops.
In my opinion the trial court properly affirmed the award of the board granting the claimant compensation under the Act based on her actual dependency upon the deceased employee.
Reference
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- INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA Et Al. v. JEWEL
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