Industrial Commission v. Dell
Industrial Commission v. Dell
Opinion of the Court
For convenience the parties hereto will be referred to by their Christian names, Sarah being the wife of the first marriage and Maggie the wife of the second marriage.
This error proceeding presents three legaL questions for determination:
1. Did the industrial commission have authority to revoke the award which was made to Maggie in October, 1917, and suspend the unpaid installments of the award theretofore made?
2. What are the respective and relative lights of Maggie and Sarah as between themselves?
3. Has the executrix of Sarah the right to prosecute her claim, no award having been made to her by the commission and no judgment having been rendered in her favor on appeal during her lifetime?
These questions will be discussed in the order above enumerated.
The first question depends primarily upon statutory provisions. A claim was regularly made for an award by Maggie shortly after the death of Hiram Plumsteel, and the claim was allowed in October, 1917, and some installments paid thereon. The claim was allowed on the theory that Maggie was the
The continuing jurisdiction of the commission is further recognized in Section 1465-90, wherein provision is made for appeal from certain orders of the commission to the court of common pleas, it being provided that appeal may be made from the final action of the commission denying the right of the claimant to participate at all or to continue to participate in the fund on certain grounds including “any other ground going to the basis of the claimant’s right.”
When Section 1465-86 was enacted Section 1465-90 was also enacted, but the latter section did not originally include the right to appeal from an order denying the right to “continue to participate” in the fund. Surely the question whether the claimant is in fact a dependent goes “to the basis of the claimant’s right,” and if this is one of the orders from which an appeal may be taken it necessarily follows that the commission is empowered tp make orders denying the,right.of a claimant to continue to participate in the fund upon grounds going to the
We are not unmindful that the foregoing construction of Section 1465-86 runs counter to the former decision of this court as declared in the case of State, ex rel. Munding, Auditor, v. Industrial Commission, 92 Ohio St., 434, and without attempting to review the opinion in that case it may be said that there was perhaps more justification for the judgment of the court in that case at that time than there would be at the present time. At the time that case was decided, in 1915, no provision was made for an appeal from the final action of the commission denying the right of a claimant to continue to participate in the fund. After that decision, in March, 1917, Section 1465-90, General Code, was amended to give the right of appeal from such orders. There can therefore be no reason for drawing any distinction or making any classification of findings or orders concerning the power of the commission to modify or change. Even without the express provisions of the statute, the commission might very well be held to have inherent right to revoke an order where it was clear that the order had been obtained by imposition or upon a showing of facts which were later found not to exist.' The commission should be held to have inherent power to prevent the misappropriation or the misapplication of the insurance fund to claimants who are afterwards found not to be en
In any of these supposed cases, or in hundreds of other cases which might easily occur, should the ae
The power of the commission to set aside an award is found in Section 1465-86, and the language there employed is general. If its order can be set aside in case of fraud, it can also be set aside where its order was wrong, even though no fraud was practiced, and conversely if it cannot be set aside in cases where it has been discovered that an honest mistake was made, then it cannot be set aside in case of fraud.
Further justification of the conclusions we have reached is found in the fact that throughout the industrial commission act its purpose is declared to be for the protection of dependents of killed employes and not for persons who are merely dependents upon dependents. It further appears throughout the act that while money already paid cannot be recovered back, nevertheless the fund is protected for the real dependents until payment is made. This is indicated by the provisions of Section 1465-88, which protects the award from claims of creditors and from attachment or execution and requires that payment shall only be made to employes or their dependents. This indication finds further support in the last paragraph of Section 1465-83, where it is provided that in all cases of death from causes other than the injury for which award had theretofore been made on account of temporary, or permanent partial, or total disability, in which there remains an unpaid balance, representing payments accrued and due decedent at the time of his death, the commission may in its discretion award such unpaid balance to “dependents of the decedent.”
Let us next inquire concerning the respective and relative rights of these two unfortunate women. It has been argued with much force, supported by much authority, that a presumption should be. indulged of the validity of the second marriage, and that , even thqugh conceding there was a former valid marriage .the burden will be imposed upon the wife of the first marriage, and especially so, when, as in , the case at bar, it is. clearly shown that the first wife is living, to overcome tbe presumption that a divorce was obtained before contracting'the second, marriage. Many authorities have been .cited in support of this principie,, and it. may be conceded that by far the larger number of authorities so hold. Many authorities have been cited which if they should be followed
We are not, however, content to decide so important a proposition upon precedent alone. This court is not bound by the decisions of the courts of other states, or even by the former decisions of this court, unless the declarations of principles in such former adjudicated cases commend themselves by their essential soundness. There is of course a presumption that any marriage which has been solemnized in accordance with the laws of the jurisdiction where the ceremony is performed is valid. There is also a presumption that any marriage which has been properly and legally solemnized, and the status of the parties which has been thereby fixed and determined, shall continue until terminated by death, or by the decree of some court of competent jurisdiction having both parties before it by due process of law. If both of these presumptions could be indulged without either doing any harm to the other, it would be the best solution of the problem, but unfortunately in order for one presumption to be indulged it is necessary in many instances that the other must be violated. It has been said that to indulge the presumption of the continued existence of the former marriage would place upon the second wife the bur
It would seem that the latter negative would be the more difficult to prove. This record shows that Plumsteel traveled all over the world, and divorce proceedings are recognized in every state in the Union except South Carolina, and in many of them constructive service is rather loosely safeguarded. In order for the first Avife to affirmatively disprove the existence of a divorce, she would have to investigate the court records in all of the counties of forty-four states of the Union. But let us suppose that Plumsteel had obtained a decree of divorce in any state other than New York, the last domicile of the marriage having been in New York state a divorce obtained by constructive service in any other state would have no validity. This has been decided in the case of Haddock v. Haddock, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep., 525 (201 U. S., 562). In that case it was held in a five to four decision that “the mere domicile within the. state of one party to the marriage does not give the courts of that state jurisdiction to render a decree of divorce enforceable in all the other states by virtue of the full faith and credit clause of the Federal Constitution against a iion-resident who did not appear and was only constructively served with notice of the pendency of the action.” ,
The domicile of the marriage was in New York state. The husband obtained a residence in Con
We are not entirely without authority on this subject in Ohio. In the case of Evans v. Reynolds, 32 Ohio St., 163, it was held that a marriage solemniz
The violations of marriage contracts have become so common, and obtaining a decree of divorce has become so easy and frequent, that some courts have evidently mistaken certain loose notions on the subject for sound legal principles. To follow the trend of the numerous authorities in other states would only further augment the much-discussed divorce evil. One of the chief causes of the frequency of divorce is the fact that marriages are contracted in haste, and it does not seem consonant with modern conditions on that subject to encourage .marriage between comparative strangers without any inquiry by either into the past life or antecedents of the
Finally, it must be determined whether, the first wife is a dependent within the true meaning of Section 1465-82, and whether an award can be made to her estate, she having died before the cause was heard upon appeal in the court of common pleas. Our attention has been called to many authorities, English and American, as to what constitutes a dependent. It will be found, however, that the statutory provisions differ in all jurisdictions, and it will be further found that there is not as much uniformity as might be desired in the decisions where the statutory provisions are substantially the same. We think the question of dependency can be determined by examination of the provisions of the statute without reference to other adjudicated cases.
The section above referred to provides that the following persons shall be presumed to be wholly dependent for support upon a deceased employe: “ (A) A wife upon a husband Avith whom she lives at the time of his death.” Clearly Sarah Plumsteel was not living with her husband at the time of his death, nor for fourteen years prior thereto. She bad been receiving no support from him for four or five years. It must be conceded therefore that she is not properly classed as a person wholly dependent. The same section further provides: “In all other cases, the question of dependency, in whole or in part, shall be determined in accordance \rith the facts in each particular case existing at the time of the injury resulting in the death of such employe, but no person shall be considered as dependent un
We have already found that Sarah Plumsteel was the widow, and must therefore have been a member of his family, even though he had forsaken her many years before, and even though he had neglected the natural and legal obligations he owed her. Under such circumstances it is urged that she should not be adjudged a dependent unless she was in fact receiving support from him. Upon no principle of law, reason or common sense can such a position be maintained. Dependency rests upon an obligation of support and not upon the question as to whether that obligation is being discharged. To hold that a recreant husband can relieve himself of such an obligation by his mere defiant refusal to discharge the obligation would be to permit a person to take advantage of his own wrongdoing. It is not a question of how well he fulfilled his legal obligations, or how faithful he was in fact in the performance of those promises of support which are a part of the marriage contract and which are supplemented by elaborate statutory provisions clearly defining his duty to support and maintain his wife in so far as he is able to do so; the question is, Was there a duty on his part and has anything occurred to relieve him of that duty?
The marriage contract, supplemented by statutory enactments, clearly created the duty, and he cannot relieve himself therefrom by his own acts any more than a man can lift himself clear of the ground by tugging at his boot straps. He can only
This conclusion is in harmony with the spirit of the case of Industrial Commission v. Drake, 103 Ohio St., 628, recently decided by this court, in which a son was held to be a partial dependent of his father, who was not in fact discharging his obligation of support in a lawful way. Under the language of Section 1465-82, General Code, Sarah Plumsteel must be held to have been a partial dependent and therefore entitled to have the question of the value of her dependency determined in accordance with the facts of this particular case existing at the time of the death of Hiram Plumsteel. Inasmuch as she has deceased before that matter has been adjudicated, it becomes a very simple proposition. Under paragraph 3 of Section 1465-82 she should be awarded two-thirds of his average weekly wages, and it should continue from the time of his death to the time of her death. This is clearly in accordance with the facts of this case, and no other conclusion could be in accordance with the facts>, because it appears that all further compensation has already been paid.
It is urged, however, that no award can be made in this case in favor of the estate, because when this matter comes on for determination in the court of common pleas it will appear that there are no dependents at the time of the hearing, and we are cited to the case of Doyle, Admx., v. B. & O. Rd. Co., 81 Ohio St., 184, in support of that contention. That case, however, was prosecuted under favor of Section 10770, General Code, the provisions of which
The judgment of this court is therefore that the judgment of the court of appeals be affirmed and this cause be remanded to the court of common pleas of Franklin county, for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.