Aurora Casket Co. v. Ropers

• Decision Date: 03 December 1947
• Docket Number: 17625.
• Parties: AURORA CASKET CO. v. ROPERS.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

75 N.E.2d 680

117 Ind.App. 684

AURORA CASKET CO. v. ROPERS.

No. 17625.

Appellate Court of Indiana, in Banc.

December 3, 1947

Appeal from Industrial Board.

James L. Murray, of Indianapolis, for appellant.

James T. Hooper, Sr., of Lawrenceburg, for appellee.

BOWEN Presiding Judge.

This is an appeal from an award of the full Industrial Board of Indiana granting appellee, the guardian of Emma Laaker incompetent, who was the widow of decedent, Walter H. Laaker compensation for the death of the said Walter H. Laaker, who was an employee of appellant at the time of his death.

The facts are not disputed. The decedent received fatal injuries resulting from an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment for appellant on the 23rd day of March 1945. He left surviving him his widow, Emma Laaker, who had been committed approximately eight years before decedent's death to the Madison State Hospital for the Insane under an order of the Dearborn Circuit Court, and has ever since been a patient at such hospital. Her mind has gradually degenerated, and according to the evidence she will in all probability be an inmate of such institution for life. Prior to her commitment by the Dearborn Circuit Court to the Madison State Hospital, she was supported and maintained by decedent and was wholly dependent upon him. Since her commitment to such hospital, the decedent had contributed the sum of $15 cash for her necessities and has further contributed an annual average of $44.50 for her use, and since the year 1937, he has made no other contributions of any character for her maintenance and support.

The majority of the full Board found that decedent's widow, Emma Laaker, was wholly dependent upon him for her support at the time of his death, and awarded her guardian full compensation at the rate of $15.56 for 300 weeks, or until terminated under the provisions of the Indiana Workmen's Compensation Act. There was a dissent by one member of the Industrial Board on the ground that decedent's legal obligation to support his wife, Emma Laaker, was modified by her commitment to the Madison State Hospital by the Dearborn Circuit Court, and that thereafter she became a partial dependent.

The appellant appeals to this court on the statutory ground that the award of the full Industrial Board is contrary to law.

The single question involved in this appeal is whether the commitment of a dependent wife to the state hospital for the insane modifies the obligation for her support by her husband under the Workmen's Compensation Act and the law of this State thereby making her only partially dependent as contended by appellant.

The appellant contends that under §§ 22-401 and 22-1201, Burns' Ann.Stat.1933, as amended, upon the wife's commitment to the state hospital for the insane, the extent of the dependency of appellee's ward upon her deceased husband was $5 per week, which was also the conclusion of the dissenting member of the Industrial Board.

The Workmen's Compensation Statute, § 40-1403, provides, in part, that the following persons shall be conclusively presumed to be wholly dependent for support upon a deceased employee: (a) A wife upon a husband with whom she is living at the time of his death, or upon whom the laws of the state impose the obligation of her support at such time.

It is the contention of appellant that under the statutes and the decisions of the Indiana courts, that a husband is relieved of his common law and statutory duty to support his wife if she is committed to the state insane hospital, and that upon such commitment, she ceases to be a presumptive dependent under the aforementioned statute.

One of the most basic duties and fundamental obligations of mankind recognized by the law is a man's obligation to support his wife. This obligation arises out of the marital relationship. The failure to meet such obligation is universally made punishable as a crime. Because of the high recognition accorded this fundamental duty in the common law and by statute, courts are bound to strictly construe statutes which purport to relieve a husband from such duty. Burns' Indiana Ann.Stat. (1943), § 10-1401; Lyons v. Schanbacher, 1925, 316 Ill. 569, 147 N.E. 440, citing R.C.L.; H. G. Goelitz Co. v. Industrial Board, 1917, 278 Ill. 164, 115 N.E. 855; Martilla v. Quincy Mining Co., 1923, 221 Mich. 525, 191 N.W. 193, 30 A.L.R. 1249; Ott v. Hentall, 1899, 70 N.H. 231, 47 A. 80, 51 L.R.A. 226; Watson v. Watson, 1906, 37 Ind.App. 548, 77 N.E. 355; American Jurisprudence, Vol. 26, §§ 337, 338, pp. 934, 935.

The statutes relied upon by appellant as limiting a husband's liability to support a wife who is confined in a state hospital for the insane, §§ 22-401, 22-1201, Burns' Ind.Ann.Stat., supra, merely provide a means of reimbursement to the state out of the estate of a person confined at the state hospital for the insane. This statute did not expressly provide that such provision should relieve the husband for liability of support under such circumstances, nor can we read such intention of the legislature into such statute by implication. Also, our legislation in enacting statutes on the subject of divorce has provided for the continuing support of a party who has suffered a mental disease. Section 3-1201, Burns' Ind.Ann.Stat., 1933.

The construction of the Workmen's Compensation State sought by appellant to the effect that in the case of a wife confined in the state hospital for the insane, the laws of the state thereafter would...