Bankers' Trust Co. of Detroit v. Tatti

• Decision Date: 06 June 1932
• Docket Number: No. 134.,134.
• Citation: 242 N.W. 777,258 Mich. 357
• Parties: BANKERS' TRUST CO. OF DETROIT v. TATTI et al.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

258 Mich. 357

242 N.W. 777

BANKERS' TRUST CO. OF DETROIT

v.TATTI et al.

No. 134.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

June 6, 1932.

Certiorari to Department of Labor and Industry.

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Law by the Bankers' Trust Company of Detroit, guardian of the estate of Pearl Scott, for compensation for death of Daniel Scott, opposed by Walter Tatti and others. To review an award of the Department of Labor and Industry denying compensation, the Bankers' Trust Company of Detroit, as guardian, brings certiorari.

Affirmed.

Argued before the Entire Bench.

Louis C. Miriani, of Detroit, for petitioner.

Edward A. Smith, of Detroit, for defendants.

CLARK, C. J.

This is review as upon certiorari of an award of the Department of Labor and Industry.

Daniel Scott died August 10, 1928, as a result of an accidental injury under the act (Comp. Laws 1915, § 5423 et seq., as amended). His mother, Annie Scott, made claim for compensation as a dependent. She had award, which was paid weekly until her death, April 5, 1930. On May 15, 1930, Bankers' Trust Company, as guardian of the estate of Pearl Scott, sister of deceased, applied for compensation as a dependent. In refusing compensation and sustaining the defense of statute of limitations, the commission said correctly:

‘Section 15, part 2 of the Workmen's Compensation Law, 2 Compiled Laws 1915, § 5445, as amended by Act No. 64, Public Acts 1919, reads in part as follows:

“No proceedings for compensation for an injury under this act shall be maintained, unless a notice of injury shall have been given to the employer within three months after the happening thereof, and unless the claim for compensation with respect to such injury, which claim may be either oral or in writing, shall have been made within six months after the occurrence of the same; or, in case of death of the employee, within six months after said death.'

‘The statute contains no exception in the case of minors or persons under any physical or mental incapacity, in the case of dependents. The statute is mandatory. It provides the employer is entitled to a notice of an injury to his employees, that a claim for compensation will be made within the time provided by the statute and in the case of dependents the statute makes no exception in favor of minors. If no claim has been made by or for Pearl Scott within six months of the date of the death of her brother, no compensation may be awarded her. It is contended by her counsel that the statute does not run against her as a minor. No exception has been made in the law in the case of minors as there is in the general statute of limitations. The general statute of limitations has no application to compensation proceedings, as such, before the commission. That statute applies only to actions in any of the courts of this state. The commission is not a court. It is an administrative body vested with various and important duties and powers, some of them quasi judicial in their nature. Mackin v. Detroit-Timkin Axle Company, 187 Mich. 8 . There is no saving clause in the statute of limitations contained in section 15, part 2 of the Workmen's Compensation Law as to the time when a notice of injury must be given to the employer and a claim made for compensation in the case of minors, as there is in the general sta...