Buchanan v. Mitchell County
| Decision Date | 07 November 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 7710IC1002,7710IC1002 |
| Citation | 38 N.C.App. 596,248 S.E.2d 399 |
| Court | North Carolina Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Kenneth R. BUCHANAN, Employee-Plaintiff, v. MITCHELL COUNTY of North Carolina, Employer, Hartford Accident & Indemnity Carrier. |
Teague, Johnson, Patterson, Dilthey & Clay, by C. Woodrow Teague and George W. Dennis, III, Raleigh, for defendants-appellants.
Pritchard, Hise & Peterson, by Lloyd Hise, Jr., Spruce Pine, for plaintiff-appellee.
An agreement between the employer and workmen's compensation carrier and the employee for the payment of compensation benefits, when approved by the Industrial Commission, is binding on the parties thereto. Pruitt v. Knight Publishing Co., 289 N.C. 254, 221 S.E.2d 355 (1976); Neal v. Clary, 259 N.C. 163, 130 S.E.2d 39 (1963). Such an agreement, however, may be set aside when "there has been error due to fraud, misrepresentation, undue influence or mutual mistake." G.S. § 97-17.
The Commission correctly treated defendants' request to be allowed to discontinue compensation payments to plaintiff as a motion to set aside the agreement on I.C Form 21 dated 5 January 1976 for the payment of compensation benefits. There is no allegation that the agreement to pay compensation was entered into through "fraud, misrepresentation, (or) undue influence." Consequently, the sole issue before the Commission was whether the agreement to pay compensation was entered into as a result of "mutual mistake."
By their first assignment of error, based on exceptions 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 14, defendants contend that the Commission erred "in failing to find as a fact and conclude as a matter of law that the plaintiff-appellee was intoxicated at the time of his injury by accident, that the intoxicants consumed by the plaintiff-appellee were not supplied by his employer, that said intoxication was the proximate cause of his injury, and that plaintiff-appellee's claim for workmen's compensation benefits should be denied."
We note at the outset that the exceptions upon which this assignment of error is based relate primarily to the conclusions of law and the award and bear little or no relation to the Industrial Commission's failure to find facts. The issue before the Commission was whether the agreement to pay compensation was entered into as a result of "mutual mistake;" it was not whether the employee was intoxicated at the time of his injury. Thus, there was no necessity for the commission to make any findings of fact with respect to the employee's intoxication at the time of the accident or for the Commission to draw any conclusions based on such findings. This assignment of error has no merit.
By their second assignment of error, based on exceptions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13 and 14, defendants contend the Industrial Commission erred "in awarding workmen's compensation benefits to the plaintiff-appellee and in ordering the defendants-appellants to pay the same, and erred in failing to find as a fact and conclude as a matter of law that the agreement for compensation of January 5, 1976 was entered into through mutual mistake and should be set aside." Exceptions...
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...its findings of fact and whether the findings of fact justify its legal conclusions and decision." Buchanan v. Mitchell County, 38 N.C. App. 596, 599, 248 S.E.2d 399, 401 (1978), disc. review denied, 296 N.C. 583, 254 S.E.2d 35-36 (1979) (citing Inscoe v. Industries, Inc., 292 N.C. 210, 232......
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Sperry v. Koury Corporpation, No. CO A09-391 (N.C. App. 1/19/2010), CO A09-391.
... ... of fact and whether the findings of fact justify its legal conclusions and decision." Buchanan v. Mitchell County, 38 N.C ... App. 596, 599, 248 S.E.2d 399, 401 (1978), cert. denied, 296 ... ...
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Pope v. Manville, No. COA09-281 (N.C. App. 1/19/2010)
...described above provides sufficient support for the Commission's determination that Plaintiff suffered from asbestosis. Buchanan, 38 N.C. App. at 599, 248 S.E.2d at 401; see also Richardson v. Maxim Healthcare/Allegis Grp., 362 N.C. 657, 664, 669 S.E.2d 582, 587 (2008) (stating that "[b]eca......
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Morrison v. Public Service Co. of N.C.
...of compensation benefits, when approved by the Industrial Commission, is binding on the parties thereto." Buchanan v. Mitchell County, 38 N.C.App. 596, 598, 248 S.E.2d 399, 400 (1978). "In approving a settlement agreement the Industrial Commission acts in a judicial capacity and the settlem......