C & R Contractors v. Wagner

• Decision Date: 01 September 1992
• Docket Number: No. 113,113
• Citation: 614 A.2d 1035,93 Md.App. 801
• Parties: C & R CONTRACTORS et al. v. Robert A. WAGNER. ,
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Page 801

93 Md.App. 801

614 A.2d 1035

C & R CONTRACTORS et al. v. Robert A. WAGNER.

No. 113, Sept. Term, 1992.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

Oct. 30, 1992.

Howard P. Miller (Dirska & Levin, on the brief), Columbia, for appellants.

Dennis F. O'Brien (White, Mindel, Clarke & Foard, on the brief), Towson, for appellee.

Argued before ALPERT, WENNER and CATHELL, JJ.

CATHELL, Judge.

Appellee, Robert A. Wagner, was awarded a lump-sum payment of $60,000 by the Workers' Compensation Commission on April 19, 1991, pursuant to Article 101, section 49 of the Maryland Annotated Code (1985) (repealed and reenacted 1991). ¹ The award was subsequently affirmed by the Circuit Court for Baltimore County. A timely appeal was noted by appellant, C & R Contractors. The appellant alleges here:

I. The trial court erred in finding that the Workers' Compensation Commission did not abuse its discretion by awarding the claimant a lump sum for sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) for reasons that were not either a business or living necessity and which would reduce his weekly benefits to an unacceptably low amount.

II. The trial court erred in finding that the Workers' Compensation Commission had the legal authority and/or jurisdiction to award a lump sum payment for sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) to a claimant found to be permanently totally disabled when the initial forty five thousand dollars ($45,000) had not been paid.

III. The circuit court erred in denying the appellants' motion for summary judgment.

Facts

Appellee was injured on January 8, 1980. After first receiving temporary total disability and vocational rehabilitation, he was ultimately found to be permanently totally disabled and awarded benefits at the rate of $106 per week. Thereafter, pursuant to the provisions of section 49, he requested and was awarded a lump-sum payment in the amount of $60,000. ²

During the proceedings for the requested lump-sum payment, the appellee primarily proffered that a lump sum was required to facilitate the purchase of a $159,000 house. He proffered that the house was necessary because he had been living with his wife and two children in a house with his parents. This living arrangement, according to appellee, forced him and his wife to sleep in the same room with their children separated only by a partition. ³ He also stated that he wanted to buy a house in order to build equity for his wife in case he died, given that he could not procure life insurance. Additionally, the lump-sum award was to be used to pay off his debts. As we have said, the Commission ultimately awarded a lump-sum payment that was later affirmed on appeal by the circuit court. We shall first address appellant's second issue.

II.

Did the trial court err in finding that the Workers' Compensation Commission had the legal authority and/or jurisdiction to award a lump-sum payment for sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) in a permanent total disability case where the initial forty five thousand dollars ($45,000) had not been paid?

Appellant argues that "a lump sum may not be granted for a sum which exceeds the compensation benefits awarded to the Claimant and allowed by law." In support of this contention, appellant cites to section 36(1)(a) of Article 101 ⁴ which states that payments under that section cannot exceed $45,000. That section, however, also provides that if total disability shall continue after a total of $45,000 has been paid, then "further weekly payments ... shall be paid to him during such disability." Md.Ann.Code art. 101, § 36 (1985) (repealed and reenacted 1991). It is the interplay of these two provisions that gives rise to the question raised by appellant. To resolve the question, we must determine the result of this intrasectional interaction.

In State v. Bricker, 321 Md. 86, 92-93, 581 A.2d 9 (1990), the Court of Appeals recently reviewed the standards of statutory construction, saying:

When interpreting a statute, the starting point is the wording of the relevant provisions. If "the language in question [is] so clearly consistent with apparent purpose (and not productive of any absurd result) ... further research [is] unnecessary." ... Resultant conclusions are to be reasonable, logical and consistent with common sense.

When several statutes are in pari materia, any interpretation must be made with full awareness of all the relevant enactments. It is presumed that the General Assembly acted with full knowledge of prior legislation and intended statutes that affect the same subject matter to blend into a consistent and harmonious body of law. Therefore, various consistent and related enactments, although made at different times and without reference to one another, nevertheless should be harmonized as much as possible. [Citations omitted, emphasis added, bracketed material in original.]

See Richmond v. State, 326 Md. 257, 262, 604 A.2d 483 (1992) ("[W]e approach the analysis ... from a 'commonsensical,' ... perspective....") (citations omitted); Crawford v. Leahy, 326 Md. 160, 166, 604 A.2d 73 (1992); Ball v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., 325 Md. 652, 656, 602 A.2d 1176 (1992); Stambaugh v. Child Support Enforcement Admin., 323 Md. 106, 110, 591 A.2d 501 (1991); Privette v. State, 320 Md. 738, 744, 580 A.2d 188 (1990); Cunningham v. State, 318 Md. 182, 185, 567 A.2d 126 (1989); NCR Corp. v. Comptroller of the Treasury, 313 Md. 118, 125, 544 A.2d 764 (1988) ("[L]egislative history may help to provide the appropriate context."); Heileman Brewing Co. v. Stroh Brewery Co., 308 Md. 746, 754, 521 A.2d 1225 (1987); Vallario v. State Rds. Comm'n, 290 Md. 2, 6, 426 A.2d 1384 (1981).

In Swarthmore Co. v. Kaestner, 258 Md. 517, 527, 266 A.2d 341 (1970), the Court of Appeals said: "We should not presume that the legislative body intended to enact an ineffective and invalid law." See Bright v. Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund Bd., 275 Md. 165, 169, 338 A.2d 248 (1975) ("This is true ... even if ... the policy or impact of the legislation is unwise or harsh."); Cox v. Prince George's County, 86 Md.App. 179, 190, 586 A.2d 43 (1991) ("The cardinal rule of statutory construction is to ascertain and effectuate the intention of the Legislature.") (emphasis added); Berdych v. Dep't of Employment and Training, 69 Md.App. 484, 493, 518 A.2d 462 (1986) ("A court's function is to interpret the statute and not to rewrite it to mitigate its possible harsh consequences.); Kline v. Fuller, 56 Md.App. 294, 309, 467 A.2d 786 (1983); Brown v. Hornbeck, 54 Md.App. 404, 408, 458 A.2d 900 (1983), cert. denied, 297 Md. 108 (1983). See also Tucker v. Fireman's Fund Ins. Co., 308 Md. 69, 75, 517 A.2d 730 (1986); Coerper v. Comptroller of the Treasury, 265 Md. 3, 6, 288 A.2d 187 (1972); Pan American Sulphur Co. v. State Dep't of Assessments and Taxation, 251 Md. 620, 627, 248 A.2d 354 (1968); Woodmont Country Club, Inc. v. Montgomery County, 61 Md.App. 229, 236, 486 A.2d 218 (1985). We said in Consolidated Rail Corp. v. State, 87 Md.App. 287, 292-93, 589 A.2d 569 (1991): "[A] court should neither resort to subtle or forced interpretations for the purpose of extending or limiting the operation of the statute...." (Citations omitted.)

In Victor v. Proctor & Gamble Mfg. Co., 318 Md. 624, 627-28, 569 A.2d 697 (1990), the Court of Appeals reiterated the purpose of the worker's compensation statute: "We have not addressed this issue before, and, to resolve it, we rely on the language of the statute in the context of the goals and objectives it seeks to achieve." (Citations omitted.) It noted that:

The Workman's Compensation Act was passed to promote the general welfare of the State and to prevent the State and its taxpayers from having to care for injured workmen and their dependents, when under the law as it previously existed, such workmen could not recover damages for their injuries.

Id. at 628, 569 A.2d 697 (quoting Paul v. Glidden Co., 184 Md. 114, 119, 39 A.2d 544 (1944)) (emphasis added). The Court further opined:

The short of it is that the Act

should be construed as liberally in favor of injured employees as its provisions will permit in order to effectuate its benevolent purposes. Any uncertainty in the law should be resolved in favor of the claimant.

Victor, 318 Md. at 629, 569 A.2d 697 (quoting Howard County Ass'n for Retarded Citizens, Inc. v. Walls, 288 Md. 526, 530, 418 A.2d 1210 (1980)). It then emphasized that the act's general purpose is to provide compensation for loss of earning capacity. Id. at 630, 569 A.2d 697.

We said in Montgomery County v. Lake, 68 Md.App. 269, 273, 511 A.2d 541 (1986):

The Act is to be liberally and broadly construed in furtherance of the benevolent purpose which prompted its enactment. While the Act is to be liberally construed, a court is not at liberty to disregard its plain meaning. [Citations omitted.]

We also stated that "no presumption of correctness attaches to the Commission's interpretations of the pertinent provisions of the statute." Id. at 273-74, 511 A.2d 541. See also Symons v. R.D. Grier & Sons Co., 10 Md.App. 498, 500, 271 A.2d 398 (1970) (explaining that factual decisions of the Commission are prima facie correct while decisions involving questions of law are not).

Prior to 1973, the Worker's Compensation Act did not contain a provision for continuing payment. By Chapter 671 of the Acts of 1973, the legislature added a provision to Section 36 providing that irrespective of $45,000 being stated as a maximum: "if the employee's total disability shall continue after a total of $45,000.00 has been paid, then further weekly payments at the rate previously paid shall be paid to him during such disability." Act approved May 24, 1973, ch. 671, 1973 Md.Laws 1400. The purpose clause of Chapter 671 stated that it was "making provision for payment of additional benefits for total disability above the statutory limit under certain conditions...." Id. at 1399. The only condition mentioned in the body of the act...