Carlucci v. Utah State Indus. Com'n

• Decision Date: 12 September 1986
• Docket Number: No. 20386,20386
• Citation: 725 P.2d 1335
• Parties: Vickie CARLUCCI, Plaintiff, v. UTAH STATE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION and Default Indemnity Fund, Defendants.
• Court: Utah Supreme Court

Page 1335

725 P.2d 1335

Vickie CARLUCCI, Plaintiff, v. UTAH STATE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION and Default Indemnity Fund Defendants.

No. 20386.

Supreme Court of Utah.

Sept. 12, 1986.

Arthur F. Sandack, Salt Lake City, for plaintiff.

David L. Wilkinson, Atty. Gen., Ralph L. Finlayson, Salt Lake City, for defendants.

STEWART, Justice:

In 1984, the Utah Legislature created the Default Indemnity Fund to pay workers, or their dependents, workmen's compensation benefits when their employers are unable to pay. U.C.A., 1953, § 35-1-107(1) (Repl.Vol. 4B, 1974 ed., Supp.1985), ¹ which became effective March 29, 1984, states that the Fund is

for the purpose of paying and assuring, to persons entitled to, workers' compensation benefits when an employer becomes insolvent, appoints or has appointed a receiver, or otherwise does not have sufficient funds, insurance, sureties, or other security to cover workers' compensation liabilities under this chapter. If it becomes necessary to pay benefits, the fund will be liable for all obligations of the employer as set forth in Chapters 1 and 2, Title 35.

Lester Carlucci was killed in an industrial accident in the course of his employment with Pour-A-Yard, Inc. on October 7, 1983. He is survived by his wife, Vickie Carlucci, and their three children. Pour-A-Yard carried no workmen's compensation insurance at the time of his death and was in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding. The case was converted to a Chapter 7 proceeding February 23, 1984.

The issue on appeal is whether Mrs. Carlucci may recover death benefits for her and her children from the Default Indemnity Fund even though her husband died before the Fund was established. The Industrial Commission denied her recovery from the Fund on the ground that the Indemnity Fund could not be held to apply to accidents occurring before the effective date of the statute creating the fund.

Section 35-1-107 became law March 29, 1984, some five months after Mr. Carlucci's death. The Commission and the Fund argue that the plaintiff's rights are governed by the law in effect at the time of the worker's death, when the cause of action arose. Mrs. Carlucci argues that since the statute is remedial in nature, it should be construed broadly to give her a remedy.

The general rule is that the law establishing substantive rights and liabilities when a cause of action arises, and not a subsequently enacted statute, governs the resolution of the dispute. Brunyer v. Salt Lake County, 551 P.2d 521, 522 (Utah 1976); Shupe v. Wasatch Electric Co., 546 P.2d 896, 898 (Utah 1976); Okland Construction Co. v. Industrial Commission, 520 P.2d 208, 210 (Utah 1974); In re Anthony, 71 Utah 501, 504, 267 P. 789, 790 (1928); Mercur Gold Mining & Milling Co. v. Spry, 16 Utah 222, 229, 52 P. 382, 384 (1898). See also § 68-3-3, which states: "No part of these revised statutes is retroactive, unless expressly so declared."

There are, however, exceptions to the rule of nonretroactivity. Statutes which are procedural only and do not create, alter, or destroy substantive rights may be applied to causes of action that have accrued or are pending at the time the statute is enacted. In State Department of Social Services v. Higgs, 656 P.2d 998, 1000 (Utah 1982), we stated:

[P]rocedural statutes enacted subsequent to the initiation of a suit which do not enlarge, eliminate, or destroy vested or contractual rights apply not only to future actions, but also to accrued and pending actions as well.

See also Pilcher v. State Department of Social Services, 663 P.2d 450, 455 (Utah 1983); Foil v. Ballinger, 601 P.2d 144, 151 (Utah 1979); Petty v. Clark, 113 Utah 205, 213-14, 192 P.2d 589, 593 (1948); Industrial Commission v. Agee, 56 Utah 63, 67-68, 189 P. 414, 415-16 (1920); Boucofski v. Jacobsen, 36 Utah 165, 171, 104 P. 117, 119 (1909).

The statute creating the Default Indemnity Fund is not a procedural statute. It establishes substantive law that creates a new jural entity with certain rights and liabilities and establishes a new cause of action for workers or their dependents who have been unable to collect their workmen's compensation benefits from employers. Being substantive in nature, the statute cannot be held to apply to this case if Mrs. Carlucci's cause of action arose before the effective date of the statute, and if there is no clear legislative indication that the statute should apply to cases pending when it became effective. Brunyer v. Salt Lake County, 551 P.2d at 522; In re Ingraham's Estate, 106 Utah 337, 340, 148 P.2d 340, 341 (1944). See also Pilcher v. State Department of Social Services, 663 P.2d at 455. There is no evidence of such legislative intent.

The critical issue, therefore, is whether Mrs. Carlucci's claim arose after the enactment of the statute. Mrs. Carlucci's claim against Pour-A-Yard, Inc., for workmen's compensation death benefits is separate and different from the claim that her husband would have had, had he lived. Halling v. Industrial Commission, 71 Utah 112, 118, 263 P. 78, 80 (1927). Her cause of action for death benefits arose, not at the time of her husband's accident, but at the time of his death, although in this case both occurred the same day. We have specifically held in the context of workmen's compensation law that it is the law in force at the time of the worker's death that determines a dependent's rights against the employer under the workmen's compensation laws. Silver King Coalition Mines Co. v. Industrial...