Chittenden v. Jarvis
| Decision Date | 29 April 1941 |
| Docket Number | 8372 |
| Citation | 68 S.D. 5,297 N.W. 787 |
| Parties | NORMAN T. CHITTENDEN, Respondent, v. ALFRED F. JARVIS, and South Dakota Employers Protective Ass’n., Appellants |
| Court | South Dakota Supreme Court |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Minnehaha County, SD
#8372 – Reversed
Caldwell & Burns, Sioux Falls, SD
Attorneys for Appellants.
T. R. Johnson, Sioux Falls, SD
Attorneys for Respondent.
Opinion filed April 29, 1941
June 29, 1938, plaintiff suffered an accidental injury arising out of and in the course of his employment. June 30, 1938, an agreement was entered into between plaintiff and defendant employers and their insurer that plaintiff be paid $12.69 per week “until terminated in accordance with the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Law.” This agreement was approved by the Industrial Commissioner and in accordance therewith the sum of $50.76 was paid to plaintiff. October 3, 1938, plaintiff signed a final receipt and release. February 15, 1939, plaintiff filed with the Industrial Commissioner a petition in which it was alleged that at the time the release was signed by him the insurer informed him that additional compensation would be subsequently awarded to petitioner; that the agreement did not include compensation for permanent partial disability; and that petitioner relied upon the statements of the insurer in signing the release. March 8, 1939, a hearing was had before the Deputy Commissioner who found tha plaintiff “signed such purported instrument, but in so doing did not knowingly execute it for a consideration that was considerably less than the compensation to which he was lawfully entitled under the provisions of the law; that the claimant received an inadequate consideration when he signed such instrument and it was executed under a mistake of law.” The Deputy Commissioner further found that plaintiff was entitled to receive compensation at the rate of $12.69 a week for temporary disability from June 29, 1938, to October 3, 1938, and the same weekly allowance for a period of 75 weeks commencing on October 3, 1938, for partial permanent disability to plaintiff’s left hand. February 21, 1939, the award of the Deputy Commissioner was on appeal affirmed by the Circuit Court. Defendants appeal, claiming that the Deputy Commissioner did not have jurisdiction to set aside the release and that- the award is not supported by the evidence.
The Workmen’s Compensation Law, SDC 64.0509, provides: “If the employer and employee reach an agreement in regard to the compensation under this title, a memorandum thereof shall be filed with the Commissioner by the employer or employee, and unless the Commissioner shall, within twenty days, notify the employer and employee of his disapproval of the agreement by registered letter sent to their addresses as given in the memorandum filed, the agreement shall stand as approved and be enforcible for all purposes under the provisions of this title.” Under SDC 64.0603, if the employer and injured employee fail to reach an agreement, either party may request a hearing, and under SDC 64.0608, the Circuit Court without suit may enter judgment based upon a memorandum of agreement approved by the Industrial Commissioner. While the Workmen’s Compensation Law permits agreements between an employer and an injured employee as to compensation for accidental injuries, yet such an agreement is under the supervisory power of te Commissioner and has no binding force or effect when made without the scope of the statute. This clearly appears from the provisions of SDC 64.0302 which provides that “no contract or agreement ... shall in any manner operate to relieve any employer in whole or in part of any obligation created by” the statute except as therein provided. An agreement as to compensation to be paid under the statute, filed with the Commissioner and approved as defined by the statute, is a substitute for, and has the force and effect of, an ordinary award. Bailey v. Hess, 55 SD 602, 227 NW 69. The final receipt and release in the instant proceeding was filed with the Commissioner, and since the compensation agreed upon was not disapproved by the Commissioner the agreement stands as approved.
Plaintiff contends that the Commissioner is empowered to review an award whether based on an adjudication or an agreement and to award such compensation as the equities of the case may require. The case of Vodopich v. Trojan Mining Co., 43 SD 540, 180 NW 965, is cited in support of this contention. The agreement for release in that case was not shown to have been filed with the Industrial Commissioner. The statute intends that such agreement be filed and that it shall not become binding upon the parties and have the effect of an award until the Commissioner has approved or until the expiration of twenty days during which time the Commissioner has not disapproved the agreement. It was held that the injured employee was required to establish the fact that the agreement was entered into by reason of fraud or misrepresentation; that the Commissioner could proceed to review the matter as if there had been no agreement. But with reference to an approved agreement, it is stated that equitable grounds for setting it aside must be established before the case be reopened in a proceeding before the Commissioner, but this statement was not applicable to the particular facts of the case and lacks the force of an adjudication. The question is not whether the Commissioner may be vested with power to set aside a prior award on equitable grounds, but relates to the authority of the Commissioner under existing statutes.
Proceedings under the Workmen’s Compensation Law, SDC 64.0101 et seq., are purely statutory, and the rights of the parties and the manner of procedure under the law must be determined by its provisions. Wieber v. England, 52 SD 72, 216 NW 850. The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in discussing the Workmen’s Compensation Act of that state said: ...
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