Didier v. Crescent Wharf & Warehouse Co.

• Decision Date: 03 June 1936
• Docket Number: No. 7413—Y.,7413—Y.
• Citation: 15 F. Supp. 91
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of California
• Parties: DIDIER v. CRESCENT WHARF & WAREHOUSE CO. et al.

15 F. Supp. 91

DIDIER v. CRESCENT WHARF & WAREHOUSE CO. et al.

No. 7413—Y.

District Court, S. D. California, C. D.

June 3, 1936.

Thomas F. McCue and Nathan Goldberg, both of Los Angeles, Cal., for petitioner.

F. Britton McConnell and Claude F. Weingand, both of Los Angeles, Cal., for defendants.

YANKWICH, District Judge.

An amended petition was filed on April 24, 1936, by Nellie E. Didier, as guardian, seeking to review the order of Warren H. Pillsbury, Deputy Commissioner of the United States Employees' Compensation Commission, which, on December 12, 1935, denied compensation to Claude Leonard Didier, a minor, by reason of the death, on July 23, 1934, of John Leonard Didier, claimed to be the minor's father, while employed as a longshoreman by the Crescent Wharf & Warehouse Company. A motion to dismiss with leave to amend was granted as to the original petition to which the Deputy Commissioner was not made a party. The employer and insurance carrier have moved to dismiss the amended petition upon the ground that the court has no jurisdiction to hear and determine the matter. The contention is grounded upon the proposition that the proceeding not having been commenced against the Deputy Commissioner within 30 days after the order was made, it has become final. The contention must be sustained.

Clause (a) of section 921, title 33, U.S. C.A., reads: "A compensation order shall become effective when filed in the office of the deputy commissioner as provided in section 919 of this chapter, and, unless proceedings for the suspension or setting aside of such order are instituted as provided in subdivision (b) of this section, shall become final at the expiration of the thirtieth day thereafter."

Clause (b) of section 921, title 33, U.S.C.A., reads in part: "If not in accordance with law, a compensation order may be suspended or set aside, in whole or in part, through injunction proceedings, mandatory or otherwise, brought by any party in interest against the deputy commissioner making the order, and instituted in the Federal district court for the judicial district in which the injury occurred (or in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia if the injury occurred in the District)."

Clause (d) of section 921, title 33, U.S. C.A., reads: "Proceedings for suspending, setting aside, or enforcing a compensation order, whether rejecting a claim or making an award, shall not be instituted otherwise than as provided in this section and section 918 of this chapter." (Italics added.)

While the proceeding before the Deputy Commissioner is against the employer, this proceeding seeks to review the order of the Deputy Commissioner. By the very terms of clause (b) of section 921, the action is "against the deputy commissioner making the order." He is a necessary party; in fact the only necessary party. The employer and insurance carrier are not. Wellgeng v. Marshall (D.C.Wash.1929) 32 F.(2d) 922; although they may be allowed, after the action has been instituted against the Deputy Commissioner, to intervene as parties having an interest in the matter. See United States Casualty Co. v. Taylor (C.C.A. 4, 1933) 64 F.(2d) 521.

The action as to the Deputy Commissioner cannot be said to have been begun until he was made a party to the present proceeding by the amended petition. It is the rule in both federal and state courts that, for the purpose of computing, the statute of limitations, as to a party not named to an original pleading, the cause of action is begun with the filing of the amended pleading which first makes him a party. 37 Cor.Jur. 1066; United States v. Norris (C.C.A. 8, 1915) 222 F. 14; Ingram v. Department of Industrial Relations (1930) 208 Cal. 633, 284 P. 212; Union Tank & Pipe Co. v. Mammoth Oil Co., Ltd.(1933) 134 Cal.App. 229, 25 P. (2d) 262.

Clause (a) of section 921 establishes a period of limitation of 30 days within which any proceeding seeking to review a compensation order, whether the order grants compensation or (as we think) denies it, or whether the proceeding seeks to review the amount of the award at the behest of the employee, employer, or insurance carrier. Twine v. Locke (C.C.A. 2, 1934) 68 F.(2d) 712; Mille v. McManigal (C.C.A. 2, 1934) 69 F.(2d) 644; Globe Stevedoring Co., Inc., v. Peters (D.C.Tex. 1931) 57 F.(2d) 256; Campbell v. Lowe (D.C.N.Y.1935) 10 F.Supp. 288; Associated Indemnity Corporation v. Marshall (C.C.A. 9, 1934) 71 F.(2d) 235; Wellgeng v. Marshall, supra.

It is the contention of the petitioner that the limitation applies only to an order which awards compensation and not to an order which denies it. We cannot agree with this contention. Rather are we of the view that the phrase "a compensation order" in clause (a) of section 921, title 33, U.S.C.A., means any order relating to compensation, whether granting it or denying it. Such an interpretation conforms to the general spirit of administrative law which seeks to make decisions of administrative bodies final, subject only to the right of review for absence or excess of jurisdiction. Administrative finality depends not upon any general principles of procedure, but upon the limitations contained in the particular act. The aim is always to make the administrative scheme complete in itself and to limit the time and scope for judicial review. Uniformly, when courts have been confronted with such limitations they have enforced them with strictness. Courts have thus interpreted strictly the time limitations upon the right to review decisions of collectors of customs in duty matters contained in our various tariff acts. See Louisville Pillow Co. v. United States (C.C.A. 6, 1906) 144 F. 386; United States v. Mexican International R. Co. (C.C.A. 5, 1907) 151 F. 545; United States v. Vitelli & Son (1914) 5 Ct.Cust.App. 151. On the application of these principles to administrative orders in general, see cases under heading "Jurisdictional Limitations And Administrative Finality" in Ernst Freund: "Cases on Administrative Law" (2 Ed. 1928) pp. 643-730.

The object of the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C.A. §§ 901-950, adopted in 1927, is to extend to the particular class of workers the benefit of workmen's compensation, which in the last 30 years has taken the place, in England, France, Germany, and various states of the United States, and in some branches subject to federal legislation, of the old haphazard system of dealing with the problem of industrial accidents. These statutes seek to throw upon the industry the liability for injuries irrespective of fault, excluding, at times, willful negligence. For all cases of accidental injury or death arising out of or in the course of employment and occupational diseases or infections arising naturally out of such employment the particular statute provides (as do others in other fields of industry) a graduated system of compensation to be borne by the industry. See Pyrites Co., Inc., v. Davison Chemical Co. (D.C.Md.1933) 4 F.Supp. 294; Wheeling Corrugating Co. v. McManigal (C.C.A. 4, 1930) 41 F.(2d) 593, 595. Thus, Parker, Circuit Judge, speaking in Wheeling Corrugating Co. v. McManigal, supra, on the object of the statute: "Its purpose is to extend to the workers upon navigable waters of the United States, who cannot be reached by state legislation, the benefits of a compulsory system of compensation for disability or death resulting from injuries received in the course of their employment. This system of compensation is based, not upon ancient fictions of the law, but upon the principles of...