Godfrey v. Brown Paper Mill Co.
| Decision Date | 18 November 1943 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 752. |
| Citation | 52 F. Supp. 926 |
| Parties | GODFREY v. BROWN PAPER MILL CO., Inc. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Louisiana |
Lea S. Thompson and Dhu Thompson, both of Monroe, La., for plaintiff.
Hudson, Potts, Bernstein & Snellings, and T. W. Davenport, all of Monroe, La., for defendant.
Plaintiff has moved to remand this case to the state court on the ground that the amount involved is below the minimum jurisdiction of a federal court. The suit was brought under the Workmen's Compensation Law of the state (Act No. 20 of 1914, as amended), and the prayer is for "$13.52 for and during disability not to exceed four hundred weeks, payable in weekly installments, beginning with December 15, 1941, * * * and for the additional sum of Two Hundred and Fifty Dollars" for medical treatment, which "he believes and avers" will be necessary.
Of course, if plaintiff should sustain his claim in full, and should remain permanently disabled, he would be entitled to receive a total of $5,408 over a period of 400 weeks or eight weeks less than four years. However, under the state statute (Sec. 20), the matter can be reopened at intervals of six months, and if the employee has fully recovered, payments can be stopped altogether. The parties may, also, with the approval of the court in which the action is brought, settle the entire liability in a lump sum, the amount of which might or might not be within the jurisdiction of this court. See Roussell v. Colonial Sugars Co., La.App., 147 So. 75; Ford v. Fortuna Oil Co., 151 La. 489, 490, 91 So. 849; and the decree must be so worded as to allow 65 per cent of weekly wages "during the period of disability." Mickley v. T. J. Moss Tie Co., La.App., 189 So. 331, 333; Jefferson v. Laure N. Truck Line, La.App., 181 So. 821. Therefore, all that a judgment in a case of this kind can settle is that, at the time it is rendered, the plaintiff has suffered injuries through his employment, amounting to total disability, probably permanent, which entitle him to receive stated weekly wages for a period of six months or approximately 26 weeks. In this case at the rate claimed this would amount to about $350.
Ordinarily, where an action is brought on a claim, which is payable in installments, such as rent, taxes, income, etc., the recovery can be for only that which is due, notwithstanding the fact that legal issues as to future installments may be settled. There are disability insurance cases,...
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Mutual Life Ins. Co. of New York v. Temple
...Incidentally, it is a Fifth Circuit case. The other judge of this court approved of the Mitchell case, supra, in Godfrey v. Brown Paper Mill Company, Inc., D.C., 52 F.Supp. 926. In addition to the above authorities, we should quote from Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York v. Moyle, et ux.......
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Strickland v. W. HORACE WILLIAMS COMPANY
...period of six months or approximately 26 weeks. In this case at the rate claimed this would amount to about $350." Godfrey v. Brown Paper Mill Co., Inc., D.C., 52 F.Supp. 926. The Godfrey decision was followed by the court rendering it in Guidry v. J. Ray McDermott Co., Inc., D.C., 89 F. Su......
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Carroll v. Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company, Civ. A. No. 73-C-2-R.
...future sums which may become due so as to make a total within jurisdiction of a federal court in diversity cases. Godfrey v. Brown Paper Mill Co., 52 F.Supp. 926 (W.D.La.1943); Mitchell v. Mutual Life Ins. Co. of New York, 31 F.Supp. 441 Therefore, the court does not find the amount in cont......
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Guidry v. J. Ray McDermott & Co., Civ. A. No. 2813.
...this court in the earlier cases of Mitchell v. Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York, D. C., 31 F.Supp. 441, and Godfrey v. Brown Paper Mill Co., Inc., D. C., 52 F.Supp. 926, and Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York v. Temple, D. C., 56 F. Supp. 737. See also 18 Tulane Law Review at page 6......