Hannah v. Okla. State Highway Comm'n

• Decision Date: 14 May 1935
• Docket Number: Case Number: 25430
• Citation: 172 Okla. 221,1935 OK 528,45 P.2d 53
• Parties: HANNAH v. OKLAHOMA STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

1935 OK 528

45 P.2d 53

172 Okla. 221

HANNAH v. OKLAHOMA STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION

Case Number: 25430

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

Decided: May 14, 1935

Syllabus

¶0 Master and Servant - Workmen's Compensation - Conclusiveness of Industrial Commission's Determination of Jurisdictional Fact in Making Award for Temporary Total Disability.

When the jurisdiction of the State Industrial Commission depends upon a question of fact, and that body in making an award for temporary total disability had before it competent information to establish that fact, either in the form of an admission of fact, stipulation of fact, or testimony of witnesses, it is deemed to have inquired into its jurisdiction and determined the question of fact upon which its jurisdiction depends. Thereafter, in a proceeding to determine the extent of permanent disability, the jurisdictional fact previously determined is not open to inquiry.

Original action in the Supreme Court by C.E. Hannah to review order of the State Industrial Commission denying compensation. Order vacated.

Leo J. Williams and Paul L. Arnold, for petitioner.

J. Berry King, Robert D. Crowe, J.W. Hinton, and Claude Weaver, Jr., for respondents.

BAYLESS, J.

¶1 This is an original proceeding in this court to review an order of the State Industrial Commission of Oklahoma, made and entered on the 19th day of February, 1934, wherein the said Commission denied compensation to the claimant, C.E. Hannah. The parties will be referred to hereinafter as they appeared before the Commission; i. e., C.E. Hannah as claimant and the Oklahoma State Highway Commission as respondent.

¶2 The record discloses the following filings:: November 14, 1932, form No. 3, being employee's first notice of injury and claim for compensation, reciting among other things that claimant was employed as a carpenter for the respondent; that on November 5, 1932, while loading a truck claimant fell against the truck and suffered broken rib or ribs. On the same date there was filed form No. 2, being employer's first notice of injury, and among other things recited that respondent was engaged in "road construction" at the time claimant was injured and that "claimant was injured in the course of his employment." This notice was signed by J.H. Merkle, division engineer. Thereafter, there was filed form No. 7, being an agreement between claimant and the respondent for the payment of $153.39 for temporary total disability. This agreement was presented to the Commission and it entered an order on the 2nd day of February, 1933, approving said settlement, closing the matter as to temporary total disability and expressly reserving for future determination the matter of permanent disability, if any.

¶3 Thereafter, and on June 13, 1933, claimant filed a motion requesting the Commission to set the case for hearing for the purpose of determining his permanent disability. The Commission ordered the cause set for hearing on July 21, 1933. On July 7, 1933, respondent filed its motion to quash the motion of claimant and denying liability on the ground that the "claimant was not in the employment of the respondent on the date of the injury complained of" and asking a return of the $153.39 paid claimant for temporary total disability, which was paid through error.

¶4 The Commission, after hearing all of the testimony introduced, denied claimant any compensation for permanent disability on the ground and for the reason "* * * that the accident did not arise out of and in the course of his employment. * * *"

¶5 Claimant, in his first proposition, contends:

"The order of February 2, 1933, became final, not having been appealed from within the statutory period, and fixed the status of the parties concerned. Respondent could not subsequently show that the injury for which

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