Haynes v. Columbia Pictures Corp.

• Decision Date: 02 June 1942
• Parties: HAYNES v. COLUMBIA PICTURES CORPORATION et al.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

162 S.W.2d 383

178 Tenn. 648

HAYNES v. COLUMBIA PICTURES CORPORATION et al.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

June 2, 1942

Error to Probate Court, Shelby County; Samuel O. Bates, Judge.

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Bula (Beulah) H Haynes, widow of Thomas B. Haynes, for use and benefit of herself and Bula (Beulah) H. Haynes, as next friend and natural guardian, for the use and benefit of Joyce Marie (Joy) Haynes, minor, to recover compensation for death of Thomas B. Haynes, employee, opposed by Columbia Pictures Corporation, employer, and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company insurer. To review a judgment limiting compensation to $5,000, the claimant brings error.

Affirmed.

Robinson & Robinson, of Memphis, for plaintiff in error.

Winchester & Bearman, of Memphis, for defendant in error.

HICKERSON Special Judge.

Thomas B. Haynes was killed in July 1941 under conditions which entitled his widow and minor daughter to recover compensation from defendants under the Workmen's Compensation Act of Tennessee, Code 1932, Section 6851 et seq. Suit was brought and judgment for compensation was entered but the recovery was limited to $5,000.

The facts were stipulated. Only one question is presented for the determination of this Court and that is a question of law Did the trial court correctly limit the judgment to $5,000?

Three sections of the workmen's compensation law as amended by Chapter 90 of the Acts of 1941 are involved and require construction:

1932 Code, Section 6880, 1941 amendment: " Amounts payable for death according to number of dependents.--In all cases of death of an employee covered by the workmen's compensation law sixty per centum of the average weekly wages defined as stated, shall be paid in cases where such deceased employee leaves dependents subject to maximum compensation as follows: eighteen dollars per week. (1927, ch. 40, sec. 1 [1941, ch. 90, sec. 7].)"

1932 Code, Section 6881: " Basic limitation.--The total amount of compensation payable under the preceding section shall not exceed five thousand dollars, exclusive of medical, hospital, and funeral benefits."

1932 Code, Section 6883(17), 1941 amendment: " Compensation in case of death.--The compensation payable in case of death to persons wholly dependent shall be subject to a maximum compensation of eighteen dollars per week and a minimum of seven dollars per week, provided, that if at the time of the injury the employee receives wages of less than seven dollars per week, the compensation shall be the full amount of such wages per week. The compensation payable to partial dependents shall be subject to a maximum of eighteen dollars per week, and a minimum of seven dollars per week; provided, that if the income loss of said partial dependents by such death is less than seven dollars per week then the dependents shall receive the full amount of their income loss. This compensation shall be paid during dependency not exceeding four hundred weeks, payments to be made at the intervals when the wage was payable as nearly as may be."

1932 Code, Section 6880, as amended by Chapter 90 of the Acts of 1941, was first enacted as an amendment to the Compensation Act of 1919, Chapter 123, by Chapter 84 of the Acts of 1923. This Court construed this section in Caruthers v. Lake County Mfg. Co., Inc., 150 Tenn. 269, 263 S.W. 793, 794, and held that: "'Defined as stated' in the original act, a maximum of 50 per centum was payable in death cases, under conditions stated, the payment in such cases being graduated from 30 per centum to 50 per centum according to the number of dependents. This was clearly 'defined' in the law, and we think the changes contemplated by the amendment relate to increases in the maximum allowances, rather than the minimum percentages payable."

Code Section 6880, therefore, applies "in all cases...