Houston Contracting Co. v. Young, 79-297
| Decision Date | 10 December 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 79-297,79-297 |
| Citation | 267 Ark. 322,590 S.W.2d 653 |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
| Parties | HOUSTON CONTRACTING COMPANY et al., Petitioners, v. Jessie T. YOUNG, Respondent. |
Shackleford, Shackleford & Phillips, P. A., El Dorado, for petitioners.
Laser, Sharp, Haley, Young & Huckabay, P. A., Little Rock, for respondent.
When two states both have grounds for asserting jurisdiction over a claim for workers' compensation benefits, do payments of compensation made to the injured worker under the laws of one of the states toll the statute of limitations as to a claim later filed in the other state? The few existing decisions in other jurisdictions are split. Larson, Workmen's Compensation, § 78.43(a) (1976). In the present case our Commission held that running of the statute is not suspended, because payments made under the law of another state do not constitute the "payment of compensation" within the meaning of our statute of limitations. Ark.Stat.Ann. § 81-1318(b) (Repl.1976). The Court of Appeals reversed. In a per curiam order we explained our reasons for granting certiorari in this particular case. Houston Contracting Co. v. Young, 267 Ark. ---, 589 S.W.2d 9 (1979).
There is no doubt that both Arkansas and Texas might have asserted jurisdiction in this case. The claimant was a resident of Arkansas when he was first hired by this employer to work on a construction job in Arkansas in 1941. The employer is licensed to do business in Arkansas. The claimant continued to reside in Arkansas during the 33 years that he worked for the company, in Arkansas, in Texas, and in other states. He was still a resident of Arkansas in 1974 when he injured his back while working for the company on a construction job in Vidor, Texas. He underwent medical treatment and surgery in Arkansas and Texas. The employer has its headquarters in Houston Texas. The insurance carrier, without controverting the claim, made payments under the Texas compensation law until the claimant employed counsel and filed a claim in Arkansas. The parties do not question the possible jurisdiction of either state.
The Court of Appeals, in disagreeing with the Commission, relied upon Auslander v. Textile Workers Union of American, 59 A.D.2d 90, 397 N.Y.S. 232 (1977). There the court undertook to reconcile the conflicting results in other states. The court reasoned that the claimant, on the one hand, should be bound by his acceptance of an official award of compensation in one state if he had actively participated in the procurement of the award and if the employer or insurance carrier had...
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Williams v. Johnson Custom Homes
...the laws of another state. Biddle v. Smith & Campbell, Inc., 28 Ark.App. 46, 773 S.W.2d 840 (1989); see also, Houston Contracting Co. v. Young, 267 Ark. 322, 590 S.W.2d 653 (1979). In Biddle, this court held that the claimant therein had elected her remedy by knowingly receiving benefits pu......
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M v. Circuit Court of Clark Cnty.
...run. Whether a statute of limitations has expired is a question of fact for the Commission to resolve. See Houston Contracting Co. v. Young, 267 Ark. 322, 590 S.W.2d 653 (1979). In this case, the Commission has yet to determine whether a claim for occupational disease based on exposure to c......
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Council v. Owens
...actively initiated the proceedings or knowingly received benefits pursuant to the laws of another state. In Houston Contracting Co. v. Young, 267 Ark. 322, 590 S.W.2d 653 (1979), the supreme court addressed the issue of whether payments of compensation made to the injured worker under the l......
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Williams v. Johnson Custom Homes
...decided Biddle. Biddle neither acknowledges, discusses, nor distinguishes those cases; rather it cites Houston Contracting Co. v. Young, 267 Ark. 322, 590 S.W.2d 653 (1979), a case involving the tolling of the statute of limitations in workers' compensation cases filed in two states.1 Relia......