J. B. Barnes Drilling Co. v. Phillips
| Decision Date | 07 November 1933 |
| Docket Number | Case Number: 24682 |
| Citation | 1933 OK 593,166 Okla. 154,26 P.2d 766 |
| Parties | J. B. BARNES DRILLING CO. et al. v. PHILLIPS et al. |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
¶0 Master and Servant--Workmen's Compensation--Invalidity of Award Made Against Additional Parties Upon Evidence Taken at Prior Hearing.
In a proceeding before the State Industrial Commission, where evidence has been taken, and the Commission afterwards makes an employer and insurance carrier additional parties defendant, and thereafter makes an award against such additional parties upon the evidence taken at a prior hearing, in such a case said award so made will be vacated on the application of the newly made parties, and said cause remanded to the State Industrial Commission, with directions to proceed to take evidence as on an original application.
Original action in the Supreme Court by the J. B. Barnes Drilling Company et al. to review award of the State Industrial Commission in favor of Price Phillips. Award vacated and cause remanded.
Green & Farmer, for petitioners.
Leo J. Williams, for respondents.
¶1 There are several parties to this record who occupy the same relative positions, and it therefore becomes necessary to refer to them by name.
¶2 Price Phillips filed with the State Industrial Commission, on September 6, 1932, on form No. 3, prescribed and furnished by the State Industrial Commission, an "employee's first notice of injury and claim for compensation." In the information furnished by this notice it was stated that the employer was "Moon Casing Crew," and in the caption the insurance carrier was named as "Public Indemnity." The Moon Casing Crew and the Public Indemnity filed an answer containing a general denial and specific denial that the employment was hazardous or that the injury arose out of and in the course of the employment.
¶3 Upon notice a hearing was held at Oklahoma City on March 24, 1933, at which hearing Phillips appeared in person and testified in detail about the accident and the injury. He was asked the name of his employer, and in answer thereto he testified: "The Moon Casing Crew and J. B. Barnes Drilling Company."
¶4 He testified further as to the details of the injury and the employment. The hearing was then closed without record comment as to why or what further steps were to be taken.
¶5 A partially complete notice of hearing, captioned:
--dated March 25, 1933, unsigned and addressed "to all to whom these presents shall come," of a hearing to be held at Oklahoma City, April 7, 1933, appears in the record. No showing is made of its service upon anyone.
¶6 A hearing was had on April 7th, and according to the recitals of the transcript, "said cause having been submitted on the testimony offered on March 24, 1933, but continued on motion of the Commission to make the J. B. Barnes Drilling Company and the Aetna Life Insurance Company parties to this cause. * * *" At this hearing C. A. Johnson, attorney for the Aetna Life Insurance Company, was used as a witness in an effort to disclose the relationship existing between his company and J. B. Barnes Drilling Company. The summary of his testimony is that his company was carrying insurance for the J. B. Barnes Drilling Company at the time of the hearing, but that he had no information or knowledge as to when it became effective. The Commission then introduced in evidence a card from its files showing that the Aetna Life Insurance Company had a policy of insurance in effect covering J. B. Barnes Drilling Company's risks on the date claimant received his accidental personal injury. As soon as this showing was made, the Commission closed the hearing and ordered the case submitted.
¶7 Based upon this record, the State Industrial Commission found the employment, the injury, the extent of the disability, and that J. B. Barnes Drilling Company and Aetna Life Insurance Company were liable for the payment of compensation, and awarded compensation.
¶8 J. B. Barnes Drilling Company and Aetna Life Insurance Company petition this court for a review of the award upon three grounds. From the view we entertain, it will only be necessary to discuss the second ground, which is as follows:
"That said order and award is wholly unsupported by any competent evidence and is contrary to any of the evidence in the record in this case properly and competently introduced."
¶9 It is elementary that awards can only be made by the State Industrial Commission in favor...
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