Katz v. Sims

• Citation: 54 A.2d 483
• Parties: KATZ v. SIMS et al.
• Decision Date: 24 July 1947
• Court: New Jersey Court of Common Pleas

54 A.2d 483

KATZ

v.SIMS et al.

Court of Common Pleas of New Jersey, Monmouth County.

July 24, 1947.

Appeal from Workmen's Compensation Bureau.

Proceedings under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Hyman Katz for injuries opposed by Robert W. Sims and Annie Sims, individually and trading as Llewellyn Hotel. From judgment of Workmen's Compensation Bureau dismissing the petitions, petitioner appeals.

Judgment affirmed.

Thomas F. Shebell, of Asbury Park, for petitioner-appellant.

Anschelewitz & Barr, of Asbury Park, for respondents-appellees.

KNIGHT, Judge.

A formal petition having been filed in the above-entitled matter, to which an answer was thereafter filed denying the allegations contained therein, and the matter having been heard before Deputy Commissioner Harry S. Medinets on December 18, 1945, at which time, after hearing on the merits, the petitions were dismissed, and a notice of appeal having been filed with the Monmouth County Court of Common Pleas on or about January 25, 1946, and other steps having been taken in accordance with the provisions of the statute, after which briefs were submitted, and after considering the briefs submitted and the testimony in this case, I do find and determine as follows:

A careful study of the transcript of testimony, findings and briefs of counsel leads me to the following conclusions:

The petitioner, Katz, was engaged to perform certain carpentry and construction work for the respondents, Robert W. Sims and Annie Sims, the work commencing the latter part of August 1944 and ending in the latter part of September 1944. He alleges in his petitions for compensation that he was injured while working, and more specifically, on September 14 and September 15 of 1944. Prior to a hearing of either petition, Katz filed a claim for wages against Robert W. Sims (Annie Sims was made a party to that suit, by consent, at the time of the hearing of the claim) with the Wage Collection Division of the Department of Labor. A hearing of the claim was had before Mr. A. D. Appice, Referce, and at the conclusion thereof, a judgment was entered in favor of the defendants, Robert W. Sims and Annie Sims, and against the plaintiff, Hyman Katz, which judgment was subsequently docketed in the Monmouth County Clerk's office and recorded in Book 33 of Common Pleas Judgments, page 76, and no appeal was taken therefrom. The order for judgment, dated October 17, 1945, reads in part as follows:

‘After hearing the stipulated facts and testimony and evidence, I find as a fact that the plaintiff was not employed by the defendant Robert W. Sims or Annie Sims; that the testimony of the defendants' witnesses and the defendant Robert W. Sims has convinced me that the plaintiff was an individual contractor.

‘It is, therefore, on this 17th day of October, 1945, ordered, that a judgment of ‘No Jurisdiction’ be entered in favor of the defendants, Robert W. Sims and Annie Sims, and against the plaintiff, Heyman Katz.'

Subsequent to the disposition of the claim for wages by the Wage Collection Division of the Department of Labor, a motion was made to dismiss the petitions for compensation on the grounds that the determination of the referee of the Wage Collection Division was res adjudicata as to the matters in issue, and more particularly the status of Katz' employment, it having been decided by that tribunal that Katz was an independent contractor and not an employee, and therefore barred from prosecuting his compensation suits. The Deputy Commissioner of the Workmen's Compensation Bureau granted the motion and dismissed the petitions. The petitioner appeals.

When the Compensation Act, Ch. 95, P.L. 1911, N.J.S.A. 34:15-1 et seq., was enacted, the jurisdiction to hear and determine compensation cases was given to the judge of the Court of Common Pleas of such county as would have jurisdiction in a civil case, however, by Ch. 149 of the Laws of 1918, N.J.S.A. 34:1-2, the Legislature created a bureau in the Department of Labor to be known as the Workmen's Compensation Bureau, the structure and function of which need not be set forth here other than to state that as a part of the bureau, a statutory tribunal of special and limited jurisdiction was created to hear compensation claims.

In 1934, the Legislature created the Wage Collection Division of the Department of Labor, R.S. 34:11-57 to 34:11-67, N.J.S.A. The statute confers upon the Commissioner of Labor a special and limited jurisdiction touching claims for wages and defines his duties and powers, and provides an appeal to the Common Pleas Court from a judgment obtained in the Wage Collection Division of the Department of Labor. By the Act, the Legislature provided that a decision or award of the Commissioner ‘* * * shall be a judgment when a certified copy thereof is...