Lawson v. Suwanee Fruit Steamship Co
Citation | 336 U.S. 198,69 S.Ct. 503,93 L.Ed. 611 |
Decision Date | 14 February 1949 |
Docket Number | No. 56,56 |
Parties | LAWSON, Deputy Commissioner, v. SUWANEE FRUIT & STEAMSHIP CO. et al |
Court | United States Supreme Court |
Mr. Newell A. Clapp, of Washington, D.C., for petitioner.
Mr. Harry T. Gray, of Jacksonville, Fla., for respondents.
This is a workmen's compensation case, under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, 44 Stat. 1424, 33 U.S.C. § 901 et seq., 33 U.S.C.A. § 901 et seq. A narrow and difficult question of statutory construction confronts us.
John Davis lost the sight of his right eye in an accident unconnected with industry or his employment. He was later hired by respondent. An injury occurred during this employment, and he is now blind in both eyes. The parties agree that he is totally disabled within the meaning of the Act; they also agree that the employer is liable for compensation for the loss of the left eye. The dispute is narrowed to this question: should the employer or the statutory second injury fund, administered by petitioner, be liable for the balance of payments to equal compensation for total disability?
Petitioner concluded that the employer was liable. The employer secured a reversal of this determination in the District Court for the Southern District of Florida, 68 F.Supp. 616,1 and the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the judgment of the District Court. 166 F.2d 13. Because this decision conflicted with that of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in National Homeopathic Hospital Association of District of Columbia v. Britton, 79 U.S.App.D.C. 309, 147 F.2d 561, certiorari denied 325 U.S. 857, 65 S.Ct. 1185, 89 L.Ed. 1977, we granted certiorari.
Section 8(f)(1) of the Act provides that The court below (166 F.2d 14) held that this section is : liability for the second injury fund.
But the word 'disability' is defined in the statute. Section 2 provides that 'when used in this Act * * * (10) 'Disability' means incapacity because of injury * * *.' (Emphasis supplied.) The word 'injury' is, in turn, defined as 'accidental injury or death arising out of and in the course of employment * * *.' § 2(2). If these definitions are read into the second injury provision, then, it reads as follows: previous injury was nonindustrial, this reading points to liability for the employer.
If Congress intended to use the term 'disability' as a term of art, a shorthand way of referring to the statutory definition, the employer must pay total compensation. If Congress intended a broader and more usual concept of the word, the judgment below must be affirmed. Statutory definitions control the meaning of statutory words, of course, in the usual case. But this is an unusual case. If we read the definition into § 8(f)(1) in a mechanical fashion, we create obvious incongruities in the language, and we destroy one of the major purposes of the second injury provision: the prevention of employer discrimination against handicapped workers. We have concluded that Congress would not have intended such a result.
Chief Justice Groner, dissenting in the National Homeopathic case, supra, 147 F.2d at page 565, noticed that the 'interreplacements of words' we have set out above that the definition of disability was 'not made with watch-like precision' and should not be so applied in § 8(f) (1). If the intent of Congress had been to limit the applicability of this subsection in the fashion for which petitioner contends, 'it could easily have accomplished this by the insertion of the word 'compensable' between the words 'previous' and 'disability' * * *.' And see Atlantic Cleaners & Dyers v. United States, 286 U.S. 427, 52 S.Ct. 607, 76 L.Ed. 1204.
More important, perhaps, is the disservice we would do to the purpose of the second injury provision. We must look to the explanation of congressional intent behind the subsection. A witness at a hearing on the measure outlined his reasons for favoring the provision in the following manner: 3
Petitioner relies on the statement of another witness before the Senate Committee, who favored inclusion of the second injury provisions because 'they have become a commonplace * * * in State compensation legislation and ought to be included in the Act.'4 And petitioner states that 'we may appropriately refer, therefore, to the second injury provisions in other statutes and to the evaluations made by administrative experts in the field for guidance with respect to the manner in which opposing policy considerations have been resolved.' But our search for guidance in the sources suggested by petitioner convinces us that petitioner's theories are not well-founded.
From the attitude of experts in the field, one would not expect Congress to distinguish between two types of handicapped workers. The annual conventions of the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions provide the most helpful considerations of the problem. At the 1931 convention, Mr. Joseph Parks of the Massachusetts Commission spoke as follows of workmen's compensation legislation without a second injury provision: 5
This attitude has been echoed by Mr. Charles Sharkey of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics;6 Miss Frances Perkins, then Industrial Commissioner in New York;7 and others.8 Perhaps the most impressive evidence of the force behind these statements is that offered by Mr. I. K. Huber of Oklahoma. Nease v. Hughes Stone Co., 114 Okl. 170, 244 P. 778, held the employer liable for total compensation for loss of the second eye. After the decision, Mr. Huber reports, 9
A distinction between a worker previously injured in industry and one handicapped by a cause outside of industry has no logical foundation if we accept the premise that the purpose of the fund is that of aid to the handicapped. This is the conclusion of Mr. red Wilcox, then Chairman of the Wisconsin Commission:10 We cannot attribute the illogic of petitioner's position to Congress.
Our conclusion is reinforced by the administrative practice under the New York statute. The federal statute is based upon New York law.11 In New York ...
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