Md. Cas. Co v. Stephens, 31818.

• Citation: 47 S.E.2d 108
• Decision Date: 14 January 1948
• Docket Number: No. 31818.,31818.
• Parties: MARYLAND CASUALTY CO. et al. v. STEPHENS.
• Court: United States Court of Appeals (Georgia)

47 S.E.2d 108

MARYLAND CASUALTY CO. et al.

v.STEPHENS.

No. 31818.

Court of Appeals of Georgia,

Division No. 2.

Jan. 14, 1948.

Judgment Adhered to on March 30, 1948.

Syllabus by the Court

1. The rights and liabilities of employers and employees in a workman's compensation case are governed by the Workmen's Compensation Act. The ordinary rules of law do not apply to actions arising under that statute, but the Act itself constitutes a complete code of laws upon the subject.

2. Under the Workmen's Compensation Act there is no legal subrogation of an insurance carrier for a claimant, an injured employee, for there is no express provision for it in such Act, nor is subrogation implied by said Workmen's Compensation Act as amended.

3. "No contract or agreement, written, oral, or implied * * * shall in any manner operate to relieve any employer [orinsurance carrier] in whole or in part from any obligation created by this Title [Workmen's Compensation Act], except as herein otherwise expressly provided." Code of 1933, § 114-111. [Brackets ours.]

4. The Department of Industrial Relations is not a court authorized to render judgments on contracts. It merely determines the amount of compensation and time of payment in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

5. Under the facts in this case the State Board of Workmen's Compensation was authorized to find that the terms of the agreement between the insurance carrier and the employee were not fulfilled by the recovery of a judgment, and that the Board had never approved an agreement relieving in whole or in part the obligation of the insurance carrier because of a voluntary settlement by the tort-feasor; and the Judge of the Superior Court did not err in affirming the award of the Board which held that the compensation of the employee was not reducible by the amount paid under the voluntary settlement by the third party tort-feasor.

Error from Superior Court, DeKalb County; Frank Guess, Judge.

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Fred T. Stephens, claimant opposed by the Southeastern Stages, Inc., employer, and the Maryland Casualty Company, insurance carrier. Judgment affirming an award of compensation by the Workmen's Compensation Board, and the employer and insurance carrier bring error.

Affirmed.

T. Elton Drake, of Atlanta, for plaintiffs in error.

Moise, Post & Gardner, of Atlanta, for defendant in error.

MacINTYRE, Presiding Judge.

1. The evidence disclosed in part: On Saturday, June 1, 1946, Fred T. Stephens, the claimant, was employed by the Southeastern Stages, Inc., as a mechanic. He lived out from Loganville, Georgia, and rode the bus of his employer to and from Atlanta where he worked in the shops. On the date of the accident the claimant had finished his work in Atlanta sometime around noon. It was Saturday, and he had worked a half day. Later on in the afternoon he caught a bus, a Southeastern Stages, to go to his home near Loganville. He was riding a second bus following some distance behind the one in front which was also a bus of his employer. The front bus became mechanically disabled and when the second bus came upon it, it was about 5:30 P.M.

Claimant Stephens got off the bus on which he was riding and attempted to make repairs to the broken down bus. In so doing he had crawled under the front part and was lying with his legs protruding toward the road. A large van of the Associated Transport, Inc., drove up and parked opposite the crippled bus leaving a narrow passageway between the two vehicles. While in this position an automobile driven by one Billy Blackstone attempted to pass between the two parked vehicles and ran over and injured the left leg of Stephens to such an extent that it was amputated. The single director awarded compensation, and upon appeal the full board affirmed his claim.

In June, 1946, a claim was filed with the State Board of Workmen's Compensation by Fred Stephens. Thereafter Stephens filed a suit against Billy Blackstone and Associated Transport, Inc., for damages for personal injuries, the injuries being the same as those upon which this compensation claim is based. He alleged that his injuries were received as a result of the negligence of the said defendants.

On December 10, 1946, a covenant was made not to sue one of the defendants, Associated Transport, Inc., and the petition on the same date was dismissed. The award of the director was dated April 17, 1947.

Under the evidence above enumerated, together with the other evidence, the finding of the single director and the full board on appeal that the injury was compensable under the Workmen's Compensation Act was authorized, and the insurance carrier, the plaintiff in error, does not, in its briefs, argue to the contrary. The superior court of DeKalb County affirmed the award of the full board.

2. Under the provisions of Code, § 114-403, prior to Ga.L.1937, p. 528, 530, amending it, the insurance carrier could, under the circumstances therein stated, be subrogated to the rights of the employee and receive credit. As stated in American Mutual Liability Insurance Company v. Wig-ley, 179 Ga. 764, 177 S.E. 568, 569: "Where an injury occurs to an employee and the employer is required to compensate the employee, and at the same time a third person has injured the employee as a tortfeasor, if the injured employee establishes a legal liability against the third person who is a tort-feasor, the compensation awarded under the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act shall be reduced by a contribution from the recovery against the tort-feasor upon the legal liability for the wrong inflicted by him. From this it is plain that voluntary settlements between one who may have been injured by the negligence of another, and such other, are not within the scope of this section of the amendment to the original Workmen's Compensation Act. It appears * * * that it was expressly agreed in the settlement that the defendant did not admit legal liability. A reasonable inference which can be drawn from this language might be that the alleged tort-feasor, while denying any liability, was willing to make settlement and buy his peace rather than to be subjected to the trouble and expense of a lawsuit." See in this connection, Code, § 20-909, dealing with covenants not to sue.

The amount of compensation under section 114-403 was not reducible by the amount paid by a third party tort-feasor in a voluntary settlement after suit was filed where the liability was disclaimed in the settlement. Such section precluded the idea of voluntary settlement and intended that the compensation should be reduced only by the amount recovered judicially in a legal action. Walker v. Employers Liability Assurance Corporation, 66 Ga.App. 198, 17 S.E.2d 306; Lumbermen's Mutual Casualty Company v. Babb, 67 Ga.App. 161, 19 S.E.2d 550; Maryland Casualty Com pany v. Pitman, 70 Ga.App. 670, 29 S.E.2d 102.

But Ga.L.1922, p. 185, 186, and Code, § 114-403, were amended and materially changed by the Ga.L.1937, p. 528, 530, codified in Code Ann. § 114-403.

The only statute in this State under the title workmen's compensation attempting to confer authority to maintain a suit where the plaintiff in error, the insurance carrier, seeks to recover for a tort committed upon the employee (not seeking to recover for injury committed upon it or for a breach of contractual relations to it), is Code, § 114-403, as amended by ...