Owen v. Ready Made Buildings, Inc.
| Decision Date | 03 November 1956 |
| Docket Number | No. 40394,40394 |
| Citation | 180 Kan. 286,303 P.2d 168 |
| Parties | Robert E. OWEN, Appellee, v. READY MADE BUILDINGS, Inc., a Corporation, Appellant. |
| Court | Kansas Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
1. The furnishing of medical aid to an injured employee is payment of compensation within the meaning of G.S.1955 Supp. 44-510.
2. An award by the workmen's compensation commissioner, providing for payment of medical expenses for the care and treatment of an injured employee, is an award of compensation to the workman, as that term is used in G.S.1949, 44-512a, to the same extent as the provision in the award for weekly payments of compensation made in his favor.
3. Under G.S.1949, 44-512a, a failure to pay within two weeks after written demand, any part of the compensation awarded when due, or any installment thereof including medical expenses, makes the entire amount of compensation awarded immediately due and payable, and authorizes the workman to maintain an action for the recovery of the entire amount of compensation awarded.
4. The phrase 'said employee or other person entitled to said compensation may maintain an action,' as used in G.S.1949, 44-512a, is construed to mean the employee or his dependents who are entitled to compensation.
5. The provisions of G.S.1949, 44-512a, are applicable to awards for an indefinite period of time.
R. L. Letton, Pittsburg, argued the cause, and P. E. Nulton, Pittsburg, was with him on the briefs for appellant.
Morris Matuska, Pittsburg, argued the cause, and was on the briefs for appellee.
Plaintiff brings this action under the provisions of G.S.1949, 44-512a, to recover a judgment for the entire amount due under an award of compensation entered by the workmen's compensation commissioner, on the ground that the defendant failed to pay part of the medical expenses of the attending physician, as provided in the award, within two weeks after plaintiff's demand in the form provided by statute.
On December 30, 1955, the workmen's compensation commissioner awarded plaintiff weekly compensation for an indefinite period not to exceed 415 weeks for injuries suffered by plaintiff while in the employ of the defendant. Certain items of medical expenses were included as a part of the award. One of these was a charge by Dr. Samuel B. Muller in the sum of $396. No appeal was taken from the award. At the time this action was filed, all payments under the award, including weekly compensation, had been paid, except that part of the award of $396 due Dr. Muller for medical treatment of plaintiff. On February 6, 1956, plaintiff made written demand on defendant for payment of 'all unpaid compensation then due including a medical expense awarded, * * *.' On February 23, plaintiff filed his petition in the district court of Crawford County claiming the balance of the awarded in a lump sum, by reason of defendant's failure to pay on demand the amount due Dr. Muller for medical treatment. From an order of the trial court overruling defendant's demurrer to plaintiff's petition, on the ground it failed to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, defendant appeals.
The question presented is whether, under G.S.1949, 44-512a, the employer's failure to pay within two weeks after employee's written demand, a part of the medical expense incurred in the treatment of the employee, and included in the award made to the employee by the workmen's compensation commissioner, accelerates and makes the employer liable to pay the entire award, where there is no default in the weekly compensation due the workman under an indefinite award for temporary total disability, for a period of not to exceed 415 weeks.
We are confronted first with whether expense of medical treatment and care of the injured workman is compensation within the Workmen's Compensation Act.
G.S.1955 Supp. 44-510, provides that the amount of compensation under this act shall be: (1) Treatment and care of injured employees. It is apparent under this statute that the primary obligation imposed upon the employer in favor of the workman is to pay compensation in the form of medical treatment and care of the employee.
In Richardson v. National Refining Co., 136 Kan. 724, 18 P.2d 131, we held that the furnishing of medical aid to an injured employee constituted the payment of compensation within the meaning of the act. To the same effect is Bishop v. Dolese Brothers Co., 155 Kan. 288, 124 P.2d 446, and in Dressler v. Dressler, 167 Kan. 749, 208 P.2d 271, we held that the furnishing of medical aid and hospitalization by an employer to an employee was payment of compensation as the term is used in the Workmen's Compensation Act. See, also, Duncan v. W. M. Davidson Construction Co., 170 Kan. 520, 524, 227 P.2d 95, and Angleton v. Foster Wheeler Construction Co., 177 Kan. 134, 276 P.2d 325.
An award by the workmen's compensation commissioner, providing for the payment of certain medical expenses for the care and treatment of the injured employee, is an award of compensation to the injured workman, including all items that go to make up the award for the benefit of those named...
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...Co., 159 Kan. 213, 152 P.2d 860, 155 A.L.R. 546; Miller v. Massman Construction Co., 171 Kan. 713, 237 P.2d 373; Owen v. Ready Made Buildings, Inc., 180 Kan. 286, 303 P.2d 168; Owen v. Ready Made Buildings, Inc., 181 Kan. 659, 313 P.2d 267; Redenbaugh v. State Department of Social Welfare, ......
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