Prudential Ins. Co. of Am. v. Laval, 129/635.

• Decision Date: 29 January 1942
• Docket Number: 129/635.
• Parties: PRUDENTIAL INS. CO. OF AMERICA et al. v. LAVAL et al.
• Court: New Jersey Court of Chancery

23 A.2d 908

PRUDENTIAL INS. CO. OF AMERICA et al.
v.
LAVAL et al.

129/635.

Court of Chancery of New Jersey.

Jan. 29, 1942.

23 A.2d 909

Syllabus by the Court.

1. The Workmen's Compensation Act, R. S.1937, 34:15-1 et seq, N.J.S.A. 34:15-1 et seq, evinces a clear legislative intent to establish a scheme for compensation of an injured employee or his dependents by employer or his insurance carrier and to confer upon latter a right to reimbursement for compensation thus paid by them out of recovery against third-party tort-feasor.

2. Employer's or insurance carrier's right of reimbursement is necessarily limited to rights which those entitled to compensation under Workmen's Compensation Act themselves would have had to share in benefits of third-party recovery.

3. The right to recover for a wrongful death is the creature, not of the common law, but of the Death Act, enacted on March 3rd, 1848, now R.S.1937, 2:47-1 et seq, N.J. S.A. 2:47-1 et seq, which confers that right on the personal representatives of the deceased for sole benefit, however, of persons therein named, some of whom may or may not be entitled to compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act.

4. The right to recover for a trespass committed against the person or property, real or personal, of a deceased during his lifetime is the creature, not of the common law, but of the Executors and Administrators Act, enacted on March 17, 1855, now R.S.1937, 2:26-9, as amended by P.L.1938, Chap. 29, p. 103, N.J.S.A.1938, 2:26-9, which confers that right on the personal representatives of the deceased for the benefit of his estate.

5. The right of action conferred on decedent's personal representative by the Executors and Administrators Act, supra, to recover damages sustained as a result of decedent's injuries, and that conferred on him by the Death Act, supra, by reason of decedent's death, are entirely separate, distinct and different causes of action, so that a recovery may be had on both without subjecting the tort-feasor to double damages.

6. Where decedent's executrix sued third-party tort-feasors on two separate counts, one based upon the provisions of the Death Act, and the other upon those of the Executors and Administrators Act, and the jury returned a separate verdict on each, the amount of the verdict rendered on each of said counts, and not the total amount of the judgment entered on both, is to be employed in ascertaining the total amount which the employer or his insurance carrier is entitled to have credited against his or its liability, where as here, decedent's dependent widow alone, and not his daughter, is entitled to compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act.

7. Under Workmen's Compensation Act, employer or his insurance carrier is only entitled to credit for difference between decedent's widow's share of third party recovery and the aggregate amount of the expenses of suit, not exceeding $200, and the attorney's fees, not exceeding one-third of employer's total compensation liability. R. S.1937, 34:15-40, N.J.S.A. 34:15-40.

8. The employer or his insurance carrier, against whom compensation is awarded under the Compensation Act for injuries to and

23 A.2d 910

Interpleader suit by the Prudential Insurance Company of America, a corporation of the State of New Jersey, and another, against Bolvina Walters Laval (also known as Minnie Laval and as Balvina Laval. executrix of the estate of Andrew Laval, deceased, and another.

Decree in accordance with opinion.

Davies & Davies, of Paterson, for defendant Bolvina Walters Laval, etc.

Charles A. Rooney, of Jersey City, for defendant Bakers Mut. Ins. Co.

LEWIS, Vice Chancellor.

This is an interpleader action and is submitted for decision upon the pleadings and a stipulation of facts, thus leaving no controverted facts for present determination.

The facts, as admitted and shown by the stipulation, disclose that on February 27, 1939, Andrew Laval, hereinafter designated as the "decedent", while in the course of his employment with the Merchants Bakers Co-operation Association, was struck by the automobile of complainant, The Prudential Insurance Company of America, while it was being operated by complainant, Abe Kaufman, resulting in his sustaining injuries from which he subsequently died, leaving him surviving a married daughter and his dependent widow, Bolvina W. Laval, whom he had named as the sole executrix and beneficiary under his last will and testament.

Thereafter, she, as his sole dependent, filed her petition with the Workmen's Compensation Bureau against his employer to recover the compensation due her under the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act, R.S.1937, 34:15-1 et seq., N.J.S.A. 34:15-1 et seq., by reason of his death. That Bureau on March 5, 1939, after a hearing, awarded her compensation for a period of 300 weeks, to be paid by decedent's employer at the rate of $15.49 per week, which, in addition to an allowance of $150 for funeral expenses and $159.20 for medical and miscellaneous expenses, amounted to the sum of $4,856.20.

In addition to that action, she also, but in her capacity as sole executrix under the decedent's last will and testament, instituted a suit in the New Jersey Supreme Court against the third-party tort-feasors, the complainants herein, and which action she predicated upon two separate counts. Under the first of these counts, which was based upon the provisions of the Executors and Administrators Act, R.S.1937, 2:26-9, as amended by P.L. 1938, Chap. 29, p. 103, N.J.S.A. 2:26-9, she sought to recover damages for the decedent's pain, suffering and medical expenses; while under the second, which was based upon the provisions of the Death Act, R.S.1937, 2:47-1 et seq., N.J. S.A. 2:47-1 et seq...