Southwestern Surety Ins. Co. v. Vickstrom

• Decision Date: 20 March 1918
• Docket Number: (No. 7549.)
• Citation: 203 S.W. 389
• Parties: SOUTHWESTERN SURETY INS. CO. et al. v. VICKSTROM et al.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

203 S.W. 389

SOUTHWESTERN SURETY INS. CO. et al. v. VICKSTROM et al.

(No. 7549.)

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Galveston.

March 20, 1918.

Rehearing Denied March 28, 1918.

Appeal from District Court, Galveston County; Clay S. Briggs, Judge.

Suit under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Gustava Vickstrom and another, as the surviving mother and sister of Peter Vickstrom, deceased, to obtain compensation for his death, opposed by C. Flanagan & Sons, employer, and by the Southwestern Surety Insurance Company, successor, as insurer. Demurrer to the petition overruled, and judgment for plaintiffs, and both surety companies appeal. Affirmed.

Andrews, Streetman, Burns & Logue, of Houston, for appellants. H. C. Hughes, of Galveston, for appellees.

GRAVES, J.

This case presents but a single question, and, very broadly stated, that is: Are nonresident aliens entitled to recover the benefits provided by the Texas Workman's Compensation Act?

Peter Vickstrom suffered accidental injuries while in the course of his employment by C. Flanagan & Sons, at Port Arthur, Tex., from which he later died. His employers at the time were subscribers, and carried an insurance policy for the benefit of their employés under the terms of the act, issued by appellant Southwestern Surety Insurance Company; this company subsequently quit business, all its assets and liabilities being taken over by its coappellant, Southern Surety Company. Compensation up to the time of his death, aggregating $145.20, was paid Vickstrom. After his death, liability to pay any further compensation was denied, primarily upon the ground that the claimants were nonresident aliens, and were neither beneficiaries under the Texas Compensation Act, nor otherwise entitled under the laws of Texas to receive its benefits. These claimants were appellees, Gustava and Irene Vickstrom, his mother and sister, respectively, who then sued appellants in the Tenth district court, at Galveston, setting up the facts stated, and claiming the compensation prescribed in the act as the legal beneficiaries of the deceased, Peter Vickstrom, their petition showing upon its face that they were residents of the Grand Duchy of Finland, Russia. The appellants first replied by general demurrer, which being overruled, they then specially alleged that the plaintiffs were nonresident aliens, and that, being citizens of a foreign country and residing therein, they were not beneficiaries, and not entitled to the compensation, because citizens of the United States were not accorded like privileges in their country. The trial court, after sustaining a demurrer to this last-mentioned allegation and specifically ordering that no proof of it be admitted or considered for any purpose, heard the case, and rendered judgment for the appellees against both surety companies for $726 and interest, reciting that it was the aggregate compensation to them under the terms of the statute in question at $13.20 per week, or 60 per cent. of his average weekly wages, arising by reason of Peter Vickstrom's death, and accruing from the date thereof to the date of the judgment, and providing that any right to sue for such further sums as might thereafter become due should not be prejudiced thereby. From that judgment both surety companies have appealed.

No complaint is made here that one of the appellees, being a sister of the deceased employé was not as such a legal beneficiary under the Compensation Act, but, as first stated, the sole contention presented in different forms under the various assignments is that they could not recover on account of being nonresident aliens. We accordingly treat all the assignments as one, and determine the single question presented. The position of appellants is that, appellees having admitted themselves to be nonresident aliens, since the allegation that the laws of their home country, the Duchy of Finland, Russia, did not accord to residents of the United States and of Texas the same rights in personal property as appellees claimed in this suit must be taken as true, under the court's action in sustaining the demurrer to it, appellees were concluded as a matter of law, could not become legal beneficiaries under the Compensation Act, and were also barred by the terms of our statute relating to aliens. Article 15, Revised Statutes of 1911. The trial court's conclusion of law upon the issue thus raised was as follows:

"The fact that the plaintiffs in this case are aliens constitutes no bar to their recovery, since neither under the Workman's Compensation Act, nor under the general law of this state, are they denied the right to inherit. The cause or causes of action arising in their favor under the Workman's Compensation Act constitute personal property, and both under this act and the common law and general laws of this state aliens may inherit same regardless of whether similar rights are accorded citizens of this country in the country or countries of such aliens. Acts of 1913, page 429, § 8, part 1; article 5246kk, Vernon's Sayles' Civil Statutes 1914; article 2461, Vernon's Sayles' Civil Statutes 1914; Franco-Texas Land Co. v. Chaptive (Sup.) 3 S. W. 31; McGovern v. Railway Co., 235 U. S. 389, 35 Sup. Ct. 127, 59 L. Ed. 283; Caliendo's Case, 219 Mass. 498, 107 N. E. 370; Vujic v. Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. (D. C.) 220 Fed. 290; State ex rel. Crookston Lbr. Co. v. District Court, 131 Minn. 27, 154 N. W. 509. Where there is no provision in the Compensation Act denying benefit of such to aliens, resident, or nonresident, such aliens stand upon the same footing as citizens of this state, and are entitled to full benefits of such act. Bradberry on Workman's Compensation, vol. 1, p. 582; Bonthron v. Light & Fuel Co., 8 Ariz. 129, 71 Pac. 941, 61 L. R. A. 563, specially in point; Anustasakas v. Contracting Co., 51 Wash. 119, 98 Pac. 93, 21 L. R. A. (N. S.) 267, 130 Am. St. Rep. 1089; Romano v. Brick & Pipe Co., 125 Iowa, 591, 101 N. W. 437, 68 L. R. A. 132, 106 Am. St. Rep. 323, 2 Ann. Cas. 678. The plea of alienage is not favored in law. Anustasakas v. Contracting Co., 51 Wash. 119, 98 Pac. 93, 21 L. R. A. (N. S.) 267, 130 Am. St. Rep. 1089, 8 Neg. & Com. Cas. 67; Hanrick v. Hanrick, 61 Tex. 604, 605. Article 15 of Vernon's Sayles' Civil Statutes, relating to aliens, has no application whatever to the Workman's Compensation Act, and in no event can be construed to limit, abridge, or deny the rights of aliens to the benefit and the right to inherit under said Compensation Act."

Without intending to approve every expression therein, we think this general conclusion of the court below was correct. Moreover, since the policy of our general laws has undoubtedly been not to discriminate against nonresident aliens, in relation to personal rights, and since our compensation act itself does not expressly disqualify them, it seems to ...