Tandsetter v. Oscarson
| Decision Date | 01 February 1928 |
| Docket Number | 5463 |
| Citation | 217 N.W. 660,56 N.D. 392 |
| Court | North Dakota Supreme Court |
Appeal from the District Court of Cass County, Cole, J.
Affirmed.
Burdick & Shaft (Scott Cameron, on oral argument), for appellant.
J. E Hendrickson and V. R. Lovell, for respondent.
The plaintiff claims, that in the course of his employment as a motorcycle policeman in the city of Fargo, without fault on his part, the defendant driving an automobile negligently collided with, and injured the plaintiff. The city was insured under the Workmen's Compensation Act, and on application to the Workmen's Compensation Bureau the plaintiff was awarded $ 1,844.87 as a full and final award for his injuries. Plaintiff was injured on the 13th day of May, 1925, and on the 3d day of June, 1927 the Workmen's Compensation Bureau by resolution assigned its cause of action to the plaintiff who then brought this action.
There was a demurrer to the complaint on grounds:
(1) Plaintiff has no legal capacity to sue; (2) that there is a defect of parties; (3) that the complaint does not state a cause of action. The demurrer was sustained and from an order entered thereon the plaintiff appeals.
It is conceded that there is but one question involved, viz.: Can the plaintiff maintain this action after applying for and receiving from the Workmen's Compensation Bureau a final award for his injury? In other words is the remedy provided by the Workmen's Compensation Act exclusive of all other remedies or may an injured employee have the full benefit of the act, and also a right of action against a third party responsible for the injury?
The Workmen's Compensation Bureau is a state institution, a part of the department of Agriculture and Labor, and is intended to provide and does provide insurance for industrial accidents. The bureau is vested with full power and jurisdiction over and has supervision of every employment and place of employment, to enforce and administer all laws requiring such employment and place, to be safe. It may inquire of, and it is the duty of every employer to give all information necessary to enforce the provision of the law.
Every employer subject to the act must annually pay into the compensation fund the premium fixed by the bureau and if he has complied with the law in other respects he is on the payment of the premium insured against all accidents in his business, and free from any liability thereon.
In paragraph "H" it is declared to be the intent of this
It seems to be the intent of the law to retain jurisdiction over the injured, not only until compensation is paid, but continuously for the purpose of assisting, educating, and restoring to industry those injured in the course of employment. This is more conclusively shown by § 1 of the act which reads as follows:
"The state of North Dakota, exercising herein its police and sovereign powers, hereby declares that the prosperity of the state depends in a large measure upon the well-being of its wage workers, and therefore, for workmen injured in hazardous employments, and their families and dependents, sure and certain relief is hereby provided regardless of questions of fault and to the exclusion of every other remedy, proceeding or compensation, except as otherwise provided in this act; and to that end all civil actions and civil causes of action for such personal injuries and all jurisdiction of the courts of the state over such causes are hereby abolished, except as in this act provided."
From this section it clearly appears that the purpose of the act is to provide sure and certain relief regardless of questions of fault and to the exclusion of every other remedy, proceeding, or compensation, except, as otherwise provided in the act. From this language standing alone it would seem that anyone who accepts this sure and certain relief, as provided in the act, accepts it on the condition that it is a final settlement and exclusive of every other remedy, except as otherwise provided in this act. But the statute does not stop with this language, but continues as follows, "and to that end, all civil actions and civil causes of action for such personal injuries, and all jurisdiction of courts of the state over such causes are hereby abolished, except as in this act provided." The remedy is not only exclusive but all actions for damages and the jurisdiction of all courts over such actions, except as provided in the act itself are abolished. It becomes necessary then to search the act for the purpose of determining whether there is any provision therein which enables the plaintiff to sue a third party not bound by the act after having received the benefit of a final award. It is conceded that he has no such right unless it is given by § 398a20, Supplement Comp. Laws 1913 which reads as follows:
"When an injury or death for...
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