United States v. Luquire Funeral Chapel
| Decision Date | 31 October 1952 |
| Docket Number | No. 13763.,13763. |
| Citation | 199 F.2d 429 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES v. LUQUIRE FUNERAL CHAPEL et al. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Robert Mandel, Atty. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., Holmes Baldridge, Asst. Atty. Gen., John D. Hill, U. S. Atty., George Huddleston, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., Birmingham, Ala., for appellant
Joseph S. Mead, Birmingham, Ala., for appellees.
Before BORAH, STRUM, and RIVES, Circuit Judges.
The district court held that a notice addressed to "Luquire Ambulance Company" when it should have been addressed to "Luquire Funeral Chapel, Inc." was insufficient, and hence that no lien was created within the purview of Section 12(o) of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, 45 U.S.C.A. § 362(o), set out in the margin.1 The appellee2 insists that the judgment in its favor should be affirmed on account of the claimed insufficiency of the notice, and, if not, then because there was no proof "of any liability" on the part of the appellee for the sickness of the railroad employee.
The case was tried upon an agreed statement of facts. The railroad employee, George R. Sewell, was injured in a motorcycle accident. An ambulance of Luquire Funeral Chapel, Inc., while transporting him to a hospital, collided with an automobile. Luquire Funeral Chapel, Inc. denied and still denies all liability for the injuries alleged to have been sustained by Sewell as the result of said collision, but ultimately agreed to a settlement pursuant to which judgment by consent in the State court was entered in favor of Sewell and against the Luquire Funeral Chapel, Inc. in the sum of $5,000.00 and costs, which judgment has been paid and satisfied.
Meanwhile, Sewell had filed claims with the Railroad Retirement Board for sickness benefits stating that his injuries were sustained in a collision between an automobile and an ambulance of "Luquire Ambulance Company, Birmingham, Alabama." Over a period of months, the Railroad Retirement Board paid to him sickness benefits on said claims in the total amount of $985.00. The Board mailed a letter addressed to the "Luquire Ambulance Company" notifying it of the Board's claimed right of reimbursement under the provisions of Section 12(o), supra. There was no Luquire Ambulance Company, but the correct corporate title was Luquire Funeral Chapel, Inc. The letter was received by appellee's President and turned over by him to its attorney, who placed it in the legal files concerning the suit which Sewell had brought against the appellee. Notwithstanding that letter, Sewell's claim against the appellee was subsequently compromised and settled without recognition of the Board's right of reimbursement.
Under Section 12(o), the lien arises "upon notice" to the party alleged to be responsible for the injury. Appellee insists that since the notice is a condition precedent to the creation of the lien, the Board had no rights until the giving of the notice in precisely the manner required. It appears to us that no particular form of notice is prescribed, and that actual notice is sufficient. Luquire Funeral Chapel, Inc. was not misled because the notice was wrongly addressed to Luquire Ambulance Company. It reached the appellee for whom it was intended and fulfilled every purpose of, and in effect was, a legal and sufficient notice.3 We would not underestimate the help rendered by technical accuracy in notices and proceedings toward attaining the goal of justice under law, but it is seldom that a poor vehicle should compel abandonment of the journey.
In support of its further defense, appellee points out that the Board is entitled to reimbursement from any sum or damages paid "on account of any liability" based upon the infirmity for sickness resulting from which the benefits are paid, and that there was no showing in this case of any such liability on the part of the appellee. The appellee denied liability and insists that "it bought its peace and procured a release by the entry of a consent judgment." Section 12(o), supra, explicitly provides that the Board's right of reimbursement extends to any sum or damages paid through "compromise" or "settlement". It refers several times in the alternative to the employee's "right or claim", and in one instance follows those words with the alternative expression "exists or is asserted". The railroad Unemployment Insurance Act contains no express provision for the Board's enforcement of the employee's right or claim against an alleged tortfeasor in the event the employee himself elects not to pursue the same, and that is...
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...is entitled by way of reimbursement." 45 U.S.C. § 362(o); Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Co., 237 F.2d at 140; United States v. Luquire Funeral Chapel, 199 F.2d 429 (5th Cir. 1952). The order of the district court is Before the Court are the motions of petitioner Brotherhood of Railroad Signa......
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...(Lewis v. Railroad Retirement Board, 256 Ala. 430 , cert. den. 343 U.S. 919 [72 S.Ct. 677, 961 L.Ed. 1333]; U. S. v. Luquire-Funeral Chapel [5 Cir], 199 F.2d 429; U. S. v. Hall [D. C.], 116 F.Supp. 'The following judgment creditors of Mr. Ruvolo claimed that they had judgment liens enforcea......
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United Pacific Insurance Company v. United States
...facts, plaintiff's liability is clear and defendant is entitled to recover $599 on its counterclaim. United States v. Luquire Funeral Chapel, 199 F.2d 429 (5th Cir. 1952). During oral argument before the court, plaintiff announced that it was no longer contesting defendant's 1 The Whittaker......
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United States v. ATLANTIC COAST LINE RAILROAD COMPANY
...not disputed that the Board's letter to the Railroad, dated July 20, 1948, was adequate notice under the statute, United States v. Luquire Funeral Chapel, 5 Cir., 199 F.2d 429, and that the Board thereby acquired a valid lien on the Mintz claim, the judgment and the damages paid thereunder.......