145 So. 668 | Ala. | 1933
This is a proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act (Code 1923, § 7534 et seq.), predicated on injuries suffered by the plaintiff while working as a miner in a coal mine.
To the complaint as originally filed, Mack Hill and Mack Hill Coal Company were made parties defendant, but on the hearing the complaint was amended by striking as parties defendant Mack Hill and Mack Hill Coal Company, leaving the petitioner as the sole defendant, and, after hearing the evidence, the circuit court denied compensation on the ground that the relation of employer and employee did not exist between the plaintiff and the petitioner, Birmingham Clay Products Company, and judgment was rendered in favor of the defendant.
Thereafter, on motion filed by the plaintiff, the court set aside the judgment and restored the case to the docket for retrial, and the petition for certiorari is brought to review this ruling. Petitioner, invoking the rule established by Cobb v. Malone Collins,
In Continental Gin Co. v. Eaton,
The only provisions for review of the decisions of nisi prius courts in proceedings under the Workmen's Compensation Act are found in sections 7571 and 7578, Code of 1923, and relate to final judgments or decrees only.
In Summit Coal Co. v. Walker,
And in Woodward Iron Co. v. Jones,
In Guntner v. Wofford Co.,
While the statement in Continental Gin Co. v. Eaton, supra, may seem to indicate that this court, in reviewing an order granting a new trial in a proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act, will examine the entire evidence and pass upon its weight and sufficiency to sustain the judgment that has been set aside, what immediately follows clearly indicates that the extent of the review is limited to questions of law, in agreement with our decisions in reviewing cases under the act. The rule announced in Cobb v. Malone Collins,
Therefore the record presents but two questions for review. The first is, Did the court have the power to set aside the final judgment and grant the rehearing? and, second, Was there any legal evidence offered on the trial, or newly discovered, that warranted the court in granting the rehearing?
The circuit courts and the judges thereof are invested with plenary power in the application and enforcement of the Workmen's Compensation Act, and are authorized to proceed summarily in ascertaining the facts. We entertain no doubt that they have the power and jurisdiction, on timely application and for good and sufficient cause, to vacate and set aside a judgment previously rendered, and re-examine the facts. Such power is essential to the administration of justice. State ex rel. Anseth v. District Court of Koochiching County,
There was some legal evidence, if believed, that would support the view that the plaintiff was an employee of defendant. J. E. Ross Co. et al. v. Collins,
The writ is denied, and judgment affirmed.
All the Justices concur.