236 P.2d 1081 | Colo. | 1951
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is a workman’s compensation case involving the interpretation of certain sections of the Occupational Disease Disability Act of 1945. Under this act Laurel Jennings Alspaugh, an employee of the Gardner-Denver
“It is, therefore, ordered: That the respondents above named pay compensation to this claimant at $60.76 per month beginning January 9,1947 and continuing monthly thereafter until the full sum of $1,100.00 shall have been paid.”
This award was based on section 16, chapter 163, Session Laws of 1945, reading as follows: “The compensation benefits to which an employee or his dependents shall be entitled under this act for disability or death resulting from silicosis or asbestosis shall be the same as the compensation benefits to which an employee or his dependents shall be entitled for disability or death resulting from an occupational disease other than silicosis or asbestosis under the provisions of Section 14 and 15 of this act, provided however, that no compensation shall be payable for partial disability from silicosis or asbestosis and provided further, that the compensation payable for total disability from silicosis or asbestosis shall be subject to the following limitations as to the total amounts payable during a transitory period following the effective date of this act: If disablement occurs or, in case of no claim for prior disablement, if death occurs in the calendar month in which this act becomes effective [January 1946], the total compensation for dis
It appearing that Alspaugh’s total disability occurred in January 1947, the benefits to which he was entifed under the foregoing section were $500 for the month of January 1946, when the act became effective, and $50 for each month thereafter through January 1947, making $600 for the ensuing twelve months to be added to the $500 basic figure for the month of January 1946, or a total of $1,100. No appeal was taken from the referee’s order of March 8, 1948, and it therefore became the final order of the commission. Final payment of the monthly benefits was made in June 1948 and approved by the commission.
Thereafter, Alspaugh received no further payments. He died January 17, 1951, and his widow in due time filed claim for compensation as a dependent. The State
“Laurel J. Alspaugh died on January 17, 1951 as a result of silicosis for which he received the maximum benefits to which he was entitled under the Colorado Occupational Disease Disability Act. Claimant now contends that by reason of Section 10 (f) and Section 15 of said, law she is entitled to an additional $2,400 or $3,275. The Referee, however, is of the opinion that Section 16 of the Occupational Disease Disability Act is controlling and that under said Section claimant is not entitled to additional benefits for the reason that, her husband received the maximum allowance for either death or permanent disability prior to his death. -
“It is, therefore, ordered: That respondents pay to Mary E. Alspaugh the sum of $125 for and on account of funeral expense incurred and heretofore paid in full by her.
“It is further ordered: That claimant’s claim for benefits in addition to the sum heretofore received by her husband be and the same is hereby denied - and dismissed.”
Claimant widow subsequently filed her complaint in the district court to set aside this adverse- award and obtained favorable judgment vacating the commission’s award and remanding the cause with directions to enter a new award in the sum of $3,275 with interest. The employer, the Industrial Commission, and the State Compensation Insurance Fund seek reversal of the district court’s judgment. The trial court’s figures were apparently reached by taking the sum of $4,375, the maximum recovery allowed under both sections 14 and 15 of the act, and deducting the $1,100 disability benefits
From the foregoing -it will be noted that there is no dispute as to the facts in this case, the sole question being one of law, namely: the interpretation of the pertinent sections of the 1945 Occupational Disease Disability Act. We are of the opinion that the trial court erred in ignoring the provisions of section 16 and in basing its award on the above-mentioned sections of the act. Section 10 of the act, upon which counsel for claimant relies, does not provide any schedule of payments, but sets up limitations as to time within which only is the act applicable. Pertinent portions of section 14 read as follows: “Subject to the provisions of Section 17 of this act, an employee entitled to compensation under this act for disability resulting from an occupational disease other than silicosis or asbestosis shall be paid compensation during-the continuance of such disability, whether temporary or permanent, at the same weekly rate and in the same manner and to the same extent as in the case of temporary total disability resulting from an injury by accident under the Workmen’s Compensation Act of Colorado, * * * provided however, that no compensation shall be payable for partial disability, and that the aggregate amount of payments for total disability shall in no event exceed the sum of four thousand three hundred and seventy-five dollars ($4,375.00).” Italics supplied.
Section 15, upon which counsel for claimant also relies, reads: “Subject to the provision's of Section 17 of this Act, the compensation benefits to which the dependents of an employee shall be entitled under this act for .death resulting from an occupational disease other than silicosis or asbestosis shall be in the aggregate not to exceed the difference between the total sums paid to the employee for total disability resulting from such disease as provided in Section 14 of this act and the sum
The maximum payments under sections 14 and 15, supra, were increased by Session Laws of 1951, chapter 220, page 548, effective March 8, 1951, to $8,764.00.
It would appear that deceased received disability benefits during his lifetime under section 16, which is the only paragraph expressly dealing with total disability resulting from silicosis. In that section there is shown a clear intent to initiate payments for total disability caused by silicosis at a lower rate than for other occupational diseases. As time moves on from the effective date of the act, these payments increase at the rate of $50.00 per month during what is described in section 16 as the “transitory period,” which terminates when the payments reach the maximum allowed for other occupational diseases as provided in sections 14 and 15 of the act. Claimant’s husband suffered total disability within the “transitory period.” The date when disability first became total would seem to be determinative in computing the benefits. Only if death had occurred without any prior payments for total disability would the date of death become the effective date in computing the amount of benefit to be paid.
Acts 1939, Act No. 319, section 14 (b) (3) Arkansas, discloses a provision similar to section 16 of our statute, with the same reference to a “transitory period” in cases of compensation for disability from uncomplicated silicosis or asbestosis, with the same basic payment of $500 computed for the month in which the act became effective and the $50 per month additional payments to cover “compensation and death benefits.” In Fairbanks-Morse & Co. v. Tow, 209 Ark. 815, 192 S.W. (2d) 545, 547, a
Another statement covering the rationale for escalator clauses during transitory periods in payments for disability and death from silicosis is contained in Hobb’s Workmen’s Compensation Insurance (1939 ed.) page 238.
It is to be noted that in the case of other occupational diseases the legislature dealt with payments for disability in one section (14) and with death payments in a separate section (15); whereas, in dealing with a transitory period it lumped together in one section cases of
If it had been the intention of the legislature to make the same provision for cases of total disability and death caused by silicosis as those caused by other occupational diseases, there‘would have been no need for it to have written a separate paragraph relating solely to compensation in silicosis and asbestosis cases. Section 16 must be given some meaning. If it does not relate to such a case as the instant one, it is difficult to see to what situation it could apply—and the brief of counsel for claimant does not provide an answer.
An interpretation which gives effect to all of the provisions of the statute, including section 16, appears to be the one adopted by the Industrial Commission.
The judgment of the trial court is reversed and the cause remanded with directions to reinstate the award of the Industrial Commission.