271 P. 876 | Wyo. | 1928
This is a proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Law, in which the court allowed to Syd Buchanan, an employee of the Standard Oil Company of Indiana, the sum of $1,200 as compensation for the loss of his left leg below the knee. Final judgment was entered herein on June 6, 1928. From this judgment the company has brought proceedings in error. The trial court extended the time within which to bring these proceedings, as it was authorized to do under Section 4328, Wyo. C.S. 1920. A motion for a new trial was filed on July 19, 1928, and was overruled on the same date. A bill of *375 exceptions was presented to the trial judge and allowed on August 28, 1928. This bill contains the motion for a new trial above mentioned.
The petition in error filed herein complains of the overruling of the motion for a new trial; of the fact that the judgment of the court is not sustained by sufficient evidence; and of other matters, all of which occurred during the trial of the case. If this were an ordinary civil case, accordingly, a motion for a new trial would have been required to be filed within ten days after the making of the final order, in accordance with Rule 13 of this court, and as held in Schmidt v. First National Bank,
It is held in the case of Union Sanitary Mfg. Co. v. Davis,
"Any order given and made in any investigation or hearing by a Court or Judge pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter shall be reviewable by the State Supreme Court on proceedings in errorin the manner prescribed by the code of civil procedure; provided, however, that the petition in error, bill of exceptions and record on appeal must be filed in the Supreme Court within thirty days from the date of decision or order on motion for new trial by a Court or Judge, unless the time be extended by order of Court or Judge," etc.
This is the only Section in the Workmen's Compensation Act which has any application in the case at bar, and under its express provisions the code of civil procedure applies to appeals taken in cases within its scope, except as the act itself makes provisions to the contrary. The section quoted seems to contemplate that a motion for a new trial may be filed, and that if filed, the time for appellate proceedings shall commence to run from the date of the decision on such motion. It would seem to be clear that the motion mentioned in the foregoing Section of the statute is the motion for a new trial provided for in the code of civil procedure, namely, the motion required to be filed within ten days from the time of the making of the final order. If this were not so, an unlimited time would be given in which to institute appellate proceedings; and that is clearly contrary to the general intendment of the Workmen's Compensation Act, *377
which contemplates speedy adjustment of claims under it. There is nothing in the statute which indicates that the filing of a motion for a new trial is permissive only. On the contrary, the fact that proceedings in error are prescribed to be taken in the same manner as provided in the code of civil procedure seems to clearly indicate that proceedings in error in workmen's compensation cases are on the same footing, so far as motions for a new trial are concerned, as proceedings in error in civil cases. Other courts have held that when the workmen's compensation law does not specifically provide what procedure shall be followed, the rules and provisions prescribed by the code of civil procedure should be followed. Weighton v. Austin Co.,
"Whenever any questions of practice or procedure in compensation cases have arisen, this court has held that the established rules of legal procedure in courts of law, so far as the same are applicable, are to be followed."
And in the Maryland Casualty Company case, the court said:
"A proceeding on a writ of review from an award of the industrial commission is in effect an appeal from the decision of said commission, and except when otherwise provided by statute or the rules of this court, should be governed by the same principles as appeals from the superior court."
In the case of Mullen v. Mitchell,
Counsel for defendant in error ask that the penalties provided by Section 6372, Wyo. C.S. 1920, should be assessed because this court would not be justified in certifying that there was reasonable cause for the proceeding in error herein. Such penalty has never heretofore been asked in connection with a motion to dismiss, and it has never been the practice to certify the existence or non-existence of reasonable cause upon the dismissal of a case, evidently upon the theory that Section 6372, supra, did not apply. We need not definitely decide whether it does or not, though we are at present inclined to think that it does not, nor have we considered the point, since it has not been presented, what effect the request for such penalty has upon the consideration of the main case. We find no justification for the assessment of a penalty in the present case. The mere fact that we disagree with counsel for the plaintiff in error furnishes no such justification. *379 Section 6372, supra, was not intended to act as a threat against appeals to this court, and certainly not against appeals which involve a point, as is true here, which has never been previously decided by this court. And in the instant case, we cannot refrain from further bearing in mind that the state is, to some extent at least, interested in cases of this kind.
Motion to Dismiss Sustained.
KIMBALL and RINER, JJ., concur.