59 So. 2d 321 | Miss. | 1952
The main question for determination in this case is whether appellant was a compensation insurer for the benefit of Noah Bussell at the time of his death May 26, 1951, as an employee of Bube Morris. The attorney-referee, the full commission and the circuit court held that appellant was such an insurer, and this appeal is from those holdings. The question arises under these circumstances:
Morris was operating a sawmill. Bussell was his employee. Bussell came to- his death as a result of an accident in the line of duty. Beginning" January 24, 1950, appellant issued to Morris five successive binders, each for fifteen days, the last expiring at midnight April 8, 1950. By such binders the insurer acknowledged itself “* * * bound by a liability insurance undertaking”, under the Mississippi "Workmen’s Compensation Law. Chapter 354, General Laws of Mississippi 1948 page 507. The binder method of insurance was adopted instead of issuance of-a regular policy because Morris was undertaking to procure boiler im
The Workmen’s Compensation Commission had never been notified, either by Morris or appellant, that Morris had any workmen’s compensation insurance, and no notice was given the commission by either partj^ of the expiration of the binder contract, or that the insurance would not be renewed. It is admitted that at the time of the death of Russell no liability insurance existed as between Morris and appellant, but it is contended by appellee, the claimant herein, that such insurance did exist as between appellant and the claimant because of the failure of the insurer to give thirty days’ notice to the commission, as required by Section 33 of the Workmen’s Compensation Law and by Rule 5 of the commission, that the binder insurance contract would terminate on April 8, 1950, and would not be renewed. The attorney-referee, the full commission and the circuit court held that the insurance was in force on May 26, 1951, when Noah Russell was killed.
Rule 5 of the commission is as follows:
“Any insurance carrier having issued a policy to an employer and desiring to cancel or terminate same, shall be required to give 30 days prior notice thereof in writing to the Commission and to the employer. In the event a request for cancellation is occasioned by the employer’s having taken coverage with another company or if for any reason the employer chooses to reject a policy presented to him by the carrier, the Commission shall, upon application of the carrier and upon proper showing, waive the 30 day prior notice requirement.
“The employer whose policy has thus been can-celled or terminated, shall, on or before the fifteenth*708 clay after receipt of notice of cancellation or termination thereof, file evidence with the Commission of having obtained other coverage in accordance with the Act; or that he has been rejected by at least three companies registered to write compensation in this State, in which event his recpiest for insurance shall be processed under the assigned risk plan as provided for in Section 50 of the Act. ’ ’
We think the commission had the power, under the statute, to promulgate the rule. The statute was embodied into the insurance contract as though written therein. It, in effect, so expressly provides. The main purpose of both is assurance to the commission that eligible employees are protected under the act. It is urged by appellant that the statute does not cover a binder; that it has reference only to regular insurance policies. It will be noted that Section 33 uses the phrase “Every contract for the insurance of the compensation herein provided for, or against liability therefor * * * ”, etc. A binder is a contract of insurance.
Appellant strongly contends that the requirement of thirty days’ notice to the commission of the intent not to renew a policy cannot be applicable to a binder which is to run only fifteen days. The first answer to that is the binders could have been -written for sufficient duration to enable the carrier to comply with the law, or not be written at all, and the second is that by the method here adopted,.or any other method not permitting time to comply with the statute, the requirements of the law could be entirely defeated.
We think the insurance was in force as to Russell when he was killed May 26, 1951. Passarelli v. Columbia Engineering & Contracting Co., 270 N. Y. 68, 200 N. E. 583; Otterbein v. Babor & Comeau Co., 272 N. Y. 149, 5 N. E. (2d) 71, 107 A. L. R. 1510.
There were two hearings upon the question of liability, the first on February 9, 1951, at Columbia, and the second on February 26, 1951, at Jackson, Mississippi.
No case, or statutory provision, is cited to support the contention here made. The answer is to be deduced from the 1948 Workmen’s Compensation Law, supra, in effect when this matter was heard. Section 18 of that law provides that “Informal conferences and hearings in contested cases may be conducted by a commissioner or a duly designated representative of the commission”, —in this case the attorney-referee. That section further provides the commission “* * * shall make or cause to be made such investigation as it deems necessarjq and upon application of either party, or upon its own initiative, shall order a hearing * * * ”. Section 21 empowers the commission upon its own initiative, or upon application of any party in interest, to reopen and reexamine an award, or denial of award, within the time stated in the statute. Section 22 contains this provision: “In making an investigation or inquiry or conducting a hearing the commission shall not be bound by common
Affirmed.