40 S.E.2d 228 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1946
1. Every policy for the insurance of compensation under the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act is made subject to the provisions of that act, and the provisions of the act become a part of the contract as if expressly incorporated therein.
(a) The parties to a workmen's-compensation-insurance contract are bound by the rates approved by the Insurance Commissioner for coverage of such contract.
(b) Where the rates applicable to certain employees of the plaintiffs covered by a policy of insurance of compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act are reduced by the Rating Board, and the reduction is approved by the Insurance Commissioner, and the defendant insurance *518 company continues to charge and collect from the plaintiffs the rates stated in the policy instead of the new rates so fixed, the plaintiffs may recover from the defendant company the overcharges in premiums paid by them to such company.
2. Where the plaintiffs did not know of the changes in classifications and reduction of rates applicable to an insurance policy issued by the defendant to them, and paid the defendant company premiums in excess of the rates approved by the Insurance Commissioner, which overcharges were charged and collected by the defendant with knowledge that they were in excess of the rates approved by the Insurance Commissioner, the plaintiffs are not estopped from a recovery of such overcharges from the defendant, upon the ground that the payments made were voluntary payments.
3. The petition set out a cause of action for the alleged unlawful overcharges in the premiums sued for, and the trial judge erred in sustaining the general demurrer to the petition and in dismissing the action.
That between certain dates, set forth in their petition, the plaintiffs alleged, when the commissioner made certain classification and rate changes in the form of certain specified reductions, the defendant compensation-insurance writer violated the law and violated the *520 plaintiffs' confidence by failing to reduce the rates charged the plaintiffs in conformity with the new rates promulgated by the commissioner for the periods specified, and failed to inform the plaintiffs of such new rates, but continued to charge and collect from them under the original rates, and thus overcharged them in a sum aggregating $2192.99, as set forth in an itemized statement attached to the petition as exhibit "B." That the plaintiffs, on or about July 9, 1944, discovered that the defendant had made and collected said overcharges, and the plaintiffs demanded that the defendant refund the said overcharges, which the defendant refused to do.
The defendant demurred to the petition on the ground that it failed to set forth a cause of action. The trial judge sustained the demurrer and dismissed the action; and the plaintiffs excepted to that judgment.
1. Every employer who accepts the compensation provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act is required to insure the payment of compensation to his employees in some corporation or association licensed as provided by law to transact the business of workmen's compensation insurance in this State. Code, §§ 114-601, 114-602. And every policy for the insurance of the compensation provided for under the Workmen's Compensation Act, or against liability therefor, shall be deemed to be made subject to the provisions of said act (Code, § 114-608); and the provisions of the act as a matter of law become a part of the contract of insurance as if expressly incorporated therein. Employers Liability AssuranceCorp. v. Hunter,
The parties to a workmen's-compensation-insurance contract do not have freedom of contract with respect to the rates to be charged *521 in such contract, but are bound by the rate approved by the Insurance Commissioner for coverage of such a policy or contract. According to the allegations of the petition, the correct rate was charged and paid on the policy here involved from the date of its issuance, November 28, 1939, to March 31, 1942, when the Rating Board and Insurance Commissioner changed certain classifications and rates applicable to certain employees of the plaintiffs, retroactive to January 1, 1942, which resulted in a reduction in the rates of the insureds' contract for the period from January 1, 1942, to August 7, 1944; and the insurer violated the law and the plaintiffs' confidence by failing to reduce the rates charged them, in conformity with the new rates fixed by the Rating Board and approved by the Insurance Commissioner, and failed to inform the plaintiffs of the new rates, but continued to charge and collect from them according to the original rates, and thus overcharged them in the sum of $2192.99, as itemized in an exhibit attached to the petition.
No case has been passed on by this court or our Supreme Court involving the questions of a difference in rates between that fixed by the authority of law and that stated by the parities in a workmen's-compensation-insurance contract. But this question has been passed on in other jurisdictions where the Workmen's Compensation Law is similar to that law in this State. It was held in Employer's Liability Assurance Corporation v.
Success-Uncle Sam Cone Co.,
In the recent case of Rice v. Continental Casualty Co., 153 Fed. 2d, 964, where the insured claimed that his occupation had been improperly classified as to the nature of the risk, and that he had been charged and had paid premiums on a workmen's-compensation-insurance policy in excess of those permitted by law, and he sued for the recovery of the alleged overpayment of premiums by him to the insurance company, he was permitted to recover and was awarded a judgment for the amount of the overcharge in such premiums. The court in its opinion, quoting approvingly a ruling of the Texas Civil Court of Appeals in Brown Root v. Traders General Ins. Co., supra, said: "The error made by the department in applying a rate can no more give an insurance company the right to a wrong rate than can an error made by a carrier in applying a rate give a shipper the right to a wrong rate."
So we hold that the classifications and rates which were fixed by the Rating Board and approved by the Insurance Commissioner under the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Law of this State after the policy here involved was issued, and which were applicable to certain employees of these plaintiffs, were binding on the parties in this case, instead of those stated in the policy when it was first issued. Accordingly, if, after the alleged reduction in rates applicable to certain employees of the plaintiffs was made, the defendant continued to charge and collect from the plaintiffs according to the rate stated in the policy, instead of the new rate, the plaintiffs would be entitled to recover from the defendant the overcharge in premiums so paid. *523
2. But the defendant contends that the amounts sued for were voluntary payments and can not be recovered back, under the voluntary-payment rule contained in the Code, § 20-1007, as follows: "Payments of taxes or other claims made through ignorance of the law, or where the facts are all known, and there is no misplaced confidence and no artifice, deception, or fraudulent practice used by the other party, are deemed voluntary, and can not be recovered back, unless made under an urgent and immediate necessity therefor, or to release person or property from detention, or to prevent an immediate seizure of person or property. Filing a protest at the time of payment does not change the rule." We do not think that this case comes within the voluntary-payment rule. According to the allegations of the petition, the plaintiffs did not know of the change in classifications and reduction of rates applicable to their compensation-insurance policy when they paid the overcharge in premiums sued for; but the defendant did not know of said change in rates when it did so in violation of the law. The facts were not known by the plaintiffs when the payments were made, and there was no legal liability on them to pay the unlawful premium rate on the policy. But the defendant had such knowledge, and, under the facts alleged, can not in equity and good conscience retain the overcharges in the premiums collected from the plaintiffs.
Also, the defendant insurance company cites the case of NewYork Life Ins. Co. v. Williamson,
Under the facts alleged, the plaintiffs are not precluded from recovering the overpayments in the premiums sued for under the voluntary-payment rule.
3. The petition set out a cause of action for the alleged unlawful overcharges in the premiums sued for, and the trial judge erred in sustaining the general demurrer to the petition and in dismissing the action.
Judgment reversed. Felton and Parker, JJ., concur.