Morse v. Industrial Accident Commission

WOOD (Fred B.), J.

The sole question upon this appeal is whether or not section 4702 of the Labor Code, as amended in 1939, accorded to the total dependent of a deceased employee a death benefit of $2,000 even though the disability indemnity which had accrued to the employee exceeded that amount, and death occurred more than 12 months after the injury. We conclude that it did.

Section 4702, as amended by chapter 308 of the Statutes of 1939, pages 1580-1581, read as follows:

“4702. The death benefit shall be a sum sufficient to equal:

“ (a) In a case of total dependency, three

and one-half

times the average annual earnings of the deceased employee.

“ (b) In a ease of partial dependency only, three

and one-half

times the amount annually devoted to support of the dependents by the employee.

‘ ‘ The death benefit shall be paid in installments in the same manner and amounts as disability indemnity, payments to be

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made at least twice each calendar month, unless the commission otherwise orders. In ne ease shall

Except as provided in the next paragraph

the death benefit, when added to all accrued disability indemnity,

shall not

exceed three

and one-half

times the average annual earnings of the employee as limited in section 4452, nor exceed the sum of $5;099

$6,000,

except as otherwise provided in sections 4553 and 4554.

For a total dependency the minimum death benefit shall be $2,000.

“If death occurs within twelve months after injury, disability indemnity shall not be deducted from the death benefit and shall be paid in addition to the death