Fidelity & Casualty Co. of New York v. Industrial Accident Commission

MELVIN, J.

A writ of

certiorari

issued from this court to review the action of the Industrial Accident Commission, by judgment of two of the members thereof, awarding compensation to one Lawrence Knudsen against the petitioner here, the insurance carrier for the employers of said Knudsen.

There is no dispute concerning the essential facts, the one question being whether or not the claim of Knudsen was barred by the limiting section of the industrial compensation law.. The majority of the commissioners found that the applicant was injured on June 29, 1916; that formal application for compensation was filed with the commission April 21, 1917, more than six months from the date of the injury, and more than six months from the payment of any disability indemnity, or agreement therefor, by the employer or the

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surety,- but that in October, 1916, and before the expiration of six months from the date of the accident, applicant prepared and filed with the commission a document described in the findings as “his application setting forth all the necessary facts as to his said injury and requesting the decision and award of the commission for a permanent partial disability caused by the said injury”; that said application was “a proceeding for the collection of compensation”; and that, therefore, the claim was not barred by the provisions of section 16 of the Workmen’s Compensation, Insurance and Safety Act. [Stats. 1913, p. 279.]

In the prevailing opinion of the learned commissioners the document first filed by the applicant is thus described: “This form has never been considered heretofore as a formal application for adjustment of claim, being intended only as a request for advice to be used in negotiations between the parties leading to informal settlements. This Commission maintains a Permanent Disability Bating Department, the function of which is to rate permanent disabilities, assist by conciliation in permanent injury cases in a purely informal and advisory capacity, and to gather and compile statistics leading to a more accurate rating of permanent injuries. It was a form used by this department for the gathering of statistical information and the furnishing of an estimate for the use of parties in informal settlement that was used by the applicant in this ease.” But, notwithstanding the use to which the request for a rating was usually applied, the majority of the commissioners were of the opinion that it contained all the requisites for a valid application, and that the filing of the paper gave them jurisdiction of the claim, although absolutely no action was taken in regard to it until many months later. The form is addressed to the Industrial Accident Commission, is headed “Industrial Accident Commission of the State of California, Permanent Disability Rating Department. . . . Employee’s Request for Permanent Disability Rating.” The user is warned, parenthetically, not to attempt to execute the blank without first carefully reading the instructions. The important sentence of said instructions is as follows: “This blank, when properly executed and filed with the Industrial Accident Commission of the State of California, presents your request for a permanent disability rating.” The decision was based upon the proposi