Limited Mutual Compensation Insurance v. Industrial Accident Commission

THOMPSON, J. —This is a petition on the part of Limited Mutual Compensation Insurance Company, the insurer of certain individuals who are conducting a mining enterprise under the fictitious name of Original Amador Gold Mines, against which a premium award of seventeen cents per week was apportioned and rendered in favor of the respondent, Blass Jurovich, on account of disability arising as a result of silicosis incurred in the course of his employment in certain mines, including the Original Amador Gold Mines. The same issues are raised in this proceeding which were de[502]termined by this court in the opinion this day filed in the proceeding entitled “Argonaut Mining Co., Ltd., a Corporation, v. Industrial Acc. Com. of the State of California and Blass Jurovich” (ante, p. 492 [70 Pac. (2d) 216]).

This petitioner also contends that the commission was without jurisdiction in the last-mentioned proceeding to render an award against it for the reason that notice of the hearing of the claim for compensation was not served upon the Original Amador Gold Mines as required by section 17a of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, and that the award which was rendered against that company therefore amounts to the taking of property without due process of law, contrary to the provisions of article XIY, section 1, of the Constitution of the United States, and of article I, section 13, of the Constitution of California.

The issues regarding liability for the disability of the respondent Blass Jurovich on account of silicosis which he incurred in the course of his employment in several mines, including the Original Amador Gold Mines, and the asserted bar of the statute of limitations, have been determined adversely to this petitioner in the opinion of this court above referred to, and those subjects will therefore not be discussed further.

There is no merit in the contention of the petitioner that it was not served with notice of the hearing on the claim for compensation. We are of the opinion the record shows that the Original Amador Gold Mines received notice of the hearing. Moreover, the service of notice of the hearing was waived, for the petitioner appeared at the hearing and filed an answer to the claim and was represented by counsel.

The application for compensation was filed April 27, 1936. The claim included among the defendants named as an employer, “Original Amador Mine Company of Amador City”. The affidavit of service of notice of the hearing shows that on May 21, 1936, the notice entitled “Blass Jurovich v. Argonaut Amador Mine Co., et al.” was actually mailed to it at Amador City, California. It will be observed that this notice was inadvertently mailed to “Argonaut Amador Mine Company” instead of to “Original Amador Gold Mines”. But in answer to an inquiry from the State Compensation Insurance Fund,, regarding the claim in question, which was sent a few days later, that company replied: \\