Case Name: Isaac S. Lichtenstein vs. Aaron Parness et al.
Court: Supreme Court of Rhode Island
Jurisdiction: Rhode Island
Decision Date: 1953-08-21
Citations: 81 R.I. 135
Docket Number: 
Parties: Isaac S. Lichtenstein vs. Aaron Parness et al.
Judges: Present : Flynn, C. J., Capotosto, Baker, Condon and O’Connell, JJ.
Reporter: Rhode Island Reports
Volume: 81
Pages: 135–143

Head Matter:
Isaac S. Lichtenstein vs. Aaron Parness et al.
AUGUST 21, 1953.
Present : Flynn, C. J., Capotosto, Baker, Condon and O’Connell, JJ.

Opinion:
O'Connell, J.
This employee's petition was brought under the workmen's compensation act, general laws 1938, chapter 300, to adjudge an employer and his insurance carrier in contempt for failure to comply with the terms of a preliminary agreement entered into by the parties on June 27, 1951 and approved by the director of labor on July 10, 1951. The agreement fixed the average weekly wage of the employee at $50 and provided for compensation for total incapacity at the rate of $28 weekly commencing June 13, 1951. Compensation in accordance with the terms of this agreement was paid up to August 10, 1951. No further payments have been made since that date.
It is undisputed that as the result of a fall on November 17, 1950, while in the employ of respondent Aaron Parness, petitioner sustained bilateral inguinal herniae; that on June 13, 1951 he underwent an operation therefor; that he was discharged from the hospital on or about June 22, 1951; that about August 13, 1951 he returned to work; and that since that date he has received an average weekly wage equal to or greater than that which he was receiving at the time of his injury.
It appears in evidence that on August 13, 1951 counsel for petitioner informed the respondent insurance carrier, through its adjuster Harold W. Brown, that petitioner had returned to work; that Brown thereafter prepared a suspension agreement or settlement receipt setting out eight and three fifths weeks as the period of disability and providing for total compensation of $240.80; and that on August 28, 1951 Brown sent this settlement receipt to petitioner's counsel for execution by petitioner. It further appears that thereafter such receipt was not returned; that between October 3, 1951 and February 4, 1952 Brown sent five letters to petitioner's attorney relating thereto without receiving any reply; and that on March 12, 1952 he was informed by counsel for petitioner that the latter would not execute any suspension agreement as he was having trouble with his legs.
The petitioner testified without contradiction that he did not know a settlement receipt had been sent to his counsel and that he had never executed any suspension agreement or signed such receipt. This latter claim was confirmed by Brown, who admitted also that respondents had never filed any petition for review of the preliminary agreement.
The trial justice, after the hearing, entered a final decree dated October 30, 1952 which provided that the preliminary agreement above referred to had been duly entered and was still in full force and effect; that no petition for review thereof had ever been filed by respondents; that no payments of compensation under the preliminary agreement had been made since August 10, 1951; and that respondents, being in default, were guilty of contempt but could purge themselves by paying petitioner the amount then in default. From such decree respondents have filed the instant appeal.
In support thereof they contend that this case is governed by Zielonka v. United States Rubber Co., 77 R. I. 167, and not by the cases culminating in Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co. v. Giacoppa, 69 R. I. 378. They further contend that even if the latter case were applicable, petitioner herein is estopped by reason of the conduct of his attorney with respect to the suspension agreement or settlement receipt that was tendered to him on August 28, 1951 for petitioner's signature.
We cannot agree with these contentions. The Zielonka and Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co. cases are clearly distinguishable on the facts. As pointed out in the former case at page 170, that proceeding was before this court on an original petition by the employee for compensation under the terms of the act, no previous agreement of any kind having been entered into by the parties. In the Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co. case, as here, a preliminary agreement between the parties had been approved by the director of labor thereby imposing a continuing obligation on the employer to pay the employee until such agreement was properly modified or terminated under the act. As in that case, respondents here have undertaken to cease payments of fixed obligations under an existing preliminary agreement, which we have held has the force and effect of a decree, without filing a petition to review or otherwise obtaining a proper modification of the agreement. See Zielonka v. United States Rubber Co., supra.
Assuming without deciding that the defense of estoppel in pais, by conduct or by silence, can properly be invoked by respondents in the circumstances presently before us, we cannot agree that on this record the only inference which may be reached by the trial justice relative thereto must be resolved in favor of respondents. The indispensable elements of an estoppel are, first, an affirmative representation or equivalent conduct on the part of the person against whom the estoppel is claimed which is directed to another for the purpose of inducing the other to act or fail to act in reliance thereon; and secondly, that such representation or conduct in fact did induce the other to act or fail to act to his injury. The burden of proving the elements of such a claim is upon the one who asserts it.
In the instant case the failure of petitioner's counsel to return the suspension agreement or settlement receipt sent to him on or about August 28, 1951 and his failure to answer five letters with reference thereto, the last letter being dated February 4, 1952, clearly is open to the inference that petitioner did not intend to- sign such settlement receipt. This was confirmed on March 12, 1952 when respondents were definitely notified that petitioner refused to sign the receipt. Notwithstanding that fact they failed to file immediately a petition for review, which was available to them under G. L. 1938, chap. 300, article III, §13.
It is also to be noted that the instant petition for contempt was not filed until August 28, 1952. The trial justice could reasonably have inferred from such conduct that the silence of petitioner's attorney, if he had a duty to speak, could not possibly have misled respondents to fail to file a petition for review during the period between March 12 and August 28, 1952, when the petition for contempt was filed. Indeed it may reasonably be inferred that, although notified on March 12 of petitioner's refusal to sign a settlement receipt, respondents had not indicated any intention of filing a petition for review, but in effect had independently decided, solely on their own knowledge that petitioner was then receiving wages equal to or greater than the amount he was receiving at the time of his injury, to make no further payments under the existing agreement.
In any event the trial justice stated in his rescript with reference to the defense of estoppel: "It is necessary then, in the instant case, for the respondents to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that petitioner made a representation of the character above described. This Court does not perceive that the respondents have sustained this burden of proof." In reaching such conclusion the credibility of the witnesses and the weight of the evidence were solely for the trial justice's consideration. Unless his conclusion is unsupported by any evidence or reasonable inferences therefrom, we cannot say that he erred as a matter of law.
'We have carefully examined the transcript and exhibits and in our opinion there was some legal evidence to support the findings of the trial justice contained in the final decree appealed from. In such case in the absence of fraud, and none is claimed here, these findings are conclusive under the statute. Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co. v. Vincent, 73 R. I. 309; Baccari v. W. T. Grant Co., 73 R. I. 376.
The respondents' appeal is denied and dismissed, the decree appealed from is affirmed, and the cause is remanded to the superior court for further proceedings.