Case Name: Julia Chambers STOKES et al., v. AETNA CASUALTY AND SURETY COMPANY et al.
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1969-11-17
Citations: 232 So. 2d 328
Docket Number: No. 7766
Parties: Julia Chambers STOKES et al., v. AETNA CASUALTY AND SURETY COMPANY et al.
Judges: Before LANDRY, SARTAIN and ELLIS, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 232
Pages: 328–341

Head Matter:
Julia Chambers STOKES et al., v. AETNA CASUALTY AND SURETY COMPANY et al.
No. 7766.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.
Nov. 17, 1969.
Rehearing Denied Jan. 21, 1970.
Writ Granted March 12, 1970.
Nathan E. Wilson, Vanue B. Lacour, Baton Rouge, for appellant.
Daniel Atkinson, of Dale, Richardson & Dale, W. Henson Moore, Baton Rouge, for appellee.
Before LANDRY, SARTAIN and ELLIS, JJ.

Opinion:
LANDRY, Judge.
The issue presented by this appeal is whether illegitimate children are entitled to workmen's compensation benefits from the employer and insurer of their deceased father, notwithstanding the decedent left legitimate offspring in sufficient number to exhaust maximum benefits payable under the law. The trial court resolved the question adversely to the illegitimates involved. We affirm the result reached below.
No dispute exists as regards the pertinent facts and circumstances. Henry Clyde Stokes died June 22, 1967, of injuries received the previous day during the course and within the scope of his employment by Earl Gibbon Transport, Inc., the insured of defendant Aetna Casualty and Surety Company (Aetna). At the time of his death, Stokes was lawfully married to but living separate and apart from Adelaide Jones Stokes. Of this union four legitimate children were born, namely, Harriet Stokes, born February 17, 1956; Hattie Marie Stokes, born in February, 1959; Henry Clyde Stokes, Jr., born September 23, 1960, and Anthony Stokes, born August 18, 1963.
For three years preceding his demise, decedent lived in a "common law union" with Willie Mae Weber, who bore decedent a daughter, Lisa (Letha) Marie Weber, born April 27, 1966. Of this same illicit relationship a child, Joseph Lee Weber, was born posthunpusly on January 4, 1968.
It is stipulated in this case that decedent and his four offspring lived openly with Willie Mae Weber in a single household as a family unit. It is also stipulated the "common law wife" and all five children were dependent upon decedent for support and maintenance. We note, however, these stipulations are to some extent contrary to our factual findings in State ex rel. Stokes v. Stokes, La.App., 222 So.2d 573.
Following decedent's death a claim for workmen's compensation benefits was instituted by Julia Chambers Stokes, mother of decedent, against decedent's employer and Aetna claiming maximum compensation benefits for her four legitimate grandchildren. Defendant employer and insurer responded with an answer and reconventional demand converting the proceeding into a concursus. Defendants also impleaded Willie Mae Weber who was directed to assert any rights she might have on behalf of the illegitimate children. Willie Mae Weber answered asserting dependency of herself and her child, Lisa (Letha) Marie Weber, on decedent. She prayed that "she, together with her minor child, Lisa Marie Weber, be recognized and declared to be dependent members of the decedent's family and as such entitled to compensation according to law."
The accident which caused decedent's death occurred under circumstances giving rise to an action in tort against a third party. On behalf of the four legitimate children an action in tort was instituted against the third party tort-feasor. This claim was settled and compromised by payment to the legitimate children of a sum in excess of maximum recoverable workmen's compensation benefits. Subsequently the compensation claim of the legitimate children was dismissed. Defendant employer and insurer then moved rejection of the claim on behalf of the two illegitimate offspring on the ground that the four legitimate children exhausted all compensation benefits payable. On this premise it was urged the two illegitimate claimants are without any right of recovery under the provisions of the Louisiana Workmen's Compensation Law. Appellant concedes the claim of the four legitimate children exhausted all benefits for which defendant-employer was liable. However, appellant resisted the motion to dismiss on the ground that denial of compensation benefits to the illegitimate children is violative of the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Appellant then prayed for judgment in her favor "for the use and benefit of the minors Lisa Marie Weber and Joseph Lee Weber for the scheduled amount of compensation according to law." In further response to defendants' motion to dismiss, appellant repeated the special plea that rejection of the compensation demands of the two illegitimates because of their birth out of wedlock would deny them the equal protection and due process of law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
In Louisiana the rights of children to workmen's compensation benefits are provided for in LSA-R.S. 23:1232. Paragraph (6) of the statute stipulates if there are three or more children, they shall divide among them compensation equivalent to sixty-five per cent of dceedent's wages. LSA-R.S. 23:1202 (as of the date of decedent's death) provides maximum benefits of $35.00 per week.
Appellant concedes that prior to the advent of Levy v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 68, 88 S.Ct. 1509, 20 L.Ed.2d 436 (May 20, 1968), and Glona v. American Guarantee & Liability Insurance Co., 391 U.S. 73, 88 S.Ct. 1515, 20 L.Ed.2d 441 (May 20, 1968), in this state unacknowledged illegitimates were not deemed "children" within the meaning of the term as employed in LSA-R.S. 23:1232(6). Appellant further acknowledges that before Levy, above, acknowledged illegitimates qualified under LSA-R.S. 23:1232(8) as "other dependents" but on authority of Thompson v. Vestal Lumber & Mfg. Co., 208 La. 83, 22 So.2d 842; Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York v. Ivory, La.App., 129 So.2d 894, and Jenkins v. Pemberton, La.App., 87 So.2d 775, such persons were entitled to compensation benefits only to the extent legitimate issue failed to exhaust maximum benefits payable.
Counsel for appellant argues, however, that the above cited statute and authorities, relegate acknowledged illegitimates to a secondary role resulting in an invidious discrimination against a certain class of individuals. On this basis it is contended our former law and jurisprudence must yield to the rule announced by the Supreme Court of the United States in Levy and Glona, supra, and followed by our own Supreme Court in Levy v. State Through Charity Hospital of Louisiana, see 253 La. 73, 216 So.2d 818.
Appellant acknowledges Levy, above, is factually different from the case at bar. In Levy the illegitimate children of a deceased mother claimed damages in tort under our general tort law as set forth in LA-R.C.C. Article 2315. Here the illicit offspring are seeking compensation benefits allegedly due because of the death of their father. We note one further material distinction between Levy and Glona, above, and the case at bar. In the cited authorities, it does not appear that either decedent left legitimate issue.
Nevertheless, appellant contends the thrust of Levy and Glona, above, "in their broad sweep invalidate discrimination against illegitimate children in all areas of substantive legal right" and adds that "the pronouncement of those cases seems particularly applicable to the narrow issue of this case." Continuing his argument, counsel notes that except for marriage, the illegiti-mates concerned were part of decedent's family living under the same roof in a common household with their legitimate sisters and brothers, their father and their mother who was the step-mother of the legitimate children. Because the illegiti-mates were equally supported by their father, it is contended an invidious discrimination results by denying them the subsistence intended to be provided by the Louisiana Workmen's Compensation Law.
Counsel does not particularize the proportionate share of compensation benefits to which the illegitimates are presumably entitled. We assume the contention is that each out of wedlock child is entitled to one-sixth of the benefits provided by law.
On the other hand, appellees maintain the rule in Levy is so revolutionary and far reaching that the application of the doctrine therein announced must be confined to the circumstances involved therein. On this basis appellees argue Levy should be confined to situations where ille-gitimates seek recovery from a tort-feasor who would otherwise escape liability for his tortious act.
We find, hoever, it is unnecessary to a determination of this matter that consideration be given to the extent of Levy's application in the field of substantive law.
We so conclude because we find there can be no recovery by present claimants under any legal concept without according Levy retroactive effect. The demise with which we are here concerned antedated the Levy decision. To apply Levy in retrospect would, in our view, violate vested rights enjoyed by defendant-employer and its insurer.
The general rule respecting prospective or retrospective operation of laws and the definition and application of the principle is stated as follows in 50 Am.Jur., Verbo Statutes, § 475 and 476, pages 492 and 493, as follows:
"§ 475. Generally. — In the absence of an express constitutional inhibition retrospective laws are not prohibited as such. Moreover, the Constitution of the United States does not in terms prohibit the enactment by the states of retrospective laws which do not impair the obligation of contracts or partake of the character of ex post facto laws. Thus, prior to the enactment of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution, a retrospective law, unless falling within other constitutional inhibitions, could constitutionally operate to divest property rights. After the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, however, the protec tion afforded by the due process clause was extended so as to prevent retrospective laws from divesting rights of property or vested rights generally. In many of the states there are constitutional provisions expressly prohibiting not only the passage of any ex post facto law or law impairing the obligation of contracts, but any statute retrospective in its operation. In other states there are no constitutional provisions directly forbidding the enactment of retrospective laws. In this subdivision, principles and rules are considered, which determine whether a statute operates retrospectively, or merely prospectively, as distinguished from the constitutional authority of the legislature to enact a retrospective law.
§ 476. Definitions and Applications Thereof. — A retrospective law, in the legal sense, is one which takes away or impairs vested rights acquired under existing laws, or creates a new obligation and imposes a new duty, or attaches a new disability, in respect of transactions or considerations already past. It may also be defined as one which changes or injuriously affects a present right by going behind it and giving efficacy to anterior circumstances to defeat it, which they had not when the right accrued, or which relates back to and gives to a previous transaction some different legal effect from that which it had under the law when it occurred."
Our own Constitution, Article 4, Section IS, provides in express terms that vested rights shall not be divested, unless for purposes of public utility.
The Louisiana Supreme Court has defined a right as vested when the right to its enjoyment, present or prospective, has become the property of some person as a present interest. In addition, the right must be absolute, complete and unconditional, independent of a contingency. Tennant v. Russell, 214 La. 1046, 39 So.2d 726.
Under our law as it existed at the time the present claim arose, defendant-employer and its insurer were vested with the right to be free of liability for workmen's compensation benefits upon the dependent legitimate children of decedent effecting a settlement in tort with the third party tort-feasor in excess of the maximum compensation due pursuant to the Louisiana Statute. To now hold that present claimants are entitled to demand benefits from defendant-employer would divest defendants of the privilege formerly enjoyed. It would strip both employer and insurer of an immunity from liability heretofore actually, fully and completely possessed under valid state law. This immunity, once accrued, became a vested property right subject to protection of the vested rights concept set forth in Article 4, Section 15, of our State Constitution.
We note the Federal Authorities, based on the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, have likewise recognized, applied and enforced the vested rights principle in considering retrospective application of Federal Laws. See Lynch v. United States, 292 U.S. 571, 54 S.Ct. 840, 78 L.Ed. 1434.
The Federal Rule regarding retrospec-. tive application of decisions of the United States Supreme Court is set forth in Linkletter v. Walker, 381 U.S. 618, 85 S.Ct. 1731, 14 L.Ed.2d 601. The cited authority held that the decision rendered in Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081, 84 A.L.R.2d 933, requiring exclusion, in state criminal trials, of evidence seized in violation of the search and seizure provisions of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, did not operate retrospectively upon cases finally decided prior to Mapp. In so concluding, the United States Supreme Court reviewed the common law history and theory of the subject of retrospective application of judicial decisions. The court noted the "Blackstonian view" to the effect that ju dicial opinions do not pronounce a new law but expound the old one. The theory here is that unconstitutional action confers no rights, imposes no duties, affords no protection and, in legal contemplation, is as inoperative as if it never existed. According to this view, no authority existed for the proposition that judicial decrees made law only for the future.
The court likewise noted the "Austin concept" which holds that judicial decisions make law. This view holds that overruling of a prior decision implies admission that the former case was erroneously decided. However, the former decree is not considered erased by the latter overruling opinion. Rather, it is deemed an existing juridical fact until overruled and intermediate cases finally decided under it are not to be disturbed. In Linkletter, above, the court then considered several specific instances in which the subject matter was discussed, including Great Northern R. Co. v. Sunburst Oil & Refining Co., 287 U.S. 358, 53 S.Ct. 145, 77 L.Ed. 360, in which it was held that in determining constitutionality, the existence of the prior law is an operative fact which may have consequences which cannot be ignored. The decision also held that "The past cannot always be erased by a new judicial declaration. the effect of the subsequent ruling as to invalidity may have to be considered in various aspects."
The Supreme Court in Linkletter, above, then stated its rule as follows:
"While the cases discussed above deal with the invalidity of statutes or the effect of a decision overturning long-established common-law rules, there seems to be no impediment — constitutional or philosophical — to the use of the same rule in the constitutional area where the exigencies of the situation require such an application. It is true that heretofore, without discussion, we have applied new constitutional rules to cases finalized before the promulgation of the rule. Petitioner contends that our method of resolving those prior cases demonstrates that an absolute rule of retroaction prevails in the area of constitutional adjudication. However, we believe that the Constitution neither prohibits nor requires retrospective effect. As Justice Cardozo said, 'We think the federal constitution has no voice upon the subject.'
Once the premise is accepted that we are neither required to apply, nor prohibited from applying, a decision retrospectively, we must then weigh the merits and demerits in each case by looking to the prior history of the rule in question, its purpose and effect, and whether retrospective operation will further or retard its operation. "
Our jurisprudence is to the effect that a compromise of a lawsuit has the same effect as a decision by the court. See La.R. C.C. Article 3078. When the legitimate children of decedent compromised and settled with the third party tort-feasor and dismissed their claim for compensation against defendants, the rights of defendants to immunity from compensation attached.
Unquestionably the effect of Levy, if applied as urged by counsel for appellants, would have far reaching and devastating results. Law and jurisprudence of long standing would be changed radically. Settled legal duties and relationships would be materially altered. Obligations which did not heretofore exist would be created and applied in retrospect by judicial fiat. Immunities presently enjoyed would be eliminated. We can readily conceive the chaos resulting in the field of property ownership and inheritance resulting from retrospective application of a law giving illegiti-mates equal rights with legitimates as appellants would have us do.
Weighing the readily foreseeable results of retrospective application of Levy, we are of the view it cannot be accorded retroactive effect.
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed at appellant's cost.
Affirmed.