Court Opinion

ID: 9580522
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:05:48.145942+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:19.932425
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
Marshall, Judge.
On motion for rehearing appellee has questioned the applicability of Code § 114-408 to prior injuries (claimant’s injuries to his back) which are not specified handicaps under Code Ann. § 114-406. In other words, does Code § 114-408 apply only to Code Ann. § 114-406 injuries? Neither in American Mut. Liability Ins. Co. v. Brock, 165 Ga. 771 (142 SE 101) nor in any other case that we have found has this issue been squarely presented and decided. Most of the cases applying Code § 114-408 involve Code Ann. § 114-406 injuries. See e.g., American Mut. Liability Ins. Co. v. Brock, 165 Ga. 771, supra (leg); Georgia Cas. & Sur. Co. v. Speller, 122 Ga. App. 459 (177 SE2d 491) (eye); Georgia Ins. Service v. Lord, 83 Ga. App. 28 (62 SE2d 402) (eye); Dunn v. Hartford Acc. &c. Co., 81 Ga. App. 283 (58 SE2d 245) (eye); American Mut. Liability Ins. Co. v. Lemming, 57 Ga. App. 338 (2) (195 SE 312) (eye); Wisham v. Employers Liability Assur. Corp., 55 Ga. App. 778 (191 SE 489) (eye). However, none of those cases prescribe the applicability of Code § 114-408 to Code Ann. § 114-406, exclusively, and there are some cases which indicate that Code § 114-408 may apply to other types of injuries as well. Argonaut Ins. Co. v. Wilson, 119 Ga. App. 121 (166 SE2d 641); General Motors Corp. v. Hargis, 114 *533Ga. App. 143 (2) (150 SE2d 303); Miller v. Independent Life & Ace. Ins. Co., 86 Ga. App. 538 (71 SE2d 705).
In addition the language of the statute itself (" ... if an employee . . . has a permanent disability or has sustained a permanent injury, such as specified in section 114-406 . . .”) indicates that Code § 114-408 applies to "permanent disabilities” which are different from Code § 114-406 "permanent injuries.” It is noted that the phrase "such as specified in section 114-406” refers only to "permanent injury” in Code Ann. §§ 114-409 and 114-410.
We find no other provision of the Workmen’s Compensation Law as it existed at the time of this injury that protects this employer from successive "suffered elsewhere” disability claims by permitting it credit for prior incapacitating injuries. See Argonaut Ins. Co. v. Wilson, 119 Ga. App. 121, supra, as to the necessity of credit being given for prior injuries.
Furthermore, even though the Brock case, supra, deals with a Code Ann. § 114-406 injury, the court stressed the necessity of ascertaining "the degree of incapacity which resulted from the first accident or injury.” Brock, supra, p. 776. We agree with appellee that "incapacity” means earning incapacity not physical incapacity. We also note that "incapacity” is the word used in Code Ann. §§ 114-404 and 114-405, under which this claimant’s injuries fall. The director did not determine the claimant’s "incapacity” resulting from his prior injuries. Instead, he grounded his denial of the claim, inter alia, on the findings that "the claimant has received compensation benefits from” other states and "any disability that the claimant may presently have was pre-existing.” Our decision to reverse is based on this error as well as other clearly erroneous findings and legal conclusions, and the portion of our opinion dealing with the amount of compensation due, if any, was intended as guidance in this area should the issue be reached on remand.
We note that with the amendment of Code § 114-409 in Ga. L. 1974, pp. 1143, 1151, by the deletion of the "same employment” requirement, that Code Ann. § 114-409 will in the future apply to the situation where a claimant suffers a prior injury anywhere. In the future, the *534distinction between Code § 114-408 and Code § 114-409 must be that in the latter the employee is "still receiving or entitled to compensation for a previous injury” while in the former the employee is no longer entitled to compensation but has a residual incapacity which must be considered in determining the award for the second injury.

Motion for rehearing denied.

Deen, P. J., and Stolz, J., concur.