Court Opinion

ID: 9779157
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 21:38:38.407936+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:22.263262
License: Public Domain

ROBERTSON, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
Although I concur with the majority on the issues of good cause and average weekly wage rate, I respectfully dissent from the majority’s treatment of prejudgment interest on Morgan’s unpaid medical expenses.
The court of appeals justified its award of prejudgment interest on unpaid medical expenses by relying on this Court’s opinion in Cavnar v. Quality Control Parking, Inc., 696 S.W.2d 549 (Tex.1985). In Cavnar, we held that one of the primary justifications behind awarding prejudgment interest is to make the plaintiff whole. Cavnar, 696 S.W.2d at 552. Specifically, prejudgment interest compensates the plaintiff for the lost opportunity to invest and earn interest on the damages between the time of the occurrence and the time of the judgment. Id. In this case, the Industrial Accident Board denied Morgan’s claim on March 9, 1983. From this point on, Standard Fire refused to pay Morgan’s medical expenses. On September 9,1985, however, the trial court entered its judgment awarding Morgan, among other things, $6,854 for her unpaid medical expenses. In effect, then, Morgan has been denied the use of these funds for over two and one half years. Additionally, Standard Fire has had the chance to invest these funds during this same period. To reject Morgan’s claim for prejudgment interest on her unpaid medical expenses would be to countenance the exact type of denial of compensation which we expressly denounced in Cavnar. Standard also argues that since the Workers’ Compensation Act is silent as to prejudgment interest on all damages except “past due weekly installments,” we cannot award prejudgment interest on unpaid medical expenses and comply with the intent behind TEX.REV.CIV.STAT.ANN. 8306a (Vernon Supp.1987). In Azar Nut Co. v. Caille, 734 S.W.2d 667 (Tex.1987), this Court held that punitive damages are recoverable under the Workers’ Compensation Act. Azar Nut. Co., 734 S.W.2d at 667. This holding was premised on the belief that punitive damages, although not specifically enumerated under the Act, would effectuate the underlying intent of the statute in question. Id. We have a similar situation before us today. The statute allowing for prejudgment interest under the Act does not specifically authorize such an award based upon unpaid medical *314expenses. See TEX.REV.CIV.STAT.ANN. 8306a (Vernon Supp.1987). This Court, however, has recognized that the Act should be liberally construed in the worker’s favor so that any reasonable doubt concerning an injured employee’s right to compensation is resolved in favor of such right. Navarette, 706 S.W.2d at 309-10. In this case, a reasonable doubt indeed exists as to Morgan’s right to compensation. Although art. 8306a is silent as to prejudgment interest on unpaid medical expenses, if we disallow this element of compensation, we will run afoul of our holdings in both Cavnar and Navarette. Not only will Standard be afforded the luxury of using Morgan’s money interest free for nearly three years, but, moreover, we will extinguish a form of compensation rightly available under a broad reading of the Act.
As for Morgan’s pleadings for prejudgment interest, they were sufficient to sustain such an award. Morgan prayed for “the amount alleged due for medical, nursing and hospital services, and medicine, plus all interest due ...” (emphasis added). Such a pleading is clearly distinguishable from those under which prejudgment interest has been denied. See Desoto v. Matthews, 714 S.W.2d 133, 134 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1986, writ ref’d n.r.e.) (prayer for “interest on said judgment at the legal rate” will not support award of prejudgment interest); Texas Indus. v. Lucas, 715 S.W.2d 683, 687 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1986, no writ) (prayer for general relief insufficient by itself to support prejudgment interest award).
Accordingly, I dissent from the majority’s treatment of the issue of prejudgment interest on Morgan’s unpaid medical expenses.
RAY and MAUZY, JJ., join in this concurring and dissenting opinion.