Court Opinion

ID: 9609940
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:33:48.56514+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:54.546430
License: Public Domain

GREENE, Judge,
dissenting.
I read the majority as holding that an opinion and award (opinion) of the full Commission is valid if two of the commissioners, who are authorized to act (i.e. have not retired), indicate their written concurrence to the opinion at the time of its filing. I disagree with this holding and I, therefore, dissent.
In my opinion, there must be three commissioners authorized to act at the time the opinion is signed and at the time the opinion is filed.1 This is so because the opinion is merely tentative until it is *126signed and filed and, in order for the opinion to reflect the final judgment of the full Commission, all three commissioners must be authorized to act not only at the time of its signing but also at the time of its filing. In other words, the opinion is not finalized until it is entered and it is not entered until it is in writing, signed by the three commissioners, and filed with the Industrial Commission.2
In this case, only two commissioners signed the opinion prior to the time the opinion was filed. Thus, the opinion is void and I would remand the matter to the Commission for rehearing before a duly constituted Commission.3
I do not believe Estes or Pearson v. C.P. Buckner Steel Erection, 139 N.C. App. 394, 533 S.E.2d 532 (2000), requires a different result, as neither of these cases squarely address the issue presented in the case sub judice. In Estes, the opinion of the full Commission was vacated on the ground the term of one of the three commissioners had expired at the time he signed the opinion. Estes, 117 N.C. App. at 128, 449 S.E.2d at 764. Thus, this Court did not address in Estes the issue of whether an opinion of the full Commission must be vacated when the opinion is properly signed by all three commissioners but is not filed until after one of the signing commissioners is no longer serving as a commissioner. Likewise, in Pearson, the intervenor argued the opinion of the full Commission was invalid because the panel of commissioners, who reviewed the case, consisted of only *127two commissioners. Pearson, 139 N.C. App. at 400, 533 S.E.2d at 535. Because “the opinion clearly state[d] that there was a third Commissioner on the panel,” the Pearson court rejected the inter-venor’s argument. The intervenor did not argue the opinion was in invalid because is was signed by only two commissioners at the time it was filed; thus, the issue in the case sub judice was not addressed in Pearson.

. An opinion of the Commission is valid if concurred in by two of the three commissioners. Estes v. N.C. State University, 117 N.C. App. 126, 128, 449 S.E.2d 762, 764 (1994).

. Although the Rules of Civil Procedure “are not strictly applicable to proceedings under the Worker’s Compensation Act,” Hogan v. Cone Mills Corp., 315 N.C. 127, 137, 337 S.E.2d 477, 483 (1985), a Rule of Civil Procedure may be applied when there is no counterpart to that Rule under the Rules of the Industrial Commission, see N.C.G.S. § 1A-1, Rule 1 (1999). In my opinion, it is appropriate to apply Rule 58 of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure in this context. Pursuant to Rule 58, a judgment or order is not enforceable, or final, until it is entered. See West v. Marko, 130 N.C. App. 751, 755, 504 S.E.2d 571, 573 (1998). Rule 58 provides that “a judgment is entered when it is reduced to writing, signed by the judge, and filed with the clerk of court.” N.C.G.S. § 1A-1, Rule 58 (1999).
Additionally, I acknowledge this Court often files opinions indicating a concurrence by a judge who was no longer serving on this Court at the time the opinion was filed. Such opinions indicate the judge concurred in the opinion while he or she was still serving on this Court. As this Court is not bound by the Rules of Civil Procedure, my holding in the case sub judice would not affect this Court’s filing of opinions in the manner described above.

. The problem created by the retirement of a commissioner can easily be resolved by the Industrial Commission. In the event a commissioner is, for any reason, unable to participate in the review of the award, section 97-85 gives authority to the chairman of the Industrial Commission to “designate a deputy commissioner to take the place of a commissioner on the review of any case.” N.C.G.S. § 97-85 (1999).