Court Opinion

ID: 9686564
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 15:55:40.440407+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:20.284560
License: Public Domain

Carr, J.
(dissenting). This case raises questions of law, some of which involve the interpretation of the workmen’s compensation act.* The material facts are not in dispute. James Bentley, father of the minors in whose behalf this proceeding has been prosecuted, was an employee of the defendant for several years prior to his death on February 18, 1955. In 1951 he received an injury to his lower lip. Subsequently a cancerous condition developed which was, as found by the workmen’s compensation appeal board, a factor in the condition resulting in death. The employee instituted proceedings for compensation under the statute, which were pending at the time of his death. Thereafter the guard*520ian of his minor children sought compensation for such minors because of their father’s death.
The referee hearing the matter granted an award, which was affirmed by the appeal board and sustained by this Court in Wilson v. Doehler-Jarvis Division of National Lead Company, 353 Mich 363. The award in question granted to the plaintiff $26 per week until further order, but not exceeding 400 weeks from and after February 19, 1955, and also medical and funeral expenses in the total sum of $5,144.16. The decision of this Court upholding the award was rendered July 15, 1958. Ten days later plaintiff filed in the circuit court of Kent county a motion for judgment in accordance with the order of the workmen’s compensation appeal board which, on October 23, 1956, affirmed the action of the referee. Said motion specifically referred to the provision for payments at the rate of $26 per week, and to the amount allowed for expenses of the last illness and burial of James Bentley. In addition thereto the motion requested judgment for interest at 5% per annum to be computed on the latter item from February 19, 1955, until payment, and also for interest at the same rate upon the compensation payments from the due date of each, beginning on the same date.
Attached to the motion was a certified copy of the order of the workmen’s compensation appeal board of October 23, 1956. Pursuant to the stipulation of counsel, filed August 22, 1958, drafts of the defendant covering fnneral and medical expenses and the weekly payments from February 19,1955, to July 18, 1958, were accepted in payment of the amount due as ordered by the appeal board, such acceptance being without prejudice insofar as plaintiff’s claim to interest was concerned. Thereafter the trial court passed on the motion of plaintiff for the allowance of interest and by an opinion filed December 1, 1958, *521concluded that plaintiff should receive such from the date of the order of the appeal board until date of payment on July 30, 1958, the total sum allowed being $757.87. Judgment was entered accordingly for that amount, with costs in the sum of $25.
The principal amount due under the terms of the award having been paid previously, the judgment made no reference to the award as certified. It thus appears that the proceeding in circuit court became in effect an action for the recovery of interest which the award did not undertake to make and which was brought into the case by plaintiff’s motion. From the judgment entered both parties have appealed, the plaintiff claiming that interest should have been allowed from the date of death of James Bentley, and the defendant contending that under the provisions of the workmen’s compensation law, above cited, no interest is allowable on an award and that the trial court was without power to enter the judgment in question.
As stated, it was the opinion of the trial court that interest should be allowed from the date of the award of the workmen’s compensation appeal board. Mr. Justice Voelker has written to sustain the theory and claim of plaintiff and in accordance therewith would remand the case with instructions to allow interest from the date that compensation “would have been due had it been paid voluntarily.” We cannot agree that either conclusion is in accord with the provisions of the workmen’s compensation act.
The question at issue goes to the jurisdiction of the circuit court of Kent county to render the judgment from which the parties have appealed. The section of the statute under which the jurisdiction of said court was invoked is part 3, § 13, of the workmen’s compensation law (CL 1948, § 413.13 [Stat *522Aun 1950 Rev § 17.187]). Said section as amended by PA 1943, No 245, reads as follows:
“Any party may present a certified copy of a decision made by the compensation commission, or any member or deputy member thereof, in any compensation proceeding to the circuit court of the circuit in which the injury occurred or to the circuit court of the county of Ingham if the injury was sustained without the State of Michigan, whereupon said court shall, upon 7 days’ notice to the opposite party or parties, render judgment in accordance therewith unless proof of payment is made; such judgment shall have the same effect as though rendered in an action tried and determined in said court and shall with like effect be entered and docketed.”
It will be noted from the language of the statute that on presentation of a duly certified copy of an award for compensation it becomes the duty of the circuit court to enter judgment in the absence of proof that payment has been made. Presumably the requirement as to 7 days’ notice was designed to give the opposite party or parties in interest an opportunity to offer such proof. In the instant case it is conceded that the order of the appeal board sustaining the award was complied with by payment prior to the judgment. Such order made no reference to interest. In other words, neither the referee nor the appeal board assumed authority in that respect.
The judgment of the circuit court was not based on the provisions of the award as certified, but rested on the claim advanced in behalf of plaintiff that she was entitled to interest and that the circuit court should enter judgment accordingly. It will be noted that the statute, after reference to the order granting the award and the certification thereof, declares that the court shall “render judgment in accordance therewith.” The intent and purpose of the statute *523are clear. The circuit court in acting on certification presented to it is not authorized to review the action of the workmen’s compensation appeal board or other matters in connection with the proceeding. Its function is limited to the entering of a judgment based on the award as certified. It is not given authority to permit an amendment of the award, or to make additions thereto or deductions therefrom. As stated by Mr. Justice Starr in Scalzo v. Family Creamery Co., 308 Mich 587, 589, 590:
“The only purpose of the proceedings in circuit court was to collect the department’s award.”
The section of the statute above quoted was designed to give to the beneficiary or beneficiaries of an award of compensation a remedy to enforce collection thereof. To that end the legislature declared that the judgment entered should have “the same effect as though rendered in an action tried and determined in said court.”
The legislature in the section of the law under which the jurisdiction of the circuit court was invoked has clearly defined the extent of authority thereof, specifying in unambiguous terms that the judgment shall be in accordance with the award. In Brown v. George A. Fuller Co., 193 Mich 214, 219, the Court referred specifically to the language of the statute and the requirement that the judgment should be entered “in accordance” with the award, declaring that such language means that the judgment should recite and follow the award. Such interpretation is logical in view of the obvious purpose of the legislature which, as above indicated, was to furnish a means for the enforcement of the award. The jurisdiction of the circuit court in a case of this kind does not extend beyond the carrying out of that purpose. It is bound by the order making such award as certified to it. Such an award *524is the result of an administrative determination and is not subject to review by a circuit court on a motion for the entering of judgment under the statute. The exercise of jurisdiction by such court is limited to the entering of a judgment in accordance with and based on the award, and does not extend to any issue of modification.
In the instant case the award which plaintiff sought to enforce by obtaining a judgment under the statute made no reference to interest. The proceeding for compensation is purely statutory in origin and in procedure. The rights and obligations of the parties concerned must be determined by reference to the act of the legislature. We are not dealing with a common-law right of action, but, rather, with the interpretation of a statute enacted in the interest of the general economic welfare. As pointed out in Henry v. Ford Motor Co., 291 Mich 535, 540:
“The matter of compensation payable to the injured employee is one in which the State and public are interested. Harrington v. Department of Labor & Industry, 252 Mich 87. It is not a private matter between the employer and employee.”
It is the duty of those charged with the administration of the law to grant compensation in accordance with its provisions. As said by Mr. Justice Ostrander in Kirchner v. Michigan Sugar Co., 206 Mich 459, 465, in the unanimous opinion of the Court:
“The purpose of the compensation law is compensation at rates which the law itself, directly or indirectly, but certainly, fixes. Claimant is entitled to receive, and his employer is obligated to pay, no more and no less than the statute compensation.”
The legislature in the enactment and amendment of the statute in question has specified with particularity the factual situation giving rise to a right *525of compensation, the procedure to be observed in connection therewith, and the awards that may be made. It is the statute itself that speaks with reference to these matters. Had the legislature intended that administrative officers clothed with authority to carry out the provisions of the law might allow interest in addition to the amounts fixed by way of compensation, we have no doubt that provision to that end would have been made. This was not done, and the courts have no authority to read into the statute a provision that the legislature has not seen fit to incorporate. Arguments to the effect that interest should be permitted must be addressed to the legislature rather than to the courts.
The omission of any provision in the statute for the allowance of interest indicates the intent of the legislature. The provision allowing the beneficiary of an award to obtain judgment in circuit court, based thereon, such judgment to be subject to the incidents pertaining thereto under the general law of the State, granted a remedy for the enforcement of payment. It may be noted also that by CL 1948, § 414.10 (Stat Ann 1950 Rev § 17.198[6]), the legislature has incorporated in the statute a provision that an insurance carrier engaged in writing workmen’s compensation insurance that fails unreasonably to pay claims promptly is subject to revocation of its license to carry on business in this State. Thus we have in the statute not only a provision for obtaining judgment on an award but also provision for a somewhat drastic penalty against an insurance carrier that does not properly discharge its obligation to make compensation payments. Whatever the reasons therefor, the fact remains that the legislature, while making provision for enforcement of payment and collection of compensation awards has not seen fit to include liability for interest either in the original act or in the amendments thereto.
*526This being- wholly a statutory proceeding- the rights and obligations of parties concerned rest entirely on the statute. Such was the view of this Court in Fowler v. Muskegon County, 340 Mich 522. There, as in the case at bar, counsel for the plaintiff moved in circuit court for a judgment on certified copy of an award. There, as here, payment of the principal amount due was made on behalf of defendant, without interest. The circuit court denied plaintiff’s claim that interest should be allowed for a period of approximately 8 years. The award was based on loss of vision in an eye, the loss occurring August 4, 1944, and final payment being made August 27, 1952. On appeal this Court affirmed the order of the circuit judge, which denied judgment to plaintiff, pointing out that under the specific terms of the statute (CL 1948, § 411.4 [Stat Ann 1950 Rev § 17.144]) the right to recovery of compensation benefits as provided in the statute should be “the exclusive remedy against the employer.” It was further stated that, prior thereto, interest had not been claimed or awarded on compensation ordered paid, a circumstance that indicated the uniform construction placed on the workmen’s compensation law with reference to such matter from the time of its enactment to the submission of the motion for judgment on the award. It may be further noted that since the decision in Fowler v. Muskegon County the legislature has not seen fit to amend the statute by incorporating therein a provision for interest.
As bearing- on the matter of the intent of the legislature in the enactment of the workmen’s compensation act, the provision of the title, which must be regarded as setting forth the object and purpose to be attained by the statute, restricting “the right to compensation or damages in such cases to such as are provided by this act” may not be ignored. Such declaration is consistent with the provisions defin*527ing with particularity the rights and obligations of employees and employers subject thereto, the procedure to be observed in determining the right to compensation and the amount thereof, and the remedies provided to enforce the making of payments in accordance with orders granting awards. Obviously it was not the intent of the legislature that rights or duties might be asserted in addition to those specifically granted and imposed. The provisions of the statute exclude implications.
It may be noted also that to impose on an employer an obligation to pay interest, if an award is made against him, from the time that voluntary payments might have been commenced, would in effect result in imposing the added burden for failure to make such voluntary payments. Such result is not consistent with the statute which clearly contemplates that the employer is entitled to have his duty to pay compensation to his employee, as well as The amount thereof, determined in accordance with the legislative procedure. On what theory may it be said that the obligation to pay an award arises in advance of the making of such award in accordance with the law? It must be borne in mind that such obligation is created by statute which has been enacted pursuant to the police power of the State. The rights and obligations granted and imposed thereby have been created by legislative action and must be determined in accordance therewith.
In view of the procedure followed in circuit court in the instant case the decision of the Illinois supreme court in Friedman Manfg. Co. v. Industrial Commission, 284 Ill 554 (120 NE 460), is of interest. The Illinois statute, like that of Michigan, provides for the entering of a judgment in court based on an award of compensation. Commenting thereon, it was said (p 558):
*528“The judgment entered by the court is in the nature of an execution of the award, to the end that adequate means may be provided for its enforcement, and on such an application the court has no jurisdiction to review the decision, construe the statute or determine whether the decision of the board was correct or not.”
Of like import is Cobine v. Industrial Commission, 350 Ill 384 (183 NE 220), where it was held that the court, reviewing on certiorari an award of the industrial commission of the State, had no authority to modify said award by providing for a lump-sum payment. The court, as the basis for its conclusion, pointed out that the statute contained no provision authorizing such action by the circuit court, and that under the statute a lump-sum payment could be authorized only by the commission upon proper petition to it by employer, employee, or beneficiary.
For the reasons stated we conclude that the judgment of the circuit court was erroneous. The statute under which the jurisdiction of said court was invoked contemplates merely the entry of judgment to facilitate collection of an award, and judgment must be based on such award. The court was not granted jurisdiction by the statute to hear and determine plaintiff’s application for the allowance of interest. Whether interest should be allowed on an award is a matter for determination by the legislature. The workmen’s compensation law in its present form contains no provision therefor. The proceeding being wholly statutory, the rights and obligations of the parties must be determined accordingly by reference to the provisions of the law, and courts may not read into the statute a provision that the legislature has not seen fit to incorporate.
' The cause should be remanded to circuit court with directions to set aside the judgment entered, and to enter judgment for defendant. The question in*529volved being one of public interest, no costs are allowed.
Dethmers, C. J., and Kelly, J., concurred with Carr, J.

PA 1912 (1st Ex Sess), No-10, as amended (CL 1948, §411.1 et sex, as amended [Stat Ann 1950 Rev § 17.141 et seq., as amended])..