Court Opinion

ID: 9601365
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:42:40.628549+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:57.141550
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING NOBLE, Justice. The motion for rehearing is denied, but to clarify the question of when the statute of limitations begins to run, we add the following to our opinion heretofore filed. Appellees assert that we overlooked the controlling effect of § 59-10-13.6, N.M.S.A. 1953, limiting the time within which a compensation claim must be filed. It is argued that the statute begins to run at the time when the claimant’s right of action accrues, and bars the action one year thereafter. They, argue that the statute began to run, in this case, when compensation payments were terminated following the healing period after the first operation, even though the workman had then returned to work and was earning the same wages as before the injury. The contention is grounded upon the' fact that the workman was told by his doctor that a fusion operation might 'later be required, and that he worked with some pain.  Appellees seek to support their contention with the argument that Batte v. Stanley’s, 70 N.M. 364, 374 P.2d 124, permits a claimant to file his claim, and his right of action accrues even though he is earning the same wage as before the injury if there is anything which hints of a possible future loss of wage earning ability. We do not agree. Batte goes no further than to hold that a claim is not premature merely because the injured workman continues to work and receive as much as before the injury, if his wage earning ability has been decreased by the injury and the amount received by him thereafter does not truly represent his wage earning ability. In that case, the workman’s wage earning ability was decreased by the injury. A part of the amount paid by his employer represented a gratuity rather than wages actually earned. Under such circumstances, it was said that upon the decrease in wage earning ability being established, the formula of § 59-10-18.3, N.M.S.A.1953 was properly applied. There is no suggestion in the evidence in this case that the workman did not earn the wages received by him after the accident. We hold that the statute of limitations does not commence to run until the wage earning ability of the injured workman has been decreased as a result of the accidental injury. We do not intend by anything we have said to affect the notice required by § 59-10-13.4, N.M.S.A.1953. We have noted the 1963 amendment to § 59-10-13.6, supra, but have not considered its effect since it has no application in this case. It is clear to us that § 59-10-13.6 has not barred claimant’s action under the facts here present. COMPTON, C. J., and MOISE, J., concur.