Court Opinion

ID: 9563299
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:38:25.849959+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:47.823891
License: Public Domain

EDMONDS, J.,
dissenting. Contrary to the conclusions of my associates, I plainly see in section 5406 of the Labor Code a legislative intention to fix two years from the date of an injury as the maximum time within which a claim for a death benefit may be filed unless “the injury causing death also caused disability which continued to the date of death and for which a disability payment has been made, or agreed to be made.” By its terms the section provides that “proceedings for the collection of the death benefit” may be commenced within “one year from the date of death” except, “in any event,” the proceedings may be commenced within “two years from the date of injury” or “240 weeks from the date of injury” under the conditions specified. The qualifying phrase “in any event” unquestionably limits the specified time of “one year from the date of death,” and may be defined as synonymous with the expression “under all or any circumstances.” As said in the leading case of Edwards v. Laird, 22 CaLApp. 398 [134 P. 365], the phrase means “no matter what else may be” or “whatever may happen.”
By stating that “the evident purpose of the statute here involved is to give a right to death benefits,” the majority opinion disregards the general rule that “statutes of limitations do not confer any right of action but are enacted to restrict the period within which the right, otherwise unlimited, might be asserted” (37 C.J. 684). Implicit in the terms of section 5406 is recognition of the other provisions allowing dependents of a workman killed in industrial accident a death benefit. In compensation law it is generally recognized that “the purpose of the statute of limitations is to force an early submission of the claim to the Commission so that all vexatious problems . . . may be determined while all the facts are *593fresh in the minds of the various witnesses.” (Campbell, Workmen’s Compensation, vol. 1, 1935, p. 829.) This court, in the case of Ehrhart v. Industrial Acc. Com., 172 Cal. 621 [158 P. 193, Ann.Cas. 1917E 465], recognized that the object of the periods of limitation provided in the Workmen’s Compensation Act was to insure “prompt inquiry regarding the injuries in all their details by the commission....” (Accord, Rose v. Petaluma & Santa Rosa Ry. Co., 64 Cal.App. 213 [221 P. 406].)
The sections of the Labor Code limiting the time within which may be commenced proceedings for compensation indicate a purpose to insure a prompt hearing of the circumstances surrounding an industrial accident. The employer must be notified of any compensation claim (including medical, disability or death benefits) within thirty days from the date of injury (Lab. Code, §§ 5400, 5401, 5402) unless the failure to give such notice does not mislead or prejudice the employer (Lab. Code, § 5403). Proceedings for the collection of compensation by an employee during his lifetime must be commenced within six months from the date of injury although two years is allowed where the employer has aknowledged liability (Lab. Code, §5405). By the decision in the present case, a dependent may commence proceedings for the death benefit at any time, be it twenty or thirty years from the date of injury, as long as it is within one year from the date of death. That the occasion of the injury, rather than the date of death, should be determinative of the commencement of .the running of the statute is obvious. By the lapse of time, an employer may be unable to produce evidence of the facts concerning an accident, and where labor turnover is substantial, as under present day conditions, the prejudicial effect of striking down the bar of the statute is particularly pronounced.
Moreover, to consider the date of death, regardless of the time of the injury, as the effective date fixed by the section renders meaningless its other provisions. By that construction, the proceeding may be commenced within one year from the date of death, in any event. To reach that result requires that the qualifying phrase “in any event” be read as preceding the words “one year from the date of death” which is the language which they limit, and I see no reasonable basis *594for the conclusion that the sole function of the provisos (a) (1) and (a) (2) of section 5406 is to extend beyond one year from the date of death the period within which the action may be commenced. Bather than imputing to the Legislature an intent not to attach meaning to all the provisions of said statute, consonant with a reasonable plan of limitations, it is the function of this court, where the meaning is clear and reasonable, to give effect to the intent expressed.
Notwithstanding the statutory language, Justice Carter justifies his position by reasoning that, as interpreted by the commission, section 5406 would compel an employee to die within two years from the date of injury as a condition precedent to the recovery of a death benefit. That is an incomplete statement. The Legislature has plainly said that if a death benefit is demanded on account of an injury for which payment on account of disability has been made, or agreed to be made, or claimed in a proceeding instituted within the applicable time, then the dependent shall have 240 weeks from the date of injury within which to file his claim. Measured by the time allowed in other states, 240 weeks almost five years, is a very liberal period. (Dragicevic v. State Industrial Acc. Com., 112 Ore. 569 [230 P. 354] (one year); Martini v. Kemmerer Coal Co., 38 Wyo. 172 [265 P. 707] (twelve months); Frary v. Roxana Petroleum Corp., 135 Kan. 216 [9 P.2d 652] (six months); Ohio Oil Co. v. Industrial Com., 293 Ill. 461 [127 N.E. 743] (six months); Vukovich v. St. Louis, R. M. & P. Co., 40 N.M. 374 [60 P.2d 356] (one year) ; Lusczy v. Seaboard By-Products Co., 101 N.J.L. 170 [127 A. 212] (one year).) But the Legislature also provided that as to an injury for which the workman did not seek compensation, the time allowed to his dependent to file a claim for a death benefit should be limited to one year from the date of death. Very obviously, the Legislature concluded that if the injury was not such as to lead to any disability for which the workman claimed compensation, then regardless of the time of the resulting death, the dependent should be limited to two years from the date of the injury within which to file a proceeding for a benefit. Certainly there is a very reasonable basis for specifying a time within which one may claim a death benefit on account of an injury which did not result in disability different from that fixed for one for which compensation was asked or received.
*595For these reasons I believe that the statute should be interpreted accordingly. In Glavich v. Industrial Acc. Corn., 44 Cal.App.2d 517 [112 P.2d 774], the District Court of Appeal reached that conclusion and since that decision, the Legislature has met without amending the statute, a circumstance which indicates that the construction placed upon it carries out the intended purpose.
Gibson, C. J., concurred.
Respondents’ petition for a rehearing was denied August 21, 1944. Gibson, C. J., and Edmonds, J., voted for a rehearing.