Court Opinion

ID: 9428119
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:22:51.918271+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:11.886487
License: Public Domain

Justice Blackmun,
dissenting.
The Court in this case and the dissent in the Court of Appeals argue rather persuasively (but, for me, not convincingly) that, although they reach an incongruous result, see *285ante, at 282-284, the statute is to be construed in favor of that incongruity and of the anomalies that concededly exist. It is said that this is so because Congress just wrote the statute that way. Now that the Court has so ruled, the Congress fortunately can remedy the anomalous situation if only it will go about doing it.
That, of course, is of no help or comfort to respondent Cross, the particular litigant here, who suffered the injury and who, as the Court concedes, ante, at 283, might have had a greater award had his injury been less enduring. That does not make much sense to me and, while I realize that statutory inequities occasionally exist in the area of workmen’s compensation where seemingly arbitrary lines must be drawn somewhere, I cannot believe that by the language of this statute Congress intended such a result.
Soon after the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA), 44 Stat. (part 2) 1424, 33 U. S. C. §§ 901-950, became law in 1927, this Court unanimously announced the principles to be applied in resolving questions of statutory construction that arise under it:
“The measure before us, like recent similar legislation in many States, requires employers to make payments for the relief of employees and their dependents who sustain loss as a result of personal injuries and deaths occurring in the course of their work, whether with or without fault attributable to employers. Such laws operate to relieve persons suffering such misfortunes of a part of the burden and to distribute it to the industries and mediately to those served by them. They are deemed to be in the public interest and should be construed liberally in furtherance of the purpose for which they were enacted and, if possible, so as to avoid incongruous or harsh results.” *286Baltimore & Phila. Steamboat Co. v. Norton, 284 U. S. 408, 414 (1932).
See also Voris v. Eikel, 346 U. S. 328, 333 (1953).
Today’s decision departs from these principles by reaching, rather than avoiding, a harsh and incongruous result.1 It is undisputed that respondent Cross has suffered an injury that will reduce his weekly earnings by $130.13 for the rest of his working life. To compensate him for this injury, the Benefits Review Board awarded him two-thirds of his lost earnings — $86.76 per week or approximately $4,500 per year — for as long as he continues to work. Under the Court’s decision, however, the most that Cross will receive is a total of about $12,800,'2 less than three years’ compensation as awarded by the Board. If the Board now accepts petitioner’s argument that Cross has lost only 5% of the use of his leg, he will *287receive about $3,200, less than one year’s compensation.3 Of course, if Congress really intended such a result, the Court would be powerless to change it. I believe, however, that neither the language of the statute nor its legislative history warrants the interpretation that the Court adopts.
The starting point, of course, is the statute’s definition of “disability.” Section 2 (10) of the Act, 33 U. S. C. § 902 (10), defines “disability” as “incapacity because of injury to earn the wages which the employee was receiving at the time of injury in the same or any other employment.” As used in the Act, therefore, “disability” is an economic concept, rather than a medical one. An injury is not compensable under the Act unless it results in some diminution in the employee’s earning power.
Not surprisingly, then, the amount of compensation that the Act provides depends upon the amount of wages lost by the injured employee due to his injury. A worker who suffers permanent total disability, and therefore is unable to earn any wages, receives two-thirds of his average weekly wages. § 908 (a). One who suffers temporary total disability receives two-thirds of his average weekly wages as long as he remains disabled. § 908 (b). One who suffers temporary partial disability receives two-thirds of the difference between his average weekly wages before the injury and his wage-earning capacity after the injury, payable as long as the disability continues, but not longer than five years. § 908 (e).
The Act’s treatment of permanent partial disability should be read against this background. As the Court notes, § 908 (c) contains 20 subsections establishing compensation for permanent partial disability caused by particular injuries. That compensation is two-thirds of the worker’s weekly wages for a specified number of weeks for the injury listed. Subsection (21) then provides that “[i]n all other cases in this *288class of disability” an employee shall receive two-thirds of the difference between his average weekly wages before the injury and his wage-earning capacity thereafter. The Court prefers to construe “other cases” to mean that the compensation specified for the injuries listed in subsections (1) to (20) is the exclusive method of compensating workers who are permanently, but partially, disabled by these injuries. I believe that “other cases” includes any case in which the worker does not wish to accept the compensation offered in subsections (1) to (20), but elects to bear the burden of proving the difference between his wages before the injury and his wage-earning capacity afterwards.
This interpretation is far more in harmony with the overall purpose of the Act than is the Court’s construction. The House Committee that considered the legislation explained that workers’ compensation “has come to be universally recognized as a necessity in the interest of social justice between employer and employee,” and that this Act would provide an injured worker with “compensation during the period of his illness or inability to pursue his usual employment . . . (Emphasis added.) H. R. Rep. No. 1767, 69th Cong., 2d Sess., 19-20 (1927).4 The compensation that the Court’s decision provides to respondent Cross falls far short of this goal.
An additional purpose of the statute was to afford prompt relief to covered workers “without the delay and expense which an action at law entails.” Id., at 20. The inclusion of a schedule of benefits in § 908 (c) serves this goal by providing an easily ascertainable award to a person who suffers one of the scheduled injuries.5 There is no indication in the *289legislative history, however, that providing prompt and certain relief is to be regarded as more important than providing adequate relief, especially in a case, such as this one, in which it is undisputed that the schedule of benefits will not com*290pensate respondent Cross for the wages he has lost and will lose because of his injury.
Although the Court states that the “weight of judicial authority” supports its view, it is able to cite only a single Federal District Court decision in point,6 namely, Williams v. Donovan, 234 F. Supp. 135 (ED La. 1964), aff’d, 367 F. 2d 825 (CA5 1966), cert. denied, 386 U. S. 977 (1967).7 This contrasts with the consistently held view of the Benefits Review Board,8 the agency established to administer the LHWCA. Sokolowski v. Bank of America, 261 N. Y. 57, 184 N. E. 492 (1933), of course, provides scant support for today’s decision. That case was decided after the LHWCA was enacted, and is an uncertain guide, at best, to the intent of the Congress that passed the Act six years earlier.
Thus, the anomalous results the Court’s decision imposes upon respondent Cross and other claimants under the LHWCA9 are not mandated, in my view, by the statute. It *291is possible to construe the statute to allow a claimant seeking compensation for permanent partial disability to choose between the schedule and the provisions of §908 (c)(21). I think we should follow Baltimore & Phila. Steamboat Co. v. Norton, 284 U. S. 408 (1932), and adopt a liberal construction of the statute so as to avoid the amazingly incongruous result approved by the Court.
I would affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.

 The Court’s decision also rejects the consistent interpretation of the Benefits Review Board, the agency which administers the LHWCA. In four cases, in addition to this one, the Board has ruled that the schedule of benefits set out in §§ 908 (c) (1) to (20) is not the exclusive method of compensation for an employee who suffers permanent partial disability from a scheduled injury. Collins v. Todd Shipyards Corp., 9 BRBS 1015 (1979); Brand v. Avondale Shipyards, Inc., 8 BRBS 698 (1978); Richardson v. Perna & Cantrell, Inc., 6 BRBS 588 (1977); Mason v. Old Dominion Stevedoring Corp., 1 BRBS 357 (1975). Cf. American Mutual Ins. Co. v. Jones, 138 U. S. App. D. C. 269, 426 F. 2d 1263 (1970); Dugger v. Jacksonville Shipyards, 8 BRBS 552 (1978), aff’d, 587 F. 2d 197 (CA5 1979); Longo v. Universal Terminal & Stevedoring Corp., 2 BRBS 357 (1975) (employee who suffers permanent total disability due to a scheduled injury is not limited to compensation provided by the schedule).

 The Administrative Law Judge found that respondent Cross’ average weekly wage was $332.48. The schedule of benefits provides that a worker who completely loses the use of a leg shall receive two-thirds of his average weekly wage for 288 weeks. §908 (c)(2). Because Cross lost no more than 20% of the use of his leg, the most he can recover under the schedule is 20% of the compensation awarded for the total loss of the use of a leg. § 908(e) (19). Therefore, the maximum amount available to him under the schedule is $332.48 X % X 288 X 20% = $12,767.23.

 $332.48 X % X 288 X 5% = $3,191.81.

 It is significant that this language appears in the House Committee’s Report, since that Committee amended the bill to provide for the schedule of benefits after it had passed in the Senate without a schedule. See 67 Cong. Rec. 10614 (1926).

 Compare S. Rep. No. 836, 81st Cong., 1st Sess., 17 (1949), discussing an amendment that provides a schedule of benefits, similar to that con*289tained in the LHWCA, for the Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA):
“Under the present act an employee may receive compensation to the extent of 66% percent of whatever loss he has sustained in wage-earning capacity as caused by the injury. Unless the injury results in wage loss, no compensation can be paid. The absence of a schedule covering members and functions of the body has presented two principal difficulties, the first of which is the extreme difficulty in determining fairly and objectively the precise extent to which a particular physical impairment diminishes the injured employee’s wage-eaming capacity.”
The Court of Appeals appropriately noted that on occasion the schedule may overcompensate a claimant. For example, a lawyer who loses an arm due to an accident at work may not suffer any diminution in his earning ability, but he would be eligible for compensation under the schedule. 196 U. S. App. D. C. 417, 421, n. 28, 606 F. 2d 1324, 1328, n. 28 (1979). To this extent, the schedule is an exception to the principle that disability is an economic concept rather than a medical one, but it is an exception that Congress deliberately chose to make. In addressing the second of the “principal difficulties” presented by the then absence of a schedule in the FECA, the Senate Report concluded:
“A particular physical impairment to a member or function of the body does not always cause a proportional reduction in earning capacity. An employee having a loss of a member or function may be able to return to employment without apparent wage loss. In that event, notwithstanding the severe physical loss to him, he may not under the present act be paid compensation for his physical impairment. It is understandable that employees with such losses expect some form of indemnity for their loss.” S. Rep. No. 836, at 17.
In relying upon this legislative history of the FECA, I do not mean to suggest that that history is part of the legislative history of the LHWCA. As the Court notes, ante, at 275, the legislative history of the LHWCA is silent concerning the reasons why Congress included a schedule. Although Congress’ intent in this matter cannot be discerned with absolute certainty, it is plausible that its reasons for adopting a schedule for the FECA were the same as its reasons for having one for the LHWCA.

 The other federal cases cited by the Court are clearly distinguishable. In Flamm v. Hughes, 329 F. 2d 378 (CA2 1964), the court rejected a claim that it was unconstitutional for Congress to provide a schedule for some injuries, but not for others. The plaintiff, however, was dissatisfied with the award obtained under § 908 (c) (21), and hoped to obtain a larger award from a schedule. The court did not address the question whether the schedule provides an exclusive remedy for a claimant who can prove a wage loss greater than that specified by the schedule. The Court acknowledges that Travelers Ins. Co. v. Cardillo, 225 F. 2d 137 (CA2), cert. denied, 350 U. S. 913 (1955), which held that proof of lost wages is irrelevant when an employee seeks to recover under the schedule, did not decide the question before us. Ante, at 277, n. 15.

 The one paragraph per curiam affirming the District Court’s decision in Williams does not discuss the exclusivity issue.

 See n. 1, supra.

 The inadequate compensation awarded to respondent Cross is only one of a number of peculiarities resulting from today’s decision. Under the rule announced by the Court, a person who suffers a temporary partial disability may receive more compensation than one who suffers a like but permanent partial disability, even though the latter injury is obviously more serious and will cause a greater loss of earnings. In this case, if *291Cross’ injury were a temporary partial disability, he would be entitled to receive two-thirds of his lost earning capacity for a maximum of five years. § 908 (e). Thus, he could receive a total of about $22,400 ($86 per week for five years), an amount almost twice as large as the maximum compensation that the Court now allows him for his permanent partial disability. “It may not reasonably be assumed that Congress intended to require payment of more compensation for a lesser disability than for a greater one including the lesser. Nothing less than compelling language would justify such a construction of the Act.” Baltimore & Phila. Steamboat Co. v. Norton, 284 U. S. 408, 413 (1932).
Today’s decision also creates a significant disincentive for the seriously injured workers who otherwise might wish to return to work. The courts and the Benefits Review Board have held that a worker who is unable to do any work as the result of a scheduled injury may be compensated for permanent total disability, and the Court does not question this rule. See ante, at 277-278, n. 17. A worker who has been permanently and totally disabled receives two-thirds of his average weekly wages. § 908 (a). A worker who takes a low-paying job because a scheduled injury makes him unable to work at his old job will be considered permanently partially disabled. His compensation will be limited to the scheduled amount, even though that amount may be insufficient to make up the difference between his former earnings and his earnings at the new job. Such a worker will learn quickly that it is to his advantage not to attempt to do any work. See Mason v. Old Dominion Stevedoring Corp., 1 BRBS, at 365; Brandt v. Avondale Shipyards, Inc., 8 BRBS, at 701-702.