Court Opinion

ID: 9944845
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-26 18:41:55.285406+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:23:33.989095
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION TO CORRECT JUDGMENT
The appellants in the above styled cause have filed a motion to correct the judgment entered herein pursuant to a decision on October 11, 1954, affirming the above styled cause by eliminating therefrom that portion of said judgment which provides for the allowance to appellees *Page 757 
of statutory damages at the rate of five per centum, and which provides for interest on unpaid installments of the compensation benefits, on the ground that the judgment appealed from was not one "for a sum of money" within the meaning of Section 1971, Code of 1942. (Hn 5) The decision on this motion is controlled in the main by the decision on a similar motion in the case of Railway Express Agency v. Mrs. Christine W. Hollingsworth, et al., Cause No. 39,272, rendered on November 14, 1954, which overruled the cases of Mills v. Jones Estate, 213 Miss. 680, 54 So.2d 496, and Stephens v. Moore, 215 Miss. 3, 60 So.2d 391, to the extent mentioned in the opinion on the said motion in the case of Railway Express Agency v. Mrs. Christine Hollingsworth, et al., supra.
In the instant case the attorney-referee entered an order on July 25, 1953, in favor of the appellees, awarding them compensation "in the manner and method set forth in Section 9 of the Mississippi Workmen's Compensation Act, (Chapter 354, Laws of 1948), as amended." This order was based on a finding that the deceased employee was earning an average weekly wage of $60, and that his death arose out of and in the course of his employment, and a further finding that the deceased employee came to his death on July 5, 1951, and that the appellees were entitled to have the appellants, Sunnyland Contracting Co., Inc., as employer, and the Pacific Employers Insurance Co., as insurance carrier, pay to the appellees, Leona Kelly Davis, surviving wife, and to the natural guardian or other representative of James Vaughn Davis, Virgil Davis, and William Michael Davis, dependent children of the deceased employee, the compensation provided for as death benefits, "in the manner and method set forth in Section 9 of the Mississippi Workmen's Compensation Act, as amended," and as provided for in his order awarding such compensation. *Page 758 
The cause was heard on review by the full Commission, and a judgment was rendered by the full Commission on October 20, 1953, affirming the order of the attorney-referee. This judgment of the full Commission was appealed to the Circuit Court of Wayne County, and was affirmed by that court on November 30, 1953.
We are of the opinion that Section 1971, Code of 1942, supra, providing for the assessment of damages at the rate of five per centum on the amount of a money judgment when the same is affirmed here on appeal is applicable in the instant case for the reason that when the full Commission affirmed the order of the attorney-referee on October 20, 1953, and which order had allowed compensation "in the manner and method set forth in Section 9 of the Mississippi Workmen's Compensation Act, as amended," after having determined the average weekly wage of the deceased employee and who were the beneficiaries of the award, the judgment of the full Commission became a judgment for a sum of money in the amount of the benefits definitely fixed by the said section of the Act. Therefore we depart from the holding in the case of J. B. Manufacturing Company v. Cochran, 216 Miss. 336,62 So.2d 378, to the extent and to the extent only, that the decision in that case disallowed the five per centum damages on the thirteen weeks compensation that was recoverable in any event. We adhere to that decision in all other respects.
In the instant case we disallow the five per centum damages on the sum of $350 provided for under subsection (b) of Section 9 of Chapter 354, Laws of 1948, providing for "Reasonable funeral expenses not exceeding three hundred fifty dollars ($350.00)," and for the reason that the funeral expense is not definitely fixed by this section of the Workmen's Compensation Law referred to in the order of the attorney-referee, and the amount thereof is not shown by the record. *Page 759 
The five per centum damages is therefore allowed on all installments which have become due and now remain unpaid, since the rendition of the judgment of the full Commission on October 20, 1953. The allowance of the legal rate of interest on said unpaid installments must follow under the requirement of Section 39, Code of 1942, as held by the decision rendered on the motion to assess damages and interest in the case of Railway Express Company v. Mrs. Christine W. Hollingsworth, et al., supra, on November 14, 1954. Therefore the motion to correct the judgment in the instant case is sustained only as to the assessment of the five per centum and the interest on the funeral expense, not exceeding $350, and is overruled to the extent that we are asked to eliminate that portion of the judgment heretofore rendered in this cause which provides for the allowance to appellees of statutory damages at the rate of five per centum (5%), and which provides for interest on unpaid installments that are definitely fixed by Section 9 of Chapter 354, Laws of 1948, as amended. The order of the attorney-referee, when affirmed by the full Commission, and which refers to the said section of the statute which fixes the compensation, had the effect of fully advising the employer and its insurance carrier of the amount of compensation awarded.
Motion overruled in part and sustained in part.
All Justices concur.