Court Opinion

ID: 9857981
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 16:11:03.559443+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:01:18.998216
License: Public Domain

HAMITER, Justice
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
Under the facts and circumstances of this case plaintiff, I agree, is entitled to compensation as for total and permanent disability.
But I do not agree with the holding that the defendant insurance company is liable to plaintiff for the penalties and attorney’s fees provided for in LSA-R.S. 22:658. In my opinion these statutory provisions, penal in nature and subject to strict construction, are not intended for the benefit of an injured employee. Thereunder, an insurer is penalized in the event of a failure to pay the amount of any claim due to any vnsivred within 60 days when such failure is found to be arbitrary, capricious or without *504probable cause. And according to the Employer’s Liability Act (LSA-R.S. 23:1162), the insured in a policy insuring the payment of compensation is the employer, not the employee.