Court Opinion

ID: 9792431
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:29:16.721614+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:42.825999
License: Public Domain

BISTLINE, Justice,
specially concurring.
Agreeing that this case should be reversed and remanded in light of our opinions in Sines v. Appel, 103 Idaho 9, 644 P.2d 331 (1982), and Iverson v. Gordon Farming Co., 103 Idaho 527, 650 P.2d 669 (1982), I have joined the opinion of Justice Huntley.
As noted by the Court, the Commission’s view was that a workmen’s compensation award could only be reopened “upon a showing of fraud or a change in condition.” In doing so, the Commission relied upon several of this Court’s opinions:
“The Idaho Supreme Court consistently has held that an approved compensation agreement is res judicata (final and conclusive) as to all issues which were raised or which might have been raised at the time the agreement was approved, subject to modification upon a showing of fraud or a change in condition. Rodius v. Coeur d'Alene Mill Co., 46 Idaho 692, 271 P. 1 (1928); Reagan v. Baxter Foundry & Machine Works, 53 Idaho 722, 27 P.2d 62 (1933); Zapantis v. Central Idaho Min. & Mill. Co., 61 Idaho 660, 106 P.2d 113 (1940); Pruett v. Cranston Chevrolet Co., 63 Idaho 478, 121 P.2d 559 (1941); and *704Nitkey v. Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mining & Concentrating Co., 73 Idaho 294, 251 P.2d 216 (1952).
“An approved compensation agreement cannot be cancelled and a new award entered on the grounds that the original award is inadequate or based on an erroneous determination of the extent of the claimant’s disability. Zapantis v. Central Idaho Min. & Mill. Co., supra; Pruett v. Cranston Chevrolet Co., supra; and Nitkey v. Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mining & Concentrating Co., supra. The proper remedy where the degree of disability specified in an award is thought to be inadequate or to have been incorrectly determined is an appeal from the award, not a subsequent petition for modification. Wanker [Wanke] v. Ziebarth Construction Co., 69 Idaho 64, 202 P.2d 384 (1949). No appeal was taken from the compensation agreement. Consequently, the compensation agreement is final and conclusive regarding the nature and extent of the claimant’s permanent disability as it existed at the time the agreement was approved. That agreement can be modified only upon proof of fraud or a change in condition, no other errors capable of being corrected. Zapantis v. Central Idaho Min. & Mill. Co., supra.”
R., pp. 33-34.
The Commission, however, failed to consider that the cases upon which it relied were decided at a time when the only statutory basis for modification of an award was on the ground of change of condition. See Sines, supra, 103 Idaho at 12, 644 P.2d at 334. In apparent recognition of the injustice that could result in some situations, the legislature amended the statute pertaining to modification of awards, setting forth fraud and manifest injustice as additional grounds for reopening an award. I.C. § 72-719.
In light of the history of the statutory grounds for modification of workmen’s compensation awards and in conformance with this Court’s recent opinions in Sines and Iverson, not only can the Commission reopen a case if manifest injustice exists, but the Commission should do so liberally, whether upon its own motion or that of a party, so as to further the goals of the workmen’s compensation laws:
“A very worrisome aspect of I.C. § 72-719 is that provision which seems to say that a proceeding ‘to correct a manifest injustice’ will be made by the Commission on its own motion. I understand by our holding today that we are making it known that claimants, and in some instances, employers and their sureties, are not precluded from making the same motion, and thereby triggering what I perceive to be a very broad equitable power conferred by the legislature upon the Commission. This is as it should be. It must be remembered that at one stage in the field of Workmen’s Compensation law, appeals did not proceed directly from the Commission into the Supreme Court; claimants were first entitled to take an appeal ‘to the district court of the county in which the injury occurred’ and the case was thereafter tried by the court in a review limited to questions of law. Idaho Code Annotated §§ 43-1408-1409 (1932). The district court was specifically authorized to have regard for ‘any irregularity or error’ which was to the damage of a party. I would assume that the district court could also have used its inherent equitable powers to avoid or correct a manifest injustice had the occasion arisen necessitating that it do so.
“Similarly, I assume today, with equal confidence, that the 1971 legislature had in mind that the Commission, which is now the only tribunal to which a claimant has access other than this Court, should have the same broad equitable powers of a district court in order to fulfill its function of providing sure and certain relief for the injured working man or woman. Hence, it is important that the Commission realize the extent of its power, a power which, by its makeup, it can most competently and effectively administer.” *705Sines, supra, 103 Idaho at 18, 644 P.2d at 340 (Bistline, J., specially concurring) (footnote omitted).