U.S. Supreme Court STATEN ISLAND RAPID T. RY. CO. v. PHOENIX INDEMNITY CO., 281 U.S. 98 (1930)

281 U.S. 98

STATEN ISLAND RAPID TRANSIT RY. CO. v. PHOENIX INDEMNITY CO. No. 307. Argued March 7, 1930. Decided March 17, 1930.[ Staten Island Rapid T. Ry. Co. v. [Page 281 U.S. 98, 104]

sions 8 and 9 of section 15 of the Workmen's Compensation Law became applicable. [Footnote 1]

[Page 281 U.S. 98, 109]

whether or not there are persons entitled to compensation under the statute in the particular case, and that this depends on the further circumstance whether there are dependents, and, if there are, whether they recover at least as much as the compensation for which the act provides. But this is the classification with respect to the requirement of the payments by the employer or his insurer for the maintenance of the special funds. That cannot be said to be an unreasonable classification, as it provides for those cases where there are no persons entitled to compensation under the act, and thus the immediate employer and his insurer are relieved of the obligation to pay compensation. And, in view of the decisions of this court, above cited, the validity of subdivisions 8 and 9 of section 15 of the statute, as construed by the state court, requiring the payments by the employer and the insured in this instance, have not been questioned. So far as the provision of section 29 is concerned, it operates uniformly against all wrongdoers in like circumstances; that is, whenever awards as required by subdivisions 8 and 9 of section 15 have been made against the employer, or his insurer, and such awards have been paid to the state treasurer.

Judgment affirmed. Footnotes

Footnote 1 Subdivisions 8 and 9 of section 15, as they stood at the time of Perroth's death, were as follows:'s 15. Schedule in Case of Disability. The following schedule of compensation is hereby established:'8. Permanent total disability after permanent partial disability. If an employee who has previously incurred permanent partial disability through the loss of one hand, one arm, one foot, one leg, or one eye, incurs permanent total disability through the loss of another member or organ, he shall be paid, in addition to the compensation for permanent partial disability provided in this section and after the cessation of the payments for the prescribed period of weeks special additional compensation for the remainder of his life to the amount of sixty-six and two-thirds per centum of the average weekly wage earned by him at the time the total permanent disability was incurred. Such additional compensation shall be paid out of a special fund created for such purpose in the following manner: The insurance carrier shall pay to the state treasurer for every case of injury causing death in which there are no persons entitled to compensation the sum of five hundred dollars. The state treasurer shall be the custodian of this special fund, and the commissioner shall direct the distribution thereof.'9. Expenses for rehabilitating injured employees. An employee, who as a result of injury is or may be expected to be totally or partially incapacitated for a remunerative occupation and who, under the direction of the state department of education is being rendered fit, to engage in a remunerative occupation, shall receive additional compensation necessary for his rehabilitation, not more than ten dollars per week of which shall be expended for maintenance. Such expense and such of the administrative expenses of the state department of education as are properly assignable to the expense of rehabilitating employees entitled to compensation as a result of injuries under this chapter, shall be paid out of a special fund created in the following manner: The employer, or if insured, his insurance carrier, shall pay into the vocational rehabilitation fund for every case of injury causing death, in which there are no persons entitled to compensation, the sum of five hundred dollars. The state treasurer shall be the custodian of this special fund. ...

Footnote 2 The definition is as follows: "Insurance carrier' shall include the state fund, stock corporations or mutual associations with which employers have insured, and employers permitted to pay compensation directly. ...' Section 2, subd. 12.