H. W. SPERRY, INC., AND UNITED STATES FIDELITY & GUARANTY COMPANY, PETITIONERS,
v.
MRS. CORA MATTHEWS (SURVIVING WIDOW OF E. C. MATTHEWS, DECEASED, ORIGINAL CLAIMANT) AND FLORIDA INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION, RESPONDENTS

Fla. | 1954-11-09
ROBERTS, C. J., and HOBSON and DREW, JJ., concur.
76 So. 2d 487 Florida Supreme Court (1954) Caution
Cited by 8 cases

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Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of an employer's application for review of a workers' compensation order because the application was filed more than 21 days after the deputy commissioner's order was mailed to the parties. The court held that the 21-day deadline for seeking review is computed from the date copies of the order are mailed, not from the date of filing in Tallahassee.


Holding

The court held that the 21-day deadline is computed from the date copies of the order are mailed to the parties, not from the date of filing in Tallahassee. The application filed on July 15, 1954, was filed exactly 21 days after the June 24, 1954 mailing and was therefore untimely.


Key Quotes

“The compensation order rendered by the deputy commissioner shall become final twenty days after the date copies of same are mailed to the parties at the last known address of each, unless within said time any interested party shall make and file with the commission at Tallahassee an application for a review thereof by the full commission.”

Establishes the statutory basis for the 21-day deadline computed from mailing date.

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Facts & Procedural History

A deputy commissioner issued a workers' compensation order on June 24, 1954, granting compensation to the widow of a deceased workman. Copies of the o…

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Opinion of the Court
THOMAS, Justice.

THOMAS, Justice.

The order of the deputy commissioner granting compensation and certain expense monies to the widow of a workman who was injured and who died as a result of his injuries, was signed 24 June-1954. Attached to the deputy’s order was his certificate that a copy of the order was sent by registered mail to the claimant and the employer the same day the order was signed. The attorneys for the employer and carrier applied for a review on grounds not necessary to be detailed. The application, as it appears in the record, bears this notation: “Received by hand in person July 15th, 1954. James R. Hansford /s/ Deputy Commissioner.”

The full commission entered an order, 8 September 1954, dismissing the application because twenty-one days had elapsed between the date the order of the deputy commissioner was mailed and the date of the presentation of the application. The commission cited Section 440.25(4), Florida Statutes 1953, and F.S.A., which provides that “The compensation order rendered by the deputy commissioner shall become final twenty days after the date copies of same are mailed to the parties at the last known address of each, unless within said time any interested party shall make and file with the commission at Tallahassee an ap plication for a review thereof by the full commission.” (Italics supplied.)

The petitioner, in his challenge of the dismissal order, seeks comfort in the preceding subsection, 440.25(3) (c), Florida Statutes 1953, and F.S.A., requiring that an order rejecting or approving a claim be filed in the office of the commission at Tallahassee and be mailed to the claimant and the employer “with the date of mailing noted thereon.” He insists that the time for seeking a review by the commission should be computed from date of filing in Tallahassee and not from the date the deputy commissioner mails the copies of his order. We do not accept this view.

In their brief, the petitioners frankly state that they have been unable to find any decisions construing these sections but they cite cases dealing with the effective date of judgments entered in courts of law.

We think those decisions are not apposite. The law governing the time within which an application for review by the full commission must be filed is perfectly clear. In this case it cannot be disputed that the time began to run on the twenty-fourth day of June and the application was not filed until the fifteenth day of July, twenty-owe days afterward. Obviously the commission was correct in entering the order of dismissal.

Our desire to decide the point is the ostensible conflict between the present ruling and the decision in American Airmotive Corp. v. Stutz, Fla., 72 So. 2d 665. The difference in the cases arises from the fact that the administrative review by the full commission is regulated by the statute that authorize^ the review while petitions for review by this Court are governed by our rules with reference to writs of certiorari which this Court is empowered under the Constitution to issue and control. Wilson v. McCoy Mfg. Co., Fla., 69 So. 2d 659.

The petition is denied.

ROBERTS, C. J., and HOBSON and DREW, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • …the 19th day and mailing the application to the Commission where it was received on the 21st day obviously enlarged the time fixed by the statute and was a deviation from the essential requirements of law. In H. W. Sperry, Inc., v. Matthews, Fla., 76 So. 2d 487, this court held that filing an application for review 21 days after the order of the Deputy Commissioner is in violation of the statute. In that case it will be observed that the application was filed with the Deputy Commissioner 21 days after his…
  • Leonard v. Cook & Pruitt Masonry, Inc., 126 So. 2d 136 (Fla. 1960)
    …s order with respect to the award had become final under the statute, the full commission was without authority to consider or amend it. Fournigault v. Jackson Memorial Hospital, Fla.1956, 87 So. 2d 102, and H. W. Sperry, Inc. v. Matthews, Fla.1954, 76 So. 2d 487. Section 440.28, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., is not applicable here because, although providing a method of review by the full commission within two years of the last payment of compensation, it is limited in its scope to cases in which a change in c…
    1 / 2
  • Myrtice Harrell v. Fla. Indus. Comm'n, 102 So. 2d 638 (Fla. 1st DCA 1958)
    …PER CURIAM. Certiorari denied on authority of H. W. Sperry, Inc. v. Matthews, Fla., 76 So. 2d 487. STURGIS, C. J., and WIGGINTON and CARROLL, JJ., concur.…

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