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Hamilton v. Ford6/1/1999
ined: " hen the Industrial Commission has jurisdiction to pass on any element of compensation, all elements are included; and it was not contemplated by the Act that different parts of the total result of one accident should be regarded as separate claims." Gold, 202 S.C. at 291, 24 S.E.2d at 494-95.
Two years after Gold, the Supreme Court decided Lowther v. Standard Oil Co., 206 S.C. 286, 33 S.E.2d 889 (1945). In Lowther, the employee, a sales agent for Standard Oil, was injured in an admitted employment related accident on January 24, 1939. The employer was immediately notified of the accident and provided a physician to treat the employee. A written report of the accident was furnished to the employer. On March 9, 1939, the parties executed an agreement titled "Standard Form No. 15 for Agreement as to Compensation" which was provided by the Industrial Commission. Id. at 288, 33 S.E.2d at 889. The agreement set out the facts of the accident and provided the employee would receive a weekly compensation rate "'until terminated in accordance with the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Law of the State of South Carolina.'" Id. The Form 15 was in the Industrial Commission's file, although there was no notation thereon that it had been filed nor was there any explanation of how it came into the possession of the Commission.
The employee, with the assistance of his wife and son, continued to sell and distribute Standard Oil products under the employee's sales agent contract. His gross earnings remained the same as prior to his injury . Since there was no material difference in the employee's gross earnings prior to and following his accident, the employer did not pay out any amount under the Workmen's Compensation Act by reason of the employee's disability. In September, 1939, the employer refused to renew the employee's sales agent contract. One month later, the employer advised the employee that it denied his entitlement to Workers' Compensation benefits. On February 6, 1940, the employee filed a claim for compensation. The employer asserted the claim was barred because the employee had failed to file his claim with the Commission within one year from the date of the accident. The Single Commissioner agreed with the employer. The Full Commission and Circuit Court affirmed. On appeal, the Supreme Court addressed whether the employee's claim was barred by the "Workmen's Compensation Act, the [employee] not having himself formally filed claim with the Industrial Commission within one year from the date of his injury." Lowther, 206 S.C. at 291, 33 S.E.2d at 890.
The Lowther Court found:
Here, the employer (respondent) had notice that [the employee] was claiming and would claim benefits under the Workmen's Compensation Act; and information concerning the accident suffered by [the employee] was forwarded to the Industrial Commission by [the employer], but it did not "file" a claim on behalf of [the employee] with the Commission; and acting upon information furnished by [the employer] in a letter to the Industrial Commission on May 9, 1939, the Commission closed its "file" in respect to this accident. So, it would appear that the [employer] had presumed to act for and on behalf of the [employee] in the filing with the Industrial Commission of information concerning his accident and injury ; and the only source from which the Industrial Commission could have received the Standard Form 15 for "Agreement as to Compensation" was the [employer], and not the [employee].
If the "Agreement as to Compensation" entered into by and between [the employee] and [the employer] is to be considered as a "Settlement" (although no amount was paid thereunder as compensation, the [em
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