PALM BEACH DAIRY COMPANY AND LUMBERMEN'S MUTUAL CASUALTY COMPANY,
v.
ANITA RYAN AND FLORIDA INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION
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Payments from half-brothers to a dependent mother do not relieve the employer of compensation obligations under the Workmen's Compensation Act.
An employee was killed, and his dependent mother received compensation. Payments were later discontinued because half-brothers contracted to pay her a…
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Frank A. Ryan was killed in August, 1940, while on duty and in the employ of Palm Beach Dairy Company. He was unmarried, was making $17.50 per week and was living with his mother who was dependent on him for support. The insurance carrier paid compensation to Mrs. Ryan, the mother, for forty-seven weeks at $6.25 per week and then discontinued the payments because some half brothers had entered into contract to pay her $15.00 per week for a limited period.
The question presented is whether such payments had the effect of relieving the mother of dependency as contemplated *649by Section 440.16, Florida Statutes, 1941 (Workmen’s Compensation Act) and thereby destroy her claim for compensation.
We think this question requires a negative answer. Who are dependents under the Workmen’s Compensation Act is relative and may be influenced by many factors but it is not limited to such as have a bare subsistence living or perchance a limited income from other sources. Somewhere along the road from rags to affluence, the right to Workmen’s Compensation would no doubt be surrendered but we hold this point to be above the bare subsistence level.
Different phases of the question of dependency were dealt with in Panama City Stevedoring Co. Inc. v. Padgett, 149 Fla. 687, 6 So. (2nd) 832; Stone, et al., v. Scott, et al., 151 Fla. 21, 9 So. (2nd) 168; Moorer v. Putnam Lumber Co., 152 Fla. 520, 12 So. (2nd) 370; and Johnson, et al., v. Midland Construction Co., 152 Fla. 289, 11 So. (2nd) 895. In our view, these cases conclude the question raised here against appellants so the judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed.
BUFORD, C. J., CHAPMAN and ADAMS, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Alfred Terrinoni (deceased) by Ann Terrinoni v. Westward HO! & Kent Ins. Co., 418 So. 2d 1143 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)…less of changed circumstances. The section in the Act concerning the dependency of parents has remained essentially unchanged since 1935.2 The phrase at issue appears to have been interpreted only once in Palm Beach Dairy Co. v. Ryan, 154 Fla. 648, 18 So. 2d 537 (1944). There the deceased employee had lived with his mother who was dependent on him for support. The employee had been earning $17.50 per week at the time of his death. The insurance carrier had paid compensation to the deceased’s mother for 47 w…
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Carroll Steel Erectors & the Claims Ctr. v. Alderman, 599 So. 2d 181 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)…dependency “must in each instance be determined by the extent to which the contributions of the decéased employee enabled the dependent to maintain his or her accustomed standard of living.” 117 So. 2d at 492. See also, Palm Beach Dairy Co. v. Ryan, 154 Fla. 648, 18 So. 2d 537 (1944) (dependency under workers’ compensation law “... is not limited to such as have a bare subsistence living or perchance a limited income from other sources_”). We are persuaded that the JCC properly weighed the extent of the eco…
Authorities Cited
- Panama City Stevedoring Co. v. MRS. Georgia Padgett, 149 Fla. 687 (Fla. 1942)
- Meta M. Johnson v. Midland Constructors, Inc., 152 Fla. 289 (Fla. 1943)
- Moorer v. Putnam Lumber Co., 152 Fla. 520 (Fla. 1943)
- Olin's Inc. v. Ira Phillips, 152 Fla. 520 (Fla. 1943)
- Emp'r: Stone & Stone v. Employee: Paul William Scott, 151 Fla. 21 (Fla. 1942)