Opinion

Gumilla v. Industrial Accident Commission

  • 187 Cal. 638
  • 203 P. 397
  • 1921 Cal. LEXIS 403
Court
California Supreme Court
Filed
Dec 24, 1921
Status
Published
Author
Shaw
On the bench
Shaw
Cited by
10 cases
Authority
More cited than 88.6%

The opinion

SHAW, C. J.

On August 26, 1921, the Industrial Accident Commission made an award in favor of the petitioners herein allowing them compensation as dependents of one Miguel Gumilla, on account of the death of said Gumilla from an injury received by him while in the employment of the California Hawaiian Sugar Refining Company. Notice of this award was served upon the adverse parties on the same day. The time for filing a petition for rehearing by the adverse parties expired on September 16, 1921. No petition was filed within that time, but on September 20, 1921, the said adverse parties filed with the Industrial Accident Commission a petition for a rehearing of the award made on August 26th, aforesaid. Thereafter, on November 16, 1921, an affidavit was filed on behalf of said parties, in effect showing that the failure to file the said petition for rehearing in time was the result of the inadvertence or neglect of their attorney. Thereupon, on November 19, 1921, the Industrial Accident Commission made an order declaring that the failure to file the petition within the twenty days allowed by the law was the result of inadvertence, surprise, and excusable neglect sufficient to excuse the failure, and thereupon it made an order as follows: “It is ordered that the petition for rehearing be, and it is hereby ordered filed

nunc pro tunc

as of September 16, 1921.” At the same time the Industrial Accident Commission made an order granting the application for a rehearing, and ordered the case to be submitted on the testimony already taken without further hearing. No decision of the matter on such submission has been made and the matter is still pending. The matter now before the court is the petition of Elias Gumilla and Paulina Gumilla to review and annul the order of the Industrial Accident Commission granting a rehearing, and that this court thereupon order that the findings and award originally made are final:

[1]

A writ of

certiorari

does not lie to review an order made in a matter prior to the final adjudication thereof. The Industrial Accident Commission proposes to decide the case again after the order granting the rehearing, but it

*640

has not yet done so. Final action thereon has not yet been taken.

[2]

Under these circumstances, the application for a writ of review of the order granting a rehearing is premature.

(Holabird

v.

Railroad Com.,

171 Cal. 691 , [ 154 Pac. 831 ];

Gauld

v.

Board of Supervisors, 122

Cal. 18, [ 54 Pac. 272 ].) The- petitioners’ remedy in such a case is to await the final decision and ask for a rehearing of the matter. This, of course, will search the record for lack of jurisdiction, and if there is such lack anywhere down the line which deprives the Industrial Accident Commission of jurisdiction to make the final decision, the proceedings will be annulled so far as may be necessary to give the petitioners appropriate relief. But until such final decision of the commission we cannot consider the validity of the order granting the rehearing in this manner.

It may be that effectual relief could be given by this court or the district court of appeal under its general jurisdiction by mean^ of a petition for a writ of prohibition. As the question is not before us, we express no opinion on that subject.

For the reasons above set forth the petition for a writ of review is denied.

Shurtleff, J., Wilbur, J., Sloane, J., Lennon, J., and Waste, J., concurred.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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