holding that the application of La.Rev.Stat. 22:658 to an insurance policy entered into before the statute did not impair the contract even though it imposed penalties for late payment of claims
How later courts described this case
- holding that the application of La.Rev.Stat. 22:658 to an insurance policy entered into before the statute did not impair the contract even though it imposed penalties for late payment of claims
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
HAMITER, Justice
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
Under the facts and circumstances of this case plaintiff, I agree, is entitled to compensation as for total and permanent disability.
But I do not agree with the holding that the defendant insurance company is liable to plaintiff for the penalties and attorney’s fees provided for in LSA-R.S. 22:658. In my opinion these statutory provisions, penal in nature and subject to strict construction, are not intended for the benefit of an injured employee. Thereunder, an insurer is penalized in the event of a failure to pay the amount of any claim due to any vnsivred within 60 days when such failure is found to be arbitrary, capricious or without *504 probable cause. And according to the Employer’s Liability Act (LSA-R.S. 23:1162), the insured in a policy insuring the payment of compensation is the employer, not the employee.