Chavez

I dissent.

This case comes to-us on a petition to review an order of the Industrial Accident Commission (hereinafter called the commission) disapproving a compromise agreement made between an employee and employer. The majority correctly notes that a compromise agreement to be valid must be approved by the commission, and absent this approval the agreement is invalid (Lab. Code, § 5001). From this proposition the majority concludes that where there is a disapproval of a compromise agreement by the commission there is nothing for an appellate court to review and the order of disapproval will not be disturbed. In reaching such conclusion the majority avoids the very question we were asked to review: Were the grounds stated by the commission in disapproving the compromise erroneous as a matter of law and thereby in excess of jurisdiction ?

At the outset there is the preliminary question of whether an order by the commission disapproving a compromise agreement is subject to review at all, and if so, does its scope include the question we are here asked to review. According to the provisions of section 5950 of the Labor Code, any person affected by an order of the commission may…

Petitioners, who are the surviving widow and children of Jose Chavez, seek annulment of the respondent commission’s award to them of certain benefits and of the commission’s order disapproving a compromise.

The employee, Jose Chavez, suffered an industrial injury in 1955. His employer furnished medical treatment and made temporary disability payments for approximately three months. Thereafter, the employee filed an application for adjustment of compensation, and the commission conducted a hearing on February 27, 1956. An oral agreement of compromise for $2,250 was reached by the employee and the employer’s insurance carrier on the following day.

*702 The insurer prepared a written compromise agreement on a form supplied by the commission and sent it to the employee, who executed it on March 10, 1956. It was received by the insurer on March 14. On March 12, however, the employee died of a nonindustrial heart condition. The carrier signed the compromise and forwarded it to the commission for approval before learning of the employee’s death. The commission, through its referee, after learning of the death and at the insurer’s request, disapproved the compromise. The order stated,…

Petitioners, who are the surviving widow and children of Jose Chavez, seek annulment of the respondent commission's award to them of certain benefits and of the commission's order disapproving a compromise.

The employee, Jose Chavez, suffered an industrial injury in 1955. His employer furnished medical treatment and made temporary disability payments for approximately three months. Thereafter, the employee filed an application for adjustment of compensation, and the commission conducted a hearing on February 27, 1956. An oral agreement of compromise for $2,250 was reached by the employee and the employer's insurance carrier on the following day.

The insurer prepared a written compromise agreement on a form supplied by the commission and sent it to the employee, who executed it on March 10, 1956. It was received by the insurer on March 14. On March 12, however, the employee died of a nonindustrial heart condition. The carrier signed the compromise and forwarded it to the commission for approval before learning of the employee's death. The commission, through its referee, after learning of the death and at the insurer's request, disapproved the compromise. The order…