§918 — Title 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters | U.S. Code

Summary

If an employer does not pay a compensation award for 30 days after it is due, the person owed can ask the deputy commissioner who made the award to issue a supplementary order within one year saying how much is unpaid. After investigation, notice, and a hearing under section 919, the deputy commissioner must issue that order and it is filed like the original order. If a payment installment is missed, the deputy commissioner may treat the whole award as unpaid. The person owed can file a certified copy of the supplementary order with the federal district court where the employer’s main office is or where the injury happened (including the District of Columbia). The court must enter judgment for the amount in the order if the order is lawful. The judgment can be reviewed like other civil damage suits and can be enforced by the court’s usual writs. No filing fee is required and the applicant generally won’t pay costs on review unless the court orders otherwise. The court must change the judgment if a later compensation order differs. If a judgment cannot be paid because the employer is insolvent or otherwise cannot pay, the Secretary of Labor may pay from the special fund in section 944 and may provide medical care required under section 907 when the employer failed to do so. The employer must repay amounts paid from the fund. The Secretary then steps into the shoes of the person who received the money and may sue or settle against the employer under this section or under subsection (c) of section 921 to recover what was paid.

Title 33, §918

Navigation and Navigable Waters — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In case of default by the employer in the payment of compensation due under any award of compensation for a period of thirty days after the compensation is due and payable, the person to whom such compensation is payable may, within one year after such default, make application to the deputy commissioner making the compensation order or 11 So in original. Probably should be “for”. a supplementary order declaring the amount of the default. After investigation, notice, and hearing, as provided in section 919 of this title, the deputy commissioner shall make a supplementary order, declaring the amount of the default, which shall be filed in the same manner as the compensation order. In case the payment in default is an installment of the award, the deputy commissioner may, in his discretion, declare the whole of the award as the amount in default. The applicant may file a certified copy of such supplementary order with the clerk of the Federal district court for the judicial district in which the employer has his principal place of business or maintains an office, or for the judicial district in which the injury occurred. In case such principal place of business or office or place where the injury occurred is in the District of Columbia, a copy of such supplementary order may be filed with the clerk of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Such supplementary order of the deputy commissioner shall be final, and the court shall, upon the filing of the copy, enter judgment for the amount declared in default by the supplementary order if such supplementary order is in accordance with law. Review of the judgment so entered may be had as in civil suits for damages at common law. Final proceedings to execute the judgment may be had by writ of execution in the form used by the court in suits at common law in actions of assumpsit. No fee shall be required for filing the supplementary order nor for entry of judgment thereon, and the applicant shall not be liable for costs in a proceeding for review of the judgment unless the court shall otherwise direct. The court shall modify such judgment to conform to any later compensation order upon presentation of a certified copy thereof to the court.

(b)In cases where judgment cannot be satisfied by reason of the employer’s insolvency or other circumstances precluding payment, the Secretary of Labor may, in his discretion and to the extent he shall determine advisable after consideration of current commitments payable from the special fund established in section 944 of this title, make payment from such fund upon any award made under this chapter, and in addition, provide any necessary medical, surgical, and other treatment required by section 907 of this title in any case of disability where there has been a default in furnishing medical treatment by reason of the insolvency of the employer. Such an employer shall be liable for payment into such fund of the amounts paid therefrom by the Secretary of Labor under this subsection; and for the purpose of enforcing this liability, the Secretary of Labor for the benefit of the fund shall be subrogated to all the rights of the person receiving such payment or benefits as against the employer and may by a proceeding in the name of the Secretary of Labor under this section or under subsection (c) of section 921 of this title, or both, seek to recover the amount of the default or so much thereof as in the judgment of the Secretary is possible, or the Secretary may settle and compromise any such claim.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification As originally enacted, subsec. (a) contained a reference to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. Act

June 25, 1936, substituted “the district court of the United States for the District of Columbia” for “the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia”, and act

June 25, 1948, as amended by act

May 24, 1949, substituted “United States District Court for the District of Columbia” for “district court of the United States for the District of Columbia”.

Amendments

1984—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 98–426 struck out “, including the right of lien and priority provided for by section 917 of this title,” after “shall be subrogated to all the rights of the person receiving such payment or benefits”. 1956—Act July 26, 1956, designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and added subsec. (b).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1984 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 98–426 effective Sept. 28, 1984, see section 28(e)(1) of Pub. L. 98–426, set out as a note under section 901 of this title.

§918 Collection of Defaulted Payments; Special Fund