office-4

JUDGMENT ON AWARD - NOTICE NOT REQUIRED

Baxi v United Technologies Automotive Corporation, 2003 WL 22776431 (Mo.App. E.D. 2003), employee filed a petition in circuit court pursuant to §287.500 requesting a judgment against defendants employer/insurer in a prior Commission award. Defendants/Appellants claimed that they were denied due process by plaintiff’s failure to serve them with the petition before the judgment was entered. The Court ruled that §287.500 authorizes the trial court to enter a judgment on a Commission’s final award as if it were an original judgment of the court but it does not require that notice be sent to the defendant prior to judgment being entered in the circuit court. The Court reasoned that this does not violate due process since §287.500 does not give courts discretion to do anything but enter a judgment and there are no further factual issued to be resolved. Therefore, no pre-entry notice is required. Affirmed.

Having a Seminar?
Join our E-Mail List
to stay up to date with Evans & Dixon