Kennecott Copper Corp. v. Industrial Commission
Kennecott Copper Corp. v. Industrial Commission
Opinion of the Court
On September 20, 1961 the Commission, on the petition of Rudy E. Ruiz and Mary Louise Ruiz, the mother and father of the deceased Rudy Gilbert Ruiz, found that Rudy Gilbert Ruiz, while employed at the Kennecott Copper Corporation sustained an injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment on July 16, 1960. This injury proximately caused his death. At the time of his death he left surviving him and partially dependent upon him his father, Rudy E. Ruiz and his mother Mary Louise Ruiz. The Commission ordered that a death benefit in the sum of $67.69 monthly be paid to Rudy E. Ruiz and Mary Louise Ruiz. On October 10, 1961 Kennecott Copper Corporation petitioned the Commission for a rehearing on the grounds that the findings and award was unjust and unlawful in that Rudy E. and Mary Louise Ruiz were not partially dependent upon the deceased for support at the time of said injury. On February 5, 1962 after a formal hearing at which witnesses were examined and testimony taken, the Commission sustained the original findings and award and ordered that they be affirmed.
Here the employer challenges the findings that the petitioners, the mother and father of the deceased, were partially dependent on the deceased at the time the deceased was killed. Originally the employer also questioned whether any dependency, if held to exist originally, had terminated. However, this point was abandoned during the oral argument on appeal.
At the time of his death the deceased was living with the applicants and four brothers and sisters, namely Saul, age twenty, Umberto, age seventeen, Sylvia, age twelve and Melva, age ten. These siblings were dependent on the applicant father for support. Saul was handicapped by spinal meningitis and unable to work. For a period of three and one half years immediately preceding the month of September 1959 the decedent served in the United States Air Force. During most of that time the applicants received a monthly allotment of $100.00. The deceased also sent home about
We said in Magma Copper v. Aldrete, 70 Ariz. 48, 216 P.2d 392 (1950) :
“The provision for death benefits made by our law was adopted for the purpose of furnishing some means for support lost through the death of the provider. Such benefits are a charge upon industry and are for dependents or those presumed to be dependent. Dependency is a question of fact in all cases solely within the determination of the Industrial Commission, whose findings of fact will not be disturbed on appeal if supported by any substantial evidence.” (Italics in original)
See also Villapando v. Industrial Commission, 70 Ariz. 55, 216 P.2d 397 (1950) and Waite v. Industrial Commission, 68 Ariz. 299, 205 P.2d 579 (1949). The evidence must be viewed in its strongest manner in favor of the findings of the Commission, Villapando v. Industrial Commission, supra.
We have no reason here to disturb the findings and award of the Commission made in this case.
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- KENNECOTT COPPER CORPORATION, a corporation v. The INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION of Arizona and Rudy E. Ruiz and Mary Louise Ruiz, Dependents of Rudy Gilbert Ruiz
- Status
- Published