Metropolitan Redwood Lumber Co. v. Industrial Accident Commission
Metropolitan Redwood Lumber Co. v. Industrial Accident Commission
Opinion of the Court
The following are the undisputed facts in the ease. The petitioner, Metropolitan Redwood Lumber Company, maintained a store at a small town named Metropolitan, in Humboldt County. Henri Gireaux, the applicant for compensation before the Industrial Accident Commission, was an employee of said petitioner in the .capacity of storekeeper, having in charge its stock of merchandise in its said store. One J. T. Cleary was also employed by the said petitioner as its bookkeeper in said store. The postoffice of the town was at the store, and the said J. T. Cleary was the postmaster, receiving in addition to his salary as one of said petitioner’s employees a salary of ten dollars per month from the United States government for acting as such postmaster. The post-office seems to have 'been an adjunct of the store, and. the several employees of the petitioner carried the mail to and from the postoffice and the railway station. A discord had arisen between Gireaux and Cleary, the former having insisted on charging to the latter’s account some small items of merchandise, such as candy, which the latter had taken without charging himself. Some trouble over making change between the two intensified this discord. Just prior to the collision causing the applicant’s injuries he had carried the mail across to the train and was coming back to the store with the return bag of mail when he was met by Cleary, who was taking some mail to another train, but who, upon meeting Gireaux, without further or other provocation, dropped his mail and made a personal attack upon Gireaux, striking him. violently and causing the injuries for which he sought compensation. So far as the petitioner herein, their employer, was concerned, *133 the two men were of equal rank as its employees, neither being the superior of the other in his employment.
The Industrial Accident Commission 'by a divided vote made the award assailed in this proceeding. The only question presented for our consideration is as to whether the said applicant was entitled to such award as for an injury arising out of his employment.
The following authorities fully sustain our view that ordinarily and outside of the exceptions above noted injuries suf *134 fered by employees due to quarrels between themselves may not be made the basis of compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation Acts: Jacquemin v. Turner etc. Co., 92 Conn. 382, [L. R. A. 1918E, 496, 103 Atl. 115]; Stillwagon v. Callon Bros., 183 App. Div. 141, [170 N. Y. Supp. 677]; Union Sanitary Mfg. Co. v. Davis (Ind. App.), 115 N. E. 676; Mountain Ice Co. v. McNeil, 91 N. J. L. 528, [L. R A. 1918E, 494, 103 Atl. 184]; De Fillippis v. Falkenberg, 170 App. Div. 153, [155 N. Y. Supp. 761]; Tarpper v. Weston etc. Co., 200 Mich. 275, [L. R A. 1918E, 507, 166 N. W. 857].
The recent ease of Kimbol v. Industrial Acc. Com., 173 Cal. 351, [Ann. Cas. 1917E, 312, L. R. A. 1917B, 595, 160 Pac. 150], to which our attention has been directed, arose out of quite a different state of facts; and if there is anything contained in the opinion therein touching this case it must be taken as supporting rather than opposing the views above advanced.
It follows that the award of the commission must be held to have been in excess of its jurisdiction, and must, therefore, be annulled. It is so ordered.
Waste, P. J., and Kerrigan, J., concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- METROPOLITAN REDWOOD LUMBER COMPANY (A Corporation), Et Al., Petitioners, v. INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT COMMISSION Et Al., Respondents
- Cited By
- 6 cases
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- Published