Beck v. C. & J. Commercial Driveaway, Inc.

• Decision Date: 06 December 1932
• Docket Number: Nos. 70,71.,s. 70
• Citation: 260 Mich. 550,245 N.W. 806
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court
• Parties: BECK et al. v. C. & J. COMMERCIAL DRIVEAWAY, Inc., et al. CALDER v. SAME.

260 Mich. 550

245 N.W. 806

BECK et al.

v.C. & J. COMMERCIAL DRIVEAWAY, Inc., et al.

CALDER

v.SAME.

Nos. 70, 71.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Dec. 6, 1932.

Certiorari to Department of Labor and Industry.

Two separate proceedings under the Workmen's Compensation Law by Luella M. Beck and another, and by Margaret Loraine Calder, claimants, for death of employees, opposed by C. & J. Commercial Driveaway, Incorporated, employer, and the Union Indemnity Company, insurance carrier. The Department of Labor and Industry awarded compensation to claimants, and the employer and insurance carrier bring certiorari.

Award in both cases affirmed.

Argued before the Entire Bench, except BUTZEL, J.P. L. Sawyer, of Detroit (Butzel, Levin & Winston and Chris M. Youngjohn, all of Detroit, of counsel), for appellants.

Wm. C. Brown, of Lansing, for appellees.

McDONALD, J.

The defendants' review by certiorari to the Department of Labor and Industry an award for compensation to Luella M. Beck and Margaret Loraine Calder for accidental injuries resulting in the deaths of their husbands, Ronald L. Beck and Loy B. Calder.

The record presents the two cases involving the same facts. They have been consolidated by stipulation, and will be disposed of in one opinion.

The plaintiffs' decedents were drivers for the C. & J. Commercial Driveaway, Inc., a corporation engaged in the business of transporting automobiles to and from various cities in the United States. At the time in question, the decedents, Beck and Calder, were employed with other men to drive a fleet of 25 used Yellow taxicabs from Chicago, Ill., to Washington, D. C. The drivers were allowed to park where night overtook them, and to sleep in the rear of their cabs. On this trip to Washington, they stopped for the night at a barbecue settlement near Romney, W. Va. They parked their cars beside the highway. The decedents, Beck and Calder, went to sleep in the same cab. In the morning they were found dead; and their death is claimed to have been caused by carbon monoxide from the exhaust of the motor. The night was cold, and it is thought the men kept the motor running in order to keep warm.

In adjusting claims for compensation, the defendants denied liability on the ground, first, that the injury was not accidental; second, that it did not arise out of and in the course of the employment; and, third, that it was due to intentional and willful misconduct. The commission found against the defendants on all three defenses, and awarded compensation. As cause for appeal, defendants claim:

1. That there was no evidence of an accidental injury.

When the men were found in the morning, Dr. Easton of Romney, W. Va., was called. He examined the bodies, and on the hearing before the commissioner testified:

‘Q. In your opinion, Doctor, as a physician, from all the circumstances you have above described, what caused the death of these two men? A. They were overcome by monoxide gas coming into the rear of the compartment of the taxi cab in which these men were sleeping, through a defective heater, and both, in my opinion, were dead when discovered.

‘Q. Doctor, you have stated that these men came to their deaths by inhaling carbon monoxide gas. Now, will you state why you are of that opinion? A. Well, we examined the particular taxicab, No. 13, in the line where both men were found dead, and we found the heater in the real compartment of this cab was defective, and it leaked fumes from the exhaust to the rear compartment where these men were. * * *

‘Q. Was or was not there any physical conditions that would show that Calder died from carbon monoxide? * * * A. There was a pinkish tinge to the skin that is peculiar to monoxide poisoning. In my opinion, this condition is peculiar to death from monoxide poisoning alone, that is, the condition of the skin.'

This testimony was a sufficient basis for the conclusion of the commission that the decedents died as a result of breathing carbon monoxide gas generated from a running motor and carried through a defective exhaust into the real of the cab. It is the only reasonable inference to be drawn from the...