Carbon Fuel Co v. State Comp. Comm'r

• Decision Date: 26 April 1932
• Docket Number: No. 7247.,7247.
• Citation: 164 S.E. 27
• Parties: CARBON FUEL CO. v. STATE COMPENSATION COMMISSIONER et al
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court

164 S.E. 27

CARBON FUEL CO.

v.STATE COMPENSATION COMMISSIONER et al

No. 7247.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

April 26, 1932.

.

Syllabus by the Court.

Willful violation by an employee of a statute designed for his protection is willful misconduct under Code 1931, 23-4-2, which forbids compensation for an injury caused by such misconduct.

Proceedings under the Workmen's Compensation Law by the dependents of Charles Hammons, deceased employee, against the Carbon Fuel Company, employer, for compensation for the death of the employee. From an award of the State Compensation Commissioner, the employer appeals.

Award set aside, and the claim dismissed.

Hillis Townsend, of Charleston, for appellant

H. B. Lee, Atty. Gen., and R. Dennis Steed, Asst Atty. Gen., for Compensation Commissioner.

HATCHER, P.

This is an appeal from an award of the state compensation commissioner to the dependents of Charles Hammons, deceased. He was employed as a coal miner by the Carbon Fuel Company, which is a subscriber to the workmen's compensation fund. His death was caused by contact with an electric wire while riding a trip of loaded cars out of the mine.

The evidence shows that the decedent had been employed by the fuel company for about three years before his death; that it was the custom of the company to deliver to the miners copies of the state mining law about every six months during that period, and a receipt of Hammons was introduced showing that he had received from the company a copy of the state mining law on February 14, 1931; that some time prior to the accident Truman Johnson, mine foreman of the defendant, saw the deceased riding on a trip of cars, and advised him that it was against the state law for miners to ride the trip, and warned him that he would be discharged if he did so any more, and the deceased then promised that he would not do so; that just a few seconds before the fatality, Hayes Williams, a fellow employee, asked the deceased to get off the trip and walk with him, but deceased replied he was in a hurry to get to the store, etc., and then Williams said jokingly. "Here comes Truman" (meaning Truman Johnson, the mine foreman), and the deceased replied in substance that he was going to ride, even if he did get fired. This conversation between Hayes Williams and the deceased was heard and testified to by George Quesenbury and Howard Williams, who were present at the time.

The statute in question is: "No person, except the persons necessary to...