Carper v. Workmen's Comp. Comm'r, No. 8841.

• Court: Supreme Court of West Virginia
• Writing for the Court: FOX, President
• Citation: 1 S.E.2d 165
• Parties: CARPER . v. WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION COMMISSIONER.
• Docket Number: No. 8841.
• Decision Date: 24 January 1939

1 S.E.2d 165

CARPER .
v.
WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION COMMISSIONER.

No. 8841.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Jan. 24, 1939.

[1 S.E.2d 165]Syllabus by the Court.

1. An employee is entitled to compensation for an injury sustained in going to or from his work, only where such injury occurs within the zone of his employment, and that zone must be determined by the circumstances of the particular case presented.

2. Miners' residences owned by an employer and leased to his employees, and roads leading thereto, which are separate and apart from the plant equipment and facilities of the mine, are not, in the absence of special circumstances, or contractual requirements, within the employees' zone of employment.

Appeal from Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board.

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Fletcher Carper, employee, to recover compensation for injuries sustained while employed by the Amherst Coal Company. From a judgment denying compensation, the employee appeals.

Affirmed.

Ira P. Hager and Joe M. Glenn, both of Logan, for appellant.

Clarence W. Meadows, Atty. Gen., and Marlyn E. Lugar, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee State Compensation Commissioner.

Chas. L. Estep, of Logan, for appellee Amherst Coal Co.

FOX, President.

Fletcher Carper complains of the action of the--Compensation Commissioner and

[1 S.E.2d 166]

the Compensation Appeal Board in refusing to award compensation for injuries sustained by him on the 13th day of December, 1937.

Carper was employed as an electrician in a mine of the Amherst Coal Company at Braeholm. This company, in addition to its plant equipment, was the owner of numerous residences which were leased to its employees, one of which was occupied by Carper. The house occupied by him was situated approximately one-third of a mile from the lamp house, where he would first come in contact with what might be termed the plant equipment of the employer. Three ways were available in going from Carper's residence to the lamp house: one, an abandoned tram road; another, a pathway along the tracks of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company; and third, a public road; but to reach each of these ways it was necessary to use at least part of what is called a wagon road graded on company premises from the railroad right of way up the side of a hill to a row of residences, in one of which the claimant resided. On the day of the injury, the wagon road was, in some places, covered with snow and ice, and in traveling this road with the intent of reaching the railroad right of way, and from that point, of following the path along the railroad track, claimant,...