Cecelia Wlock v. fort Dummer Mills

• Decision Date: 06 May 1925
• Parties: CECELIA WLOCK v. FORT DUMMER MILLS
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court

129 A. 311

98 Vt. 449

CECELIA WLOCK v. FORT DUMMER MILLS

Supreme Court of Vermont

May 6, 1925

May Term, 1924.

ACTION OF TORT by minor against employer for injuries received while employed in violation of Child Labor Law. Plea, general denial, and several special defenses. Trial by jury at the September Term, 1923, Windham County, Willcox, J., presiding. Verdict and judgment for plaintiff. The defendant excepted. The opinion states the case. Affirmed.

Judgment affirmed.

Harold E. Whitney for the defendant.

Present WATSON, C. J., POWERS, TAYLOR, SLACK, and BUTLER, JJ.

OPINION

WATSON

This is an action on the case brought by Cecelia Wlock by her next friend, against the Fort Dummer Mills, a Vermont corporation, in the possession and control of a certain cotton mill at Brattleboro, in which defendant carries on the business of manufacturing cotton products, to recover damages for personal injuries received by the plaintiff, a minor (found by the jury to have been) between fourteen and sixteen years of age on January 23, 1923, the day on which she was injured while in the employ of defendant in its said manufacturing mill. The evidence tended to show that on the day named, when operating a certain machine, known as a "ribbon lap" machine and used in that mill, the plaintiff slipped on some grease or tobacco juice which was on the floor near said machine, and in attempting to save herself her left hand was thrown among the open revolving rolls at the end of the machine, drawn into the same and seriously injured. The grounds on which the plaintiff, in the complaint, bases her right of recovery, are (1) defendant's neglect to furnish her a reasonably safe place in which to work in the performance of her duties; (2) defendant's neglect to warn and instruct her as to the dangers attending such work; and (3) defendant's thus employing plaintiff, in violation of the statute, without her having deposited with defendant a certificate fro the commissioner of industries of the State, to the effect that she was eligible to such employment.

Defendant pleaded (1) general denial; (2) that plaintiff was estopped from maintaining this action because she falsely represented to defendant, at the time it employed her, that she was more than sixteen years of age; (3) that plaintiff assumed the risk of her employment; and that the sole remedy of the plaintiff for the injury complained of is under the law of the Workmen's Compensation Act; under which law a proceeding was subsequently commenced by her and by defendant before the commissioner of industries, as provided by that law, whereby and wherein the plaintiff agreed to accept compensation for her alleged injury, which agreement was approved by said commissioner on March 22, 1923.

It appeared that after the injury to the plaintiff and before the bringing of this suit, she and the defendant entered into an agreement (such as is here pleaded) under the Workmen's Compensation Act, and that it was approved by the commissioner of industries, its terms being in conformity to the provisions of that Act. It was conceded on the part of the plaintiff that she received of defendant under the agreement the amount of $ 87.61, and it appeared that neither this sum nor any part thereof had ever been returned by her. It is contended by defendant that this agreement and the acceptance by the plaintiff of payments as therein agreed, are a bar to this action; that construing this statute liberally, as by its terms is expressly required, it is a fair assumption that the remedy under it is exclusive in the instant case. But the rule of liberal construction falls short of extending the provisions of a statute to purposes and objects outside of and beyond those mentioned by it. Kellar v. James, 63 W.Va. 139, 59 S.E. 939, 14 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1003.

At the close of plaintiff's evidence defendant made a motion for a directed verdict on several grounds stated. The motion being overruled, evidence was introduced in defense and in rebuttal. At the close of all the evidence, defendant renewed its said motion as previously made. The motion was overruled as to the several grounds, and exception noted.

The grounds of the motion were: (1) That defendant furnished the plaintiff a suitable place in which to work; (2) That defendant furnished competent fellow servants and foremen; (3) That defendant furnished plaintiff with suitable appliances with which to perform the work, and the evidence shows her injury to be the result of her own negligence or the result of the act of a fellow servant in placing the grease, tobacco juice or other substance on the floor near the machine, upon which plaintiff slipped, and for which defendant is not liable; (4) That the substance causing plaintiff to slip was plainly visible, and therefore the risk was obvious and assumed by her; (5) That plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence; (6) That a settlement by way of a compensation agreement was entered into between the parties under the Workmen's Compensation Act, covering the injury here complained of, and that payments thereunder were made by defendant to the plaintiff, which payments have never been returned or tendered to defendant by her.

In addition to the exception to the overruling of the aforementioned motion, the question whether the agreement under the Workmen's Compensation Act and plaintiff's acceptance of payments thereunder constitute a bar to this action was raised by exceptions to the admission of certain evidence, to the court's refusal to charge as requested, and to the overruling of its motion to set aside the verdict. The question thus before us is of primary importance and will be first considered.

The Workmen's Compensation Act was originally enacted as No. 164, Laws of 1915, and, as amended by Nos. 173, 174, 175, and 176, Laws of 1917, became Chapter 241 of the General Laws, which is the chapter to which reference is hereinafter made in quotations from that Act. The chapter comprises Sections 5752 to 5831, inclusive. By section 5765 every contract of hiring, made subsequent to July 1, 1915, shall be presumed to have been made subject to the provisions of this chapter, unless there is an express statement or notice in writing to the contrary by one party to the other and to the commissioner of industries, and it shall be presumed that the parties have elected to be subject to the provisions thereof and to be bound thereby. "In the employment of minors, this chapter shall be presumed to apply unless the notice is given by or to the parent or guardian of the minor * * *." By section 5774, the rights and remedies granted by the provisions of that Act to an employee on account of a personal injury for which he is entitled to compensation thereunder, "shall exclude all other rights and remedies of such employee, * * * at common law or otherwise on account of such injury * * * *." By section 5801, "If the employer and an injured employee enter into an agreement in regard to compensation payable under the provisions of this chapter, a memorandum thereof shall be filed with said commissioner; and, if approved by him, such agreement shall be enforceable * * *. Said commissioner shall approve such an agreement only when the terms thereof conform to the provisions of this chapter." And by section 5831, the provisions of the chapter are to be liberally construed, and "shall be so interpreted and construed as to effect its general purpose to make uniform the law in those states which enact it."

Chapter 242 of the General Laws, comprising sections 5832 to 5845, inclusive, relates to the employment of minors and women, and is referred to hereafter as the "Child Labor Law." By section 5832, "A child shall not be employed in any of the occupations or industries enumerated in the following section unless such child deposits with the employer a certificate from the commissioner of industries to the effect that he is eligible to employment in accordance with the provisions of this chapter." By section 5833, a child under sixteen years of age who has not completed school courses as therein specified, "shall not be employed at work connected with railroading or manufacturing," etc. And by section 5834, "A child under fourteen years of age shall not be employed, permitted or suffered to work in or about any mill, * * * factory or manufacturing establishment." The provisions of this chapter forbidding or limiting the employment of minors, or their hours of labor, are in the nature of police regulations for the promotion of the health, safety, and education of the children, in the interest of good order and the general welfare of the people of the State. See State v. McCaffrey, 69 Vt. 85, 37 A. 234.

Statutes of this character have been in existence in this State for more than fifty years, with penalties prescribed for their violation; and the statute in force in 1915, at the time of the enactment of the Workmen's Compensation Act, was, in its essentials, substantially like the present law, except that the certificate of eligibility to employment was from the town or union superintendent of schools, instead of the commissioner of industries as now. This change appears in the Child Labor Law as amended by Sec. 1, No. 177, Acts of 1917. The same Act made it the duty of such commissioner, at least three times during each year, to investigate concerning the employment of minors in any of the occupations enumerated in the chapter of the statutes relating to the employment of child labor, and therein he was given the power to call for the production of certificates deposited with the employer, to satisfy himself that the provisions of the law touching the matter had been complied with; and it was made his further duty to require a...