Chandler v. General Acc. Fire & Life Assur. Corp., 38178

• Decision Date: 20 April 1960
• Docket Number: No. 1,No. 38178,38178,1
• Citation: 114 S.E.2d 438,101 Ga.App. 597
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
• Parties: Virginia K. CHANDLER v. GENERAL ACCIDENT FIRE & LEFE ASSURANCE CORPORATION et al

Page 438

114 S.E.2d 438

101 Ga.App. 597

Virginia K. CHANDLER v. GENERAL ACCIDENT FIRE & LEFE ASSURANCE CORPORATION et al.

No. 38178.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Division No. 1.

April 20, 1960.

Rehearing Denied May 9, 1960.

Syllabus by the Court.

The claimant, having reached the employer's premises on her return from supper, was entitled to a reasonable time for ingress to her place of work, and her injuries during such time arose out of and in the course of her employment. The superior court erred in affirming the award which denied compensation under such circumstances.

Virginia K. Chandler filed her claim with the State Board of Workmen's Compensation seeking compensation for injuries arising out of and in the course of her employment with Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc., who, with its carrier, is now defendant in error. The pertinent findings of fact by the deputy director are as follows: 'Virginia K. Chandler was employed by Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc., doing clerical work after her hours from 8 a. m. to 4 p. m. for the City of Atlanta and she would then go to the Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc., and do clerical work by the hour and that she worked at such hours as she cared to and used her own judgment and pleasure in leaving or returning to her job. That on July 18, 1958, she left with another employee to go to supper several blocks from the place of employment down to Davis Brothers on the corner of Pryor and Houston streets riding in her own automobile and after they had had their meal they stopped in a store or dress shop in connection with a dress or some garment she had purchased and wanted to exchange or some similar mission. That she then drove back near the place of her employment and both parties after parking the car started to cross the street to the Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc., where she was employed and about midway of the street she was hit by an automobile and had some injury to her neck and particularly to her right shoulder and arm.' In his supplementary findings the deputy director determined 'that the scene of the accident and injury was approximately midway of a private street and was on the premises of Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc.' The award of the deputy director denying compensation was affirmed by the full board and the Superior Court of Fulton County, upon which judgment error is now assigned.

Greene, Neely, Buckley & DeRieux, Burt DeRieux, John D. Jones, Atlanta, for plaintiff in error.

Smith, Field, Ringel, Martin & Garr, Herbert A. Ringel, Atlanta, for defendant in error.

FELTON, Chief Judge.

In Travelers Ins. Co. v. Smith, 91 Ga.App. 305, 311, 85 S.E.2d 484, 488, this court, after an exhaustive annotation of cases, concluded that 'where * * * the claimant has departed from his employment to go elsewhere to eat his lunch on time given him for that purpose, but where he is returning to his employment and is injured at a place and time where it is necessary for him to be in order to get back to his work station at the time set for him to recommence his duties, the situation is exactly the same as though he were arriving in the morning preparatory to undertaking his day's duties, and the injury must, therefore, be presumed to have arisen out of and in the course of his employment.' This principle was further elucidated in Indemnity Ins. Co. v. Westmoreland, 93 Ga.App. 888, 891, 93 S.E.2d 193, 196 which explained that 'where one, arriving on the master's premises, at a time and place necessary for him to commence or recommence his duties, or to do things...