Dominquez v. Markowitz

• Decision Date: 29 December 1933
• Citation: Dominquez v. Markowitz, 169 A. 514, 12 N.J.Misc. 90 (N.J. 1933)
• Docket Number: 240
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court
• Parties: JOHN DOMINQUEZ, PROSECUTOR, v. JOSEPH MARKOWITZ ET AL., RESPONDENTS

169 A. 514

DOMINQUEZ

v. MARKOWITZ et al.

No. 240.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Dec. 29, 1933.

Proceedings under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Joseph Markowitz and others, to recover compensation for death of Michael Markowitz, employee, opposed by John Dominquez, employer. To review an order affirming a judgment of the Workmen's Compensation Bureau awarding compensation, the employer brings certiorari.

Affirmed.

Argued January term, 1933, before PARKER, LLOYD, and HEHER, JJ.

Walter X. Trumbull, of Newark (Frank G. Turner, of Newark, of counsel), for prosecutor.

Breslin & Breslin, of Lyndhurst, for respondents.

PER CURIAM.

This certiorari brings up a determination and judgment of the Workmen's Compensation Bureau, awarding compensation to the dependents of Michael Markowitz, who, it is claimed, died as the result of an accident which arose out of and in the course of his employment by prosecutor, and an order of the Bergen county court of common pleas, affirming the judgment.

The first question presented is whether decedent's death was the result of an accident which arose out of and in the course of his employment. The fatal accident befell decedent while he was riding a motorcycle on a public highway known as River road in East Paterson. He was the borough marshal, but was also employed by prosecutor, who was engaged in the performance of a sewer construction contract, as a watchman at the site of the construction work. His hours of duty as a watchman were from 4:30 p. m. to 7 a. m. Prosecutor, at the time, was engaged in the construction of two sections of the sewer, one at Palser avenue and the boulevard, and the other at Dey avenue, in East Paterson. In the performance of his duties as a watchman, decedent was required to maintain lighted lamps at an open trench in Dey avenue, and to keep three or four pumps in operation in the section under construction at Palser avenue and the boulevard. He was, of course, required to pass to and fro between these sections in the performance of his duties, and he used a motorcycle for the purpose. The River road, it seems, was a convenient highway in moving from one end of the construction work to the other, and it is inferable from the testimony that this was the highway used by decedent for that purpose. The accident which resulted in decedent's death occurred at 11:15 p. m., when he was in the employ of prosecutor. He was not then assigned to police duty.

Prosecutor claims that at the time decedent sustained his injuries he was pursuing a...