Gonter v. L.A. Young Spring & Wire Corp.

• Decision Date: 18 May 1950
• Docket Number: No. 36,36
• Citation: 42 N.W.2d 749,327 Mich. 586
• Parties: GONTER v. L. A. YOUNG SPRING & WIRE CORPORATION.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

Page 749

42 N.W.2d 749

327 Mich. 586

GONTER v. L. A. YOUNG SPRING & WIRE CORPORATION.

No. 36.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

May 18, 1950.

Lacey, Scroggie, Lacey & Buchanan, Detroit, for defendant and appellant.

Marcus, Kelman & Loria, Detroit, for plaintiff and appellee.

Before the Entire Bench.

REID, Justice.

Defendant takes an appeal in the nature of certiorari from an award of compensation made by the workmen's compensation commission to plaintiff for compensation because of an injury claimed to have arisen out of and in the course of plaintiff's employment.

Defendant recites the facts as follows:

'The plaintiff has been an employee of the defendant company for many years, and on December 8, 1947, was employed as a press operator, designated as common labor, * * * at the defendant's plant located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Clay and Hartwick avenues in the city of Detroit. The entrance to the defendant plant is on Clay avenue.

'At the easterly end of the building is an area of property owned by the defendant, which has been enclosed by a fence to provide a parking lot for company employees and visitors. There is a plant protection man in attendance at this parking lot for a period of one half hour in the morning and one hour in the evening during the change of shifts who assists in the direction of parking. There is no specific stall assigned to production workers, although executive personnel apparently have a designated reserved space.

'Floodlights are provided so that the employees can see their way in and about the parking lot, and the area is a cinderized surface maintained by the company. There is only one exit from the parking lot to which the employees are permitted to reach the entrance to the plant. They walk out of the parking lot onto Clay avenue, turn in a westerly dircetion and walk down the public sidewalk to the entrance of the plant which rests immediately adjacent to the public sidewalk. All factory employees enter and leave through this entranceway. No pass is required to get in and out of the parking lot. * * *

'Public transportation facilities were * * * available to the plant. A city bus line ran on Clay avenue directly past the plant, and the Clairmount streetcar ran on Russell street which was only two blocks west of the plant. There is also a third public transportation system--the St. Aubin bus which operates two blocks east of the plant. The employees used either of the two bus lines, or the streetcar line--the public transportation, or used their own private cars, either individually or through pool arrangements.

'On December 8, 1947, plaintiff was riding with fellow employees in one of these 'pool arrangement' cars, and the driver drove the car into the parking lot at about 6:50 a. m. The driver let the plaintiff out of the car some 12 to 15 feet from the gate and was about to proceed to park his car. Plaintiff took a step or two away from the car, and as she did so, she stepped into a chuck hole in the ground and sustained an injury to the left ankle which disabled her for a period of approximately 12 weeks--the period awarded by the commission. She returned to work as a press operator, and had lost no time since by reason of the injury.'

Plaintiff makes no specific objection to any recital of fact as above set forth but does recite the following finding of facts and conclusions as recited in the opinion of the commission:

'The plaintiff, Rose N. Gonter, has been employed by defendant for several years. * * * The work is common labor. She came to and from work with fellow employees in a share-the-ride pool car arrangement. On December 8, 1947 she got out of the car on a parking lot...