Heller Bros. Packing Co. v. Lewis
| Decision Date | 12 January 1945 |
| Citation | 20 So.2d 385,155 Fla. 430 |
| Parties | HELLER BROS. PACKING CO. et al. .v LEWIS et al. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Pinellas County; John U. Bird judge.
Shackleford Farrior & Shannon, of Tampa, for appellants.
Joseph W Nichols, of Clearwater, for appellee.
This is a compensation case. The facts are substantially, viz: Heller Brothers Packing Company is a corporation located at Clearwater, Florida, and was engaged in the business of picking citrus fruit from its various groves and hauling the fruit by trucks to canning plants. Kendricks and Roberts were truck drivers employed to drive the trucks when filled with fruit by the fruit pickers. Kendricks and Roberts were paid by the hour. The picking of fruit and the transportation thereof from the groves to the canning plants were simultaneous operations. The pay of the truck drivers started when they left the canning plants to go to the grove or groves for fruit, and the pay continued until their return, although in some instances the trucks were delayed for various reasons beyond the control of the drivers.
On April 19, 1943 Lonnie Dave Lewis, a colored boy, was picked up at Largo by a Mr. Luh, grove foreman of appellant, and transported to one of appellant's groves situated approximately two miles from Dunedin. The colored by was employed by Mr. Luh, the foreman, to pick fruit in behalf of Heller Brothers Packing Company. He was transported about ten miles and picked fruit for his first day for the appellant. The colored boy was without lunch at the noon hour and made this known to Mr Luh, who directed the colored boy to take the 'jeep' truck and drive down to Sunset Point, near Dunedin, about a mile away and get his lunch.
Pursuant to the directions given by the foreman, Mr. Luh, the colored boy Lewis, a fruit picker, with another colored boy named Williams, went to obtain the jeep truck owned by the appellant and get his lunch at Sunset Point. Mr. Roberts, one of the truck drivers, declined the use of the truck to Lewis and Williams, fruit pickers, to obtain lunch nearby, but Roberts remained at the wheel and undertook to transport the colored boys from the grove to Dunedin for lunch. Mr. Kendricks, another truck driver, also desired lunch and went along in the truck driven by Mr. Roberts to Dunedin, where the two colored boys and Mr. Kendricks purchased lunches and returned to the truck, and the truck, driven by Mr. Roberts, started on its return to the groves. Shortly after leaving Dunedin and prior to reaching the grove and when traveling the road, the truck was overturned and the two drivers, Roberts and Kendricks, were killed, and the two colored boys were injured. There is some evidence from which it may be inferred that the deceased Kendricks and the two fruit pickers, Williams and Lewis, were eating their lunches when the accident occurred. It is shown that the fruit picker Lewis was paid by the hour.
The claimant, Lonnie Dave Lewis, filed with the Florida Industrial Commission a claim for the injuries sustained, and on October 29, 1943, an award therefor was entered and on appeal to the Circuit Court of Pinellas County the award of compensation as entered by the Industrial Commission was affirmed. An appeal therefrom has been perfected here.
Flowing from the statement of facts supra is the legal question, viz.: Is the claimant, Lonnie Dave Lewis, entitled to compensation and award under the Workmen's Compensation...
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...coming from meals for the reason that such injuries cannot reasonably be said to arise out of the employment. See Heller Bros. Packing Co. v. Lewis, 155 Fla. 430, 20 So.2d 385; Locke v. Steele County, 223 Minn. 464, 27 N.W.2d 285; Greenfield v. Manufacturers Casualty Co., 198 Tenn. 452, 281......
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Foxworth v. Florida Indus. Com'n
...had commenced a temporary break acquiesced in and permitted by his supervisor, his recovery would not be barred. Heller Bros. Packing Co. v. Lewis, 155 Fla. 430, 20 So.2d 385; and Naranja Rock Co. v. Dawal Farms, Fla., 74 So.2d I have examined the voluminous record at length, and find no su......
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Naranja Rock Co. v. Dawal Farms
...out of and in the course of employment, Naranja cited cases such as Sweat v. Allen, 145 Fla. 733, 200 So. 348; Heller Bros. Packing Co. v. Lewis, 155 Fla. 430, 20 So.2d 385; Heller Bros. Packing Co. v. Kendricks, 155 Fla. 428, 20 So.2d 387; Travelers Insurance Co. v. Taylor, 147 Fla. 210, 3......
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...he punched out, took the company truck, and started for his home. The accident occurred on the way home. In Heller Bros. Packing Co. v. Lewis, 155 Fla. 430, 20 So.2d 385 (1945), this Court was faced with an analogous problem. There a young man was employed to pick fruit for the Heller Bros.......