Jones v. Eppley Hotels Co.

• Decision Date: 22 October 1929
• Docket Number: 39913
• Parties: MARY JANE JONES, Appellee, v. EPPLEY HOTELS COMPANY et al., Appellants
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

227 N.W. 153

208 Iowa 1281

MARY JANE JONES, Appellee, v. EPPLEY HOTELS COMPANY et al., Appellants

No. 39913

Supreme Court of Iowa, Des Moines

October 22, 1929

Appeal from Woodbury District Court.--C. C. HAMILTON, Judge.

This action was brought under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Mary Jane Jones, as the surviving widow of J. W. Jones, to recover compensation for his death. The claim was allowed by the deputy industrial commissioner, acting as an arbitration committee. His finding was affirmed by the industrial commissioner. Then, upon appeal to the Woodbury County district court, the industrial commissioner was sustained and judgment entered accordingly. From this judgment the Eppley Hotels Company and the London Guarantee & Accident Company, Limited, appeal.

Affirmed.

Chandler Woodbridge, for appellants.

Robert B. Pike and L. F. Brown, for appellee.

KINDIG J. ALBERT, C. J., and EVANS, FAVILLE, and DE GRAFF, JJ concur.

OPINION

KINDIG, J.

There is but one question presented in appellants' argument. It is: Did the cause which produced the death of James William Jones, the claimant's deceased husband, "arise out of his employment" with the Eppley Hotels Company, as contemplated by Section 1377 of the 1927 Code?

The Martin Hotel, in Sioux City, is owned and operated by the appellant Eppley Hotels Company, and the appellant London Guarantee & Accident Company, Limited, is the compensation insurance carrier for the Eppley Company. Mr. Jones, for a considerable time before his death, had been working for the appellant Eppley Hotels Company, at the Martin Hotel, and, on the morning of July 24, 1928, he continued such duties until, in the course thereof, he became unconscious. In that condition he was found on the floor of the hotel kitchen, at about 6 A. M. From there he was taken to the hospital, where consciousness was regained. However, at about 5:30 o'clock in the afternoon of July 25th, Jones again became unconscious, and thus remained until he died, at 8 o'clock in the morning of the following day. Alice, a daughter, four years old, and Mary Jane Jones, the widow, both survived the decedent. Claim for compensation is here made by the widow. Is she entitled to it? If so, it is because her husband's death resulted from an injury arising out of his employment. Section 1377, 1927 Code, supra; Sparks v. Consolidated Ind. Coal Co., 195 Iowa 334, 190 N.W. 593.

To prove this essential fact, the burden is upon the claimant, appellee. Sparks v. Consolidated Ind. Coal Co. (195 Iowa 334, 190 N.W. 593), supra; Flint v. City of Eldon, 191 Iowa 845, 183 N.W. 344; Griffith v. Cole Bros., 183 Iowa 415, 165 N.W. 577; Pentony v. Dudley, 197 Iowa 744, 198 N.W. 78; Slack v. Percival Co., 198 Iowa 54, 199 N.W. 323. This obligation she must meet by a preponderance of the evidence, as distinguished from that proof which will satisfy beyond a reasonable doubt. Flint v. Eldon (191 Iowa 845, 183 N.W. 344), supra. The duty of determining where the preponderance of evidence lies, under the records in cases of this kind, is the task imposed by statute upon the state industrial commissioner. If there is no fraud, and that official acts with power, and not in excess thereof, and his findings support the order and decree, it cannot be interfered with on appeal to the district court unless "there is not sufficient competent evidence in the record to warrant the making of the order or decision." Section 1453, 1927 Code; Flint v. City of Eldon (191 Iowa 845, 183 N.W. 344), supra; Hinrichs v. Davenport Locomotive Works, 203 Iowa 1395, 214 N.W. 585.

Putting the thought in another way, it is not the province of the district court, or this tribunal, to usurp the power of the commissioner and act in his place and stead as a trier of the facts. That thought is expressed in Flint v. City of Eldon (191 Iowa 845, 183 N.W. 344), supra, as follows:

"It is not within the legislative scheme to make a court the reviewer of the facts, and it has been repeatedly held that the court is forbidden to trespass upon the defined jurisdiction of the commissioner, the latter being the sole judge and the final judge of the facts."

With whom the preponderance lies, is a question for the commissioner; that there is or is not competent evidence which may give rise to a preponderance, is a problem for the court. Mere speculation and conjecture do not amount to such substantial evidence. Sparks v. Consolidated Ind. Coal Co. (195 Iowa 334, 190 N.W. 593), supra; Slack v. Percival Co. (198 Iowa 54, 199 N.W. 323), supra.

Assuming, then, that the commissioner's finding is supported by mere speculation or conjecture only, it can be reviewed by the courts. Under the present record, because of the narrow scope of appellants' argument, the question at bar will be solved by deciding whether the commissioner acted on a mere speculation or conjecture alone. Consideration of the facts will settle this controversy; for, on the one hand, appellee insists that her husband met his death by a cerebral hemorrhage caused by a fall, while, on the other, appellants contend that apoplexy, or something akin thereto, produced the hemorrhage.

Jones, the decedent, was approximately 57 years of age, and in good health, except for pains or neuritis in his legs. These ailments were not serious. Previous to the unconsciousness above named, decedent had not been in an accident, or in any other way injured. On the morning of July 24, 1928, Mr. Jones, in accordance with his duty, was working at the Martin Hotel as ice man: that is, "he cut the ice" into cubes, so that it could be "used in the dining room." After thus cutting the cubes, Mr. Jones placed them in a bushel basket, which he then carried from the basement into the kitchen, where he deposited the contents in a chest provided therefor. Commencing this duty at about 5:18 on the morning of July 24th, he continued for an indefinite period.

Wallace Lebeck, an employee of Roberts Dairy Company, stopped at the hotel to deliver milk about 6 o'clock A. M., and found Jones in an unconscious condition on the kitchen floor. More particularly, this witness discovered the unconscious man "right in front of the coffee urns * * * lying flat on the floor, with his feet to the south, and his head resting on a brace which supports the coffee urn stand." Continuing, this witness said:

"This brace was made of gas pipe, and it was parallel with the floor, and six or eight inches above the floor. The back of his [Jones's] head was resting on this pipe. His face was up * * *. There was a bushel basket lying there. As near as I [the witness] can remember, it was directly south of him. There was some cracked ice on the floor and some in the chest. There was no ice in the basket. I [the witness] don't know what kind of a floor that is, but it is a smooth hard finish."

Dr. C. J. Goebel, house physician for the hotel, was called to attend the stricken man. Upon viewing the patient, the physician immediately sent him to St. Joseph's Hospital. Two hours later, the attending physician called on Mr. Jones there. Soon thereafter, Jones regained consciousness, and his reflexes were normal and all present. He could answer questions, but "did not seem to remember just what happened to him." A slight contusion was found at the base of the skull. Whether there was any other injury to the exterior of the head, the record does not disclose. Continuing, the attending physician said:

"His [Jones's] face, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth were negative. There was nothing wrong with his neck. The thorax was normal, spine apparently [all right], lungs normal, abdomen and kidneys negative. The anus, rectum, and genitalia and extremities were negative. Central nervous system and skin were negative. His temperature on the first day in the hospital was 99.4. Pulse 70, respiration 20."

An examination by stethoscope disclosed a normal heart. Likewise, two blood tests were made, and revealed a negative condition. So, too, a Wassermann test was taken, which was also negative. Following Jones's death, on July 26, 1928, a postmortem examination, as shown by this witness, was conducted by Dr. Starry. Thereby was disclosed "hemorrhage into the ventricles; the aqueduct filled with clotted blood; the meninges of the mesial surface of both hemispheres was filled with blood; there was no advanced arteriosclerosis of the basalar vessels." Further testifying, Dr. Goebel said, in answer to a hypothetical question, that the hemorrhage was due to trauma, and that trauma, rather than an apoplectic stroke, probably caused the death. Also, this witness said that the cerebral hemorrhage might have resulted from a fall against the pipe. Concluding, the witness stated:

"From my examination made, and the history that I have obtained of this case, hypothetical questions, I think it more probable the cause of his injury was trauma than from any other cause."

Support for the foregoing testimony was furnished by Dr. R. N. Larimer, who said:

"I believe the trauma had some direct bearing on the patient's condition. * * * I don't believe he had a stroke of apoplexy. * * * I believe that this injury to the patient must have been traumatic, and that trauma was the primary cause of his death. * * * This impression is not mostly speculation."

A. C. Starry, another doctor, further substantiated the previous witnesses. Notation is here made that this physician performed the autopsy. In describing what he there found, the witness says:

"On examination of his [Jones's] brain, we found a hemorrhage into the ventricles, and also an area of hemorrhage into the meninges, the central portion, extending down to the corpus callosum, the medical surface of the two hemispheres. That was, of course, the cause of...