Logue v. Independent School District No. 33

• Decision Date: 18 April 1933
• Docket Number: 5922
• Citation: 21 P.2d 534,53 Idaho 44
• Parties: WILLA LOGUE, Respondent, v. INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 33, ADA COUNTY, IDAHO, Employer, and STATE INSURANCE FUND, Surety, Appellants
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

21 P.2d 534

53 Idaho 44

WILLA LOGUE, Respondent, v. INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 33, ADA COUNTY, IDAHO, Employer, and STATE INSURANCE FUND, Surety, Appellants

No. 5922

Supreme Court of Idaho

April 18, 1933

WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION ACT-COURSE OF EMPLOYMENT.

1. School-teacher's fall on slippery sidewalk while going to schoolhouse to begin duties, to return book, and while watching children's conduct, held compensable as "arising out of and in course of employment" (I. C A., sec. 32-1003).

2. Injury "arises in course of employment" when it takes place within period of employment at place employee may reasonably be, and while he is reasonably fulfilling duties of employment or doing something incidental to it.

APPEAL from the District Court of the Third Judicial District, for Ada County. Hon. Charles E. Winstead, Judge.

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act. Judgment for plaintiff. Affirmed.

Judgment affirmed; costs to respondent.

P. B Carter, for Appellants.

Where an employee receives personal injury by accident while going to or from work, such injury does not arise out of and in the course of his employment, unless, at the time of injury, the workman was constructively under the dominion of his employer in both of the following particulars, to wit: (1) Unless he was traveling a pathway provided by his employer, and (2) unless the pathway was the sole and only means of ingress and egress to and from the employer's plant, so that he was required to use it in going to and from his work; it is immaterial that the accident occurs on the premises where the employer's operations are being carried on. (Walker v. Hyde, 43 Idaho 625, 253 P. 1104; De Constantin v Public Service Commission, 75 W.Va. 32, 83 S.E. 88, L. R. A. 1916A, 329; Hills v. Blair, 182 Mich. 20, 148 N.W. 243; Morey v. City of Battle Creek, 229 Mich. 650, 202 N.W. 925, 38 A. L. R. 1039.)

E. B. Smith and W. H. Davison, for Respondent.

In Idaho a teacher is required to make certain book reviews and reports which may be required by the state superintendent, county superintendent, or by the school board of trustees; and is further required to hold pupils to a strict account for disorderly conduct or improper language in or about the building, on the playgrounds, and on the way to and from school. (C. S., sec. 944; Scrivner v. Franklin School Dist. No. 2, 50 Idaho 77, 293 P. 666.)

"The injury arises out of the employment when it is apparent to the rational mind upon consideration of all the circumstances a casual connection between the conditions under which the work is required to be performed and the resulting injury." (Western P. R. Co. v. Industrial Acc. Com., 193 Cal. 413, 224 P. 754; Lumbermen's Reciprocal Assn. v. Behnken, 112 Tex. 103, 246 S.W. 72, 28 A. L. R. 1402; Globe Indemnity Co. v. Industrial Acc. Com., 36 Cal.App. 280, 171 P. 1088.)

GIVENS, J. Holden and Wernette, JJ., and Sutphen and Rice, D. JJ., concur.

OPINION

GIVENS, J.

Respondent, a school-teacher in appellant school district, the morning of November 16, 1931, walking from her home to the schoolhouse, about one and one-half blocks, fell and broke her hip, for which she sought, and was awarded by the Board and the trial court, compensation.

The sole question is whether the accident arose out of and in the course of her employment as school-teacher.

The evidence shows without dispute that the morning was stormy and snowy, and the sidewalk slippery, that respondent was not only going to the schoolhouse to begin her duties in the schoolroom, but was also returning to the principal a book, which under the statutes and regulations of the school district she was required to read, and prepare a review thereof, one copy for the principal and one for a subsequent teachers' meeting, and that immediately prior to and at the time of the accident, respondent was watching some school children who were snowballing, and while their conduct was not such as to call for a reprimand or a report in regard thereto, she was watching their conduct, and also on the lookout to observe any other pupils on their way to school.

Section 32-1003, I. C. A., requires school-teachers to--

". . . . hold pupils to a strict account for disorderly conduct or improper language in or about the building, on the playgrounds, and on the way to and from school. . . ." (Italics ours.)

This statute was considered in Scrivner v. Franklin School Dist., 50 Idaho 77, 293 P. 666, to impose on the teacher a duty coextensive with the limits at least of the school district, and likewise as to time, is coextensive with that period when children are on their way to and from school.

"It is not only the legal right, but the moral duty, of the school authorities, to require children to go directly from school to their homes. All parents who have a proper regard for the welfare of their children desire it. The state makes it compulsory upon parents to send their children to school and punishes them for failure to do so. The least that the state can in reason do is to throw every safeguard possible around the children who, in obedience to the law, are attending school. The dangers to which children are exposed upon the streets of cities are matters of common knowledge. Humanity and the welfare of the country demand that a most watchful safeguard should, so far as possible, accompany children, when required or allowed to be on the streets. Parents have a right to understand that their children will be promptly sent home after school, and to believe that something untoward has happened when they do not return in time. In no other way can parents and teachers act in harmony to protect children from bad influences, bad companionship, and bad morals." (Jones v. Cody, 132 Mich. 13, 92 N.W. 495, 62 L. R. A. 160, 163.)

The return of the book and the delivery of the report to the principal, since to do these things respondent was merely pursuing the ordinary route from home to the school,...