Luke v. St. Paul Mercury Indemnity Company

Citation300 N.W. 577,140 Neb. 557
Decision Date31 October 1941
Docket Number31257
PartiesWILLIAM A. LUKE, APPELLEE, v. ST. PAUL MERCURY INDEMNITY COMPANY ET AL., APPELLANTS
CourtSupreme Court of Nebraska

APPEAL from the district court for Lancaster county: JOHN L. POLK JUDGE. Reversed, with directions.

REVERSED.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. The workmen's compensation law extends to and covers only workmen while engaged in, on or about the premises where their duties are being performed, or where their service requires their presence as a part of such service at the time of the injury, and during the hours of service as such workmen.

2. Where an employee leaves the place where his duties are to be performed or where his service requires his presence to engage in a personal objective, not incidental to his employment, the relation of employer and employee does not exist until he returns to a place where by the terms of his employment he is required to perform service.

3. The rule that recovery may be had under the workmen's compensation law if the servant, on a trip where his and his master's business are combined, is injured is applicable only when there is a combination of purposes of the master and servant to be performed on the same trip.

4. Held, that the injury sustained by the plaintiff is not compensable under the workmen's compensation law.

Appeal from District Court, Lancaster County; Polk, Judge.

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act by William A. Luke, claimant, against the St. Paul-Mercury Indemnity Company of St. Paul, compensation carrier, and the Young Men's Christian Association of Lincoln and Lancaster County, Nebraska, employer. From an award in favor of the claimant, the compensation carrier and the employer appeal.

Reversed.

Chambers, Holland & Locke, for appellants.

Good & Simons, contra.

Heard before SIMMONS, C. J., EBERLY, PAINE, MESSMORE and YEAGER, JJ., and FALLOON and ELLIS, District Judges.

OPINION

YEAGER, J.

This is an appeal from an award in a workmen's compensation case in favor of William A. Luke, plaintiff and appellee, against the Young Men's Christian Association of Lincoln and Lancaster county, Nebraska, a corporation, the employer, and St. Paul Mercury Indemnity Company of St. Paul, a corporation, the compensation carrier, defendants and appellants.

The only question presented is one of liability, and it depends upon whether or not the accident and injury sustained by the plaintiff, which accident and injury are admitted, arose out of and in the course of his employment as general secretary of the employer defendant.

The pertinent substantial facts are that plaintiff had been general secretary of the employer defendant, hereinafter referred to as the Lincoln Y. M. C. A., for more than 25 years. Under arrangement with the Lincoln Y. M. C. A. it was required that plaintiff should attend conferences at Association Camp, Estes Park, Colorado, on dates from July 22 to July 26, 1936. It was further arranged that he was to attend other conferences at Denver, Colorado, with certain Y M. C. A. officials, the dates of which proposed conferences were not fixed or certain, but were probably to be held very shortly before the Estes Park conference. The traveling expense and expense of attendance were to be borne by the Lincoln Y. M. C. A. On July 9, 1936, plaintiff received word that his brother had died at his home near Billings, Montana. Immediately plaintiff made arrangements with the Lincoln Y. M. C. A. whereby he was allowed to attend the funeral of his brother, it being agreed that he should return from Montana to Denver and Estes Park in time to attend the conferences. He procured a round-trip ticket from Lincoln through Billings, Estes Park and back to Lincoln. The Lincoln Y. M. C. A. bore the equivalent of the cost of a round-trip ticket to Estes Park, and plaintiff the balance. The plaintiff went to the home of his deceased brother, where he remained until July 19, 1936. Following receipt of a communication or communications from his secretary, plaintiff, on July 19, 1936, started by train to Denver, Colorado, presumably to attend contemplated conferences, which conferences were in line of duty. Some time during the afternoon of the 19th, plaintiff was in the dining car eating a piece of watermelon when a fellow passenger lost his balance and caused a fork to be stuck into plaintiff's jaw, which injury is the basis of this action. The train arrived at Cheyenne, Wyoming, the following morning at about 2:30 o'clock. Denver and Estes Park, Colorado, are west and somewhat south of Lincoln, Nebraska, and the point or points to which plaintiff went are west and north. The place of the accident was west and north and on a route which took plaintiff several hundred miles away from the direct route to Denver and Estes Park. From the time plaintiff left Lincoln, Nebraska, up to and including the time when the accident occurred, the plaintiff had not been engaged in the performance of any act for his employer or in the line of...

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  • Luke v. St. Paul Mercury Indem. Co., 31257.
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Nebraska
    • October 31, 1941
    ...140 Neb. 557300 N.W. 577LUKEv.ST. PAUL MERCURY INDEMNITY CO. ET AL.No. 31257.Supreme Court of Nebraska.Oct. 31, [300 N.W. 578]Syllabus by the Court. 1. The workmen's compensation law extends to and covers only workmen while engaged in, on or about the premises where their duties are being p......

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