Mary Mckane v. Capital Hill Quarry Co.

• Decision Date: 16 October 1926
• Parties: MARY MCKANE v. CAPITAL HILL QUARRY CO. ET AL
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court

134 A. 640

100 Vt. 45

MARY MCKANE v. CAPITAL HILL QUARRY CO. ET AL

Supreme Court of Vermont

October 16, 1926

May Term, 1926.

APPEAL from findings and order of commissioner of industries Washington County, dismissing petition of widow of deceased workman for payment of compensation under G. L. 5783. The opinion states the case.

Order affirmed. Let the result be certified to the commissioner of industries.

Edward C. Dufficy for petitioner.

Albert A. Sargent for employer and insurer.

Present POWERS, SLACK, and FISH, JJ., and MOULTON and CHASE, Supr. JJ.

OPINION

POWERS

On July 13, 1922, William McKane, while in the employ of the Capital Hill Quarry Company, was injured under circumstances entitling him to compensation. On September 1 1922, he entered into a written agreement with the United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company, the insurance carrier of the Quarry Company, by the terms of which he was to receive compensation at the rate of $ 14.50 per week--which was one-half his average weekly wage--for an unspecified number of weeks. This agreement was duly approved by the commissioner of industries. Some time later, about July 1 1923, he became insane from the effects of his injury, and remained in that condition until December 30, 1924, when he committed suicide. At that time, the terms of the agreement above referred to had been fully complied with by the insurance carrier.

Mary McKane, widow and sole dependent of William McKane, filed her petition with the commissioner seeking an order that the compensation aforesaid be paid to her during the remainder of the two hundred and sixty weeks specified in the statute, and basing her claim on G. L. 5783. Upon hearing, the commissioner found the facts in accordance with the foregoing statement and further found that McKane's death "was due to his injury * *." Thereupon, he dismissed the petition and the petitioner appealed to this Court under G. L. 5808.

That the findings of the commissioner are binding on this Court if sufficiently supported by evidence is beyond question. Roller v. Warren, 98 Vt. 514, 517, 129 A. 168; and it is equally true that the burden is on the petitioner to establish the facts essential to the right asserted. Kelley's Dependents v. Hoosac Lumber Co., 95 Vt. 50, 53, 113 A. 818; In re Sponatski, 220 Mass. 526, 108 N.E. 466, 467, L.R.A. 1916A, 333.

The very first fact that this petitioner is required by G. L 5783 to establish is that McKane died from a cause other than the accident of July 13, 1922. This she has not done. As we have seen, the finding on this point is against her. We do not sit in appeals like this as a fact-finding body; our jurisdiction is specifically limited to a review of such law questions as the commissioner certifies up to us. G. L. 5808. Giving these the broadest possible scope, they amount to a challenge of the finding that the suicide resulted from the injury. The...