McKinley v. Clarke Cnty., 45132.
| Decision Date | 06 August 1940 |
| Docket Number | No. 45132.,45132. |
| Parties | McKINLEY v. CLARKE COUNTY et al. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
McKINLEY
v.
CLARKE COUNTY et al.
No. 45132.
Supreme Court of Iowa.
Aug. 6, 1940.
Appeal from District Court, Warren County; Norman R. Hays, Judge.
Action by surviving spouse of county engineer to recover workman's compensation for his accidental death arising out of and in the course of the performance of his duties. The District Court denied the claim for compensation, and plaintiff appeals.
Affirmed.
[293 N.W. 450]
O. M. Slaymaker, R. E. Killmar, and D. D. Slaymaker, all of Osceola, for appellant.
Miller, Huebner & Miller, of Des Moines, for appellees.
OLIVER, Justice.
L. W. McKinley, county engineer of Clarke County, Iowa, was accidentally killed while en route from Des Moines to Clarke County with repair parts for county road machinery. His widow instituted proceedings against the county and its insurance carrier under the Workmen's Compensation Act to recover compensation for his death. The defense pleaded, in addition to a general denial, was that McKinley was an “official” appointed by the county, and, therefore, was not a “workman” or “employee” within the purview of the act.
Upon arbitration the Deputy Industrial Commissioner, as sole arbitrator, denied claimant compensation. Upon review the Industrial Commissioner awarded compensation to said claimant. Appeal was then taken to the District Court, which reversed and set aside the findings, decision and award of the Industrial Commissioner and denied compensation to claimant. From the ruling and judgment of the District Court claimant prosecutes this appeal.
It is practically conceded the death of McKinley arose out of and in the course of the performance of services connected with his position as county engineer. The only question for solution concerns his status under the Compensation Act, and particularly under Code, Section 1421. This section defines “workman” or “employee” and then sets out certain exceptions, in part as follows:
“3. The following persons shall not be deemed ‘workmen’ or ‘employees': * *
d. * * * an official elected or appointed by the * * * county * * *.”
If McKinley was an “employee” of the county his death was compensable, if he was an “official”, he was in a class excepted from the benefits of the Workmen's Compensation Act.
I. The position of county engineer is statutory. Section 4644.17, Code of Iowa 1939, provides: “Engineer-term. The board of supervisors shall employ one or more registered civil engineers who shall be known as county engineers. The board shall fix their term of employment which shall not exceed three years, but the tenure of office may be terminated at any time by the board.”
The powers and duties of such position are conferred by statute and are largely specifically defined. It is established without dispute that the board of supervisors employed McKinley in this position. The Commissioner so found. However, the Commissioner also found that a county engineer was not “an official” within the purview of the Workmen's Compensation Act, and upon such finding awarded compensation to...
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