Meehan v. Apartments

• Citation: 9 N.W.2d 534,305 Mich. 262
• Decision Date: 18 May 1943
• Docket Number: No. 19.,19.
• Parties: MEEHAN v. MARION MANOR APARTMENTS et al.
• Court: Supreme Court of Michigan

305 Mich. 262

9 N.W.2d 534

MEEHAN

v.MARION MANOR APARTMENTS et al.

No. 19.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

May 18, 1943.

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Carrie Meehan, claimant, for the death of Frederick Meehan, her husband, opposed by Marion Manor Apartments, the Maccabees of Detroit, employer, and Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company, insurer. From an award of the Department of Labor and Industry denying compensation, claimant appeals.

Affirmed.Appeal from Department of Labor and Industry-in the Nature of certiorari.

Before the Entire Bench.

Charfoos & Gussin and Ben L. Goode, all of Detroit, for plaintiff and appellant.

Kerr, Lacey & Scroggie, of Detroit, for defendants and appellees.

CHANDLER, Justice.

Plaintiff, dependent widow of Frederick Meehan, deceased, who, at the time of his death, was caretaker of Marion Manor Apartments, owned and operated by The Maccabees of Detroit, a defendant herein, appeals in the nature of certiorari from an award of the department of labor and industry denying her compensation for the accidental death of her husband.

Appellant's brief accepts and quotes the following facts found by the department, all of which are supported by the record:

‘Plaintiff is the widow and sole dependent of Frederick Meehan, who was found dead on February 14, 1942 in the kitchen of the basement apartment which he occupied in the Marion Manor Apartments. His death was due to asphyxiation from illuminating gas which had escaped from an open burner on a gas stove in the kitchen.

‘Frederick Meehan was employed by The Maccabees of Detroit as a caretaker in the Marion Manor Apartments. As part of the payment for his services in that capacity, he occupied, rent free, a basement apartment in the Marion Manor Apartments. He also attended a furnace in another apartment building in Royal Oak. At about eight o'clock on the evening of February 13, 1942 he left to attend the furnace in the apartment building in Royal Oak. Apparently nothing further was known of his whereabouts or activities from then until he was seen, about eleven-thirty, in a beer tavern near the Marion Manor Apartments. The proprietor of the tavern testified that plaintiff's decedent was in the tavern for about five minutes and had one glass of beer. Mrs. Clara Bartle, the occupant of the apartment directly above that occupied by the caretaker, testified that she smelled the odor of gas in the hall when she came in about twelve-thirty on the morning of February 14, also that she heard plaintiff's decedent's voice coming from his apartment and continued to hear his voice until she went to sleep at two-thirty. Plaintiff's decedent was found at about seven o'clock in the morning in the kitchen of his apartment, sitting in a chair, fully clothed, his cap on the floor, a clean cup on the table directly to his right and his head on his left arm which was resting on the ledge of a cupboard. A coffee pot stood over one of the burners on the gas stove. The burner was turned on but there was no flame. Gas was escaping from that burner. Whether he had gone to bed early in the morning of February 14 and then arisen to prepare coffee or was preparing the coffee before going to bed is immaterial. Neither is it of any significance that he apparently had not banked the furnace fire as usual because the fire was out and the hot water tank was cold. We find that the cause of his death was accidental and not intentional. We also find, for the reason that he was more or less subject to call, especially to let tenants into the apartment building who had forgotten their keys, and because he had no definite hours of employment, he could while in the Marion Manor Apartments be in the course...