Milwaukee Coke & Gas Co. v. Indus. Comm'n

• Decision Date: 02 March 1915
• Citation: 160 Wis. 247,151 N.W. 245
• Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court
• Parties: MILWAUKEE COKE & GAS CO. v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION ET AL.

160 Wis. 247

151 N.W. 245

MILWAUKEE COKE & GAS CO.

v.INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION ET AL.

Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

March 2, 1915.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Dane County; E. Ray Stevens, Judge.

Action by the Milwaukee Coke & Gas Company against the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin and Pauline Dixon, to set aside an award of the Commission in favor of Dixon. From a judgment affirming award in the circuit court, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Action to set aside an award of the Industrial Commission requiring the appellant company to pay to Pauline Dixon $3,000 on account of the death of her husband, Thomas Dixon, caused by accident while in the employ of the appellant company. The circuit court affirmed the award, and the plaintiff company appeals.

The facts are that Dixon, on March 23, 1912, was working for the plaintiff in its yards at Milwaukee as an engineer on a switch engine. He was working on the night shift, and was relieved at about 7 o'clock a. m. by another engineer. He remained in the cab of the engine while the same was moving backward towards the office, and was standing on a sort of an apron of metal between the engine and the tender. This apron was smooth and was not rigid but moved as the engine passed over the rails. While so standing, Dixon fell, and for a time after the fall was unconscious. He was removed to the office, and afterwards to his home, where he had two spasms or convulsions. Physicians were called, who diagnosed the case as one of concussion of the brain. After ten days he had recovered sufficiently to go back to work, and he continued until June 30th, when he ceased to work for the plaintiff company. After this he was idle for a month, and then obtained work for another company. In October, while walking along the street, he became ill, and relapsed into partial unconsciousness, but soon recovered. In November he suffered from two attacks, which resulted in convulsions. December 15th he and his wife went to consult Dr. Witte, and while in the doctor's office he had a convulsion which was succeeded by others, and he died in about two hours. An autopsy disclosed the fact that the deceased had chronic Bright's disease; that there was a cyst over the motor area of the brain about one centimeter in diameter; and that the immediate cause of death was a hemorrhage of the brain. There was considerable testimony to the effect that Dixon had never had convulsions of any kind prior to the day of the fall in the switch engine. The appellant company claimed that there was no competent evidence to support the finding that Dixon's death was the proximate result of the fall; that the Commission's findings to that effect were based on mere conjecture; that the evidence in fact demonstrated that his fall was caused by a convulsive seizure resulting from some disease; and that, in any event, Dixon's death was not the result of an accident, within the meaning of the Workmen's Compensation Act. The Commission found in effect that Dixon accidentally fell and suffered a concussion of the brain by hitting his head against a metal pipe, and that the convulsions proximately resulted therefrom and caused the hemorrhage, which was the immediate cause of death.

It further appeared that when Dixon returned to work he was paid $1.56 for his temporary disability, and gave a receipt in which he released the company from all claims which he had under the Workmen's Compensation Act for the injuries sustained by him on the 23d of March. A copy of this release was filed with the Industrial Commission and approved. He had lost eight days' time, and the sum which he received was the exact amount to which he was entitled under subdivision 2 of section...