Neumeister v. Eastern Brewing Corp.

• Decision Date: 29 January 1962
• Docket Number: No. A--944,A--944
• Citation: 73 N.J.Super. 193,179 A.2d 551
• Parties: Veronica E. NEUMEISTER, Petitioner-Respondent, v. EASTERN BREWING CORPORATION, Respondent-Appellant.
• Court: New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division

Page 193

73 N.J.Super. 193

179 A.2d 551

Veronica E. NEUMEISTER, Petitioner-Respondent, v. EASTERN BREWING CORPORATION, Respondent-Appellant.

No. A--944.

Superior Court of New Jersey

Appellate Division.

Argued Dec. 11, 1961.

Decided Jan. 29, 1962.

A. Millard Taylor, Camden, for appellant.

William G. Freeman, Camden, for respondent.

Before Judges GAULKIN, KILKENNY and HERBERT.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

FAULKIN, J.A.D.

This is a workmen's compensation case. John F. Neumeister, Eastern's brewmaster, was killed while driving his own automobile from his home in New Britain, Connecticut to the brewery in Hammonton, New Jersey. The Judge of Compensation and the County Court held that his death was compensable. The employer appeals.

There is little dispute in the facts. Eastern had hired Neumeister as brewmaster in December 1955, for a six months trial period. Since it was for a trial period, Neumeister did not move his family from Connecticut to Hammonton, and Eastern supplied him with an apartment near the brewery. Neumeister was in control of and had the responsibility of the brewing process, but under the supervision of James Penza and Ernst Adler. Brewing is a continuous and uninterrupted process. Adler said that 'in order to have a uniform product it is practically a 24 hour a day job.' Ordinarily Neumeister worked from about 6 A.M. to about 4:30 P.M., but whenever necessary he worked longer hours or in the evening. As a rule he was able to visit his family in Connecticut on weekends, leaving Saturday afternoon and departing from Connecticut on Sunday evening. In addition, whenever he had to go to New York City for yeast, or to Schwarz Laboratories, Inc. (Schwarz) Eastern's consultant chemists, in Mt. Vernon, New York, Neumeister was permitted to visit with his family in Connecticut before returning to Hammonton. Neumeister used his own automobile on these trips, but when he went to New York City or Mt. Vernon on Eastern's business (even when the trip was coupled with a trip to visit his family) Eastern provided gasoline and reimbursed him for toll charges.

During the week before Good Friday 1956 two batches of the brew became hazy or cloudy. Penza and Adler became alarmed and, on Thursday, March 29, they dispatched Neumeister to Schwarz Laboratorics with samples of the brew, with instructions to stay there until the samples were analyzed, to discuss with Schwarz what was to be done to correct the condition, and to report back to Adler by telephone. Schwartz and described by Adler as 'one of the leading brewing laboratories in this county * * * It has a brewing school * * * They also produce certain materials and ingredients used in brewing * * *.'

Adler and Penza knew that Neumeister planned to spend the Easter week end with his family. Mrs. Neumeister testified that he told her that he might be home Thursday (Holy Thursday, in the Neumeister's faith) 'it all depended on what he had to do.' Before Neumeister left Hammonto for Schwarz Laboratories he filled the tank of his car with Eastern's gasoline, with Eastern's permission, and it is not disputed that Eastern was to pay the highway and bridge tolls. Counsel for Eastern argues that the evidence shows that the agreement was to pay only the tolls to Mt. Vernon, but not back to Hammonton. We find the testimony more susceptible to the construction that tolls both ways were to be paid by Eastern. The Judge of Compensation and the County Court Judge, in their able opinions, seemed to so construe the testimony, and we would so construe it. However, even if indeed the testimony is not clear enough to justify an express finding that the tolls both ways were to be paid by Eastern, it would not change our decision.

Schwarz analyzed the brew and advised the addition of gypsum and a diastatic enzyme called 'convertase' to the brew. It is not clear from the testimony whether the gypsum and the convertase were to be added to both batches of cloudy brew or whether gypsum was to be added to one and convertase to the other. In any event, the gypsum was to be added at the rate of two pounds to every one hundred barrels of brew, while the convertase was to be added at the rate of seven ounces to every one hundred barrels. Gypsum is a common substance, but apparently convertase is not, for Schwarz gave Neumeister two pounds of the convertase to take back with him.

From Mt. Vernon, Neumeister went on to Connecticut. Adler had expected Neumeister to telephone from Mt. Vernon and, when he did not, Adler telephoned him in Connecticut. Neumeister told Adler of Schwarz's recommendations. Adler testified that 'I asked him whether he could arrange it so that he leaves Sunday, or stays over in Hammonton, to be at the Brewery very early at 6:00 o'clock' on Monday to carry out Schwartz's instructions. Adler added, in his testimony, 'Normally I would feel, it being Easter Sunday, he should spend the night home and come in Monday morning. But this particular time I would not say I instructed him that that was not the relationship. I just suggested to him that wouldn't it...