Oswalt v. Lucas County
| Decision Date | 12 January 1937 |
| Docket Number | 43677. |
| Citation | 270 N.W. 847,222 Iowa 1099 |
| Parties | OSWALT v. LUCAS COUNTY. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from District Court, Lucas County; R. W. Smith, Judge.
From a decision of the Iowa industrial commissioner allowing compensation to claimant under the Iowa Workmen's Compensation Act (Code 1931, § 1361 et seq.), the defendant county appealed to the district court. The district court entered judgment reversing the decision of the Iowa industrial commissioner and, from the judgment of the district court, the claimant appeals.
Affirmed.
H. V Levis, of Chariton, for appellant.
John Jarvis, Co. Atty., of Chariton, for appellee.
While working upon a secondary road in Lucas county, Iowa, on February 8, 1935, the appellant herein received an injury which resulted in the loss of his right eye. He filed a petition with the industrial commissioner of the state of Iowa, alleging that at the time of his injury he was in the employ of Lucas county, and asking that compensation be awarded him against the county under the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act (Code 1931, § 1361 et seq.). The defendant county filed an answer denying the allegations of the petition, alleging that, at the time of his injury the claimant was not an employee of the defendant, that he was engaged in casual employment not for the purpose of the defendant's trade or business, and that his injury did not arise out of and in the course of his employment. Hearing by a board of arbitrators was waived, and the case was tried to the deputy industrial commissioner, who found that the claimant was entitled to compensation. The defendant county filed a petition for review and, upon such review, the Iowa industrial commissioner affirmed the decision of the deputy industrial commissioner. From this decision of the Iowa industrial commissioner the defendant county appealed to the district court of Lucas county, Iowa, which reversed the decision of the industrial commissioner and taxed the costs to the claimant. From this judgment of the district court of Lucas county reversing the decision of the industrial commissioner, the claimant appeals to this court.
There is no dispute in the facts of this case, which were all presented under a stipulation. The district court, therefore was not bound, and this court is not bound, by the decision reached by the industrial commissioner, if the undisputed facts do not support the order entered by him, and if there is not sufficient evidence to warrant the making of such order. Code 1931, § 1452; Mallinger v. Webster City Oil Company et al., 211 Iowa, 847, 234 N.W. 254; Petersen v. Corno Mills Company, 216 Iowa, 894, 249 N.W. 408; Almquist v. Shenandoah Nurseries, Inc., et al., 218 Iowa, 724, 254 N.W. 35; Hoover v. Independent School District, 220 Iowa, 1364, 264 N.W. 611.
The burden in this case was upon the claimant to establish his right to compensation. In order to establish such right, it was incumbent upon him to prove that, at the time the injury was sustained by him, the relation of employee and employer existed between him and the defendant county. Code 1931, § 1421, subd. 2. If the facts presented in the evidence were not such as to support the finding and decision of the industrial commissioner that such relationship did exist at the time the appellant sustained his injury, the decision of the industrial commissioner cannot stand and the district court was right in reversing it. In order to determine whether such relationship existed, it becomes necessary to state briefly the essential facts involved in this case.
In the year 1934, owing to a severe drought and the business depression which was still prevailing, a great many people in Lucas county were dependent upon public relief. Prior to that time the Congress of the United States had passed an act commonly known as the Federal Emergency Relief Act (15 U.S.C.A. § 721 et seq.), under which grants of federal funds were made to the different states to aid them in furnishing relief. Pursuant to application made by the Governor of Iowa, federal funds were allotted to this state, and the Legislature of this state appropriated additional funds which, with the funds received from the federal government, were deposited in the Iowa-Des Moines National Bank & Trust Company, payable to the Iowa Emergency Relief Administration. The Iowa Emergency Relief Administration was organized as a corporation, not for pecuniary profit, under the laws of the state of Iowa, for the purpose of administering the funds thus provided. This corporation will be referred to hereinafter as the I. E. R. A. Lucas county, Iowa, made application to the I. E. R. A. for the approval of an emergency relief work project, which consisted of surfacing county roads in various localities with gravel and shale. The total cost of such project was given as $19,643, of which the county offered to contribute the sum of $5,443 and asked that the I. E. R. A. furnish the balance. It does not appear that any part of the $5,443 which the county contributed to the project was ever placed in the fund held by the bank in Des Moines to the account of the I. E. R. A. The project was approved and the work thereon was later begun.
The general procedure in connection with the selection of the workers and the carrying on of the work and payment therefor was about as follows: The I. E. R. A. appointed a local director of relief, a local case worker, and a local work relief engineer who also acted as assignment officer. The cases of persons seeking work relief were investigated by the case worker, reported to the local director of relief, and certified by the local director of relief, on a form designated as " assignment requisition," as eligible to a certain amount in dollars and cents of work relief per month. This assignment requisition was presented to the local work relief engineer and assignment officer, who assigned the relief worker to a certain number of hours work upon certain designated days at the rate of 40 cents per hour (the total hours at the rate per hour making up the total in dollars and cents of the monthly relief), and directed him to the portion of the project on which he was to work under a certain foreman. The local county engineer had general supervision of the work in conjunction with the work relief engineer appointed by the I. E. R. A. and the work was done under the direct supervision of a foreman, and both the county engineer and the foreman were employed by and paid by the county. A daily time sheet was made out by the foreman, and from these daily time sheets a pay roll was made out. From this pay roll checks were made out in the office of the I. E. R. A. at Des Moines. These checks were signed by the Governor, were drawn upon the account of the I. E. R. A. in the bank at Des Moines, and were then sent to the office of the county engineer for distribution.
In the instant case, it appears that the claimant, Arthur Oswalt, had been receiving relief from Lucas county at different intervals from the 14th day of March 1934, which was prior to the time work began upon the Lucas county project, and that after work began on this project he continued to receive such relief. The report of the county worker, H. M. Newell, shows that on December 4, 1934, his order for work relief was increased to $19.20 per month. On the following day, an assignment requisition was issued by Lois J. Utterback, the local director of relief for the I. E. R. A. (who was also the overseer of the poor for Lucas county), and countersigned by H. M. Newell, county worker, certifying that Oswalt was eligible to work relief in said sum of $19.20 each month until further notice. On February 1, 1935, the assignment and identification card was signed by Jake Hoeksema, resident work relief engineer and assignment officer of the I. E. R. A., fixing Oswalt's days and hours of work during the month of February, and the rate of 40 cents per hour, making a total of $19.20 work relief for that month, and assigning him to a particular part of the work under C. B. Foster as foreman. On the 21st day of February, 1935, a work relief stop card signed by Lois J. Utterback, and also signed " Newell," was issued and directed to the work division assignment office and timekeeper, stating that Oswalt was not to be extended further work relief, beginning February 21, 1935. This work relief stop card was issued because of the injury to his eye which Oswalt had sustained on February 8th, and thereafter a check was issued to him in payment for the hours of work performed by him up to the time when the stop card was issued.
The connection of Lucas county with the project seems to have been confined to the designation of the roads or parts of roads on which the work would be done, the furnishing of tools to the workers, the general supervision of the work by the county engineer, and the doing of the work under the immediate direction of a foreman appointed by the county. The county, it is true, also contributed from its funds to the carrying on of the work, but it appears that a part of the county's contribution was used for materials, teams trucks, and equipment, and that of the remainder of such contribution, which was designated for wages and salaries, no part was used in paying the relief workers, such as Oswalt, who were designated as " single hands." The I. E. R. A., on the other hand, furnished most of the money for the carrying out of the project, and furnished all of that portion used in paying the workmen who, like Oswalt, were designated as " single hands." It appointed the case worker, the local director of relief, and the resident work relief engineer. Through the case worker it investigated the case of Oswalt...
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