Peter Kiewit Sons' Co. v. Industrial Commission

• Decision Date: 06 July 1960
• Docket Number: No. 6831,6831
• Citation: Peter Kiewit Sons' Co. v. Industrial Commission, 354 P.2d 28, 88 Ariz. 164 (Ariz. 1960)
• Parties: PETER KIEWIT SONS' CO., a corporation, Petitioner, v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION of Arizona, and Fred W. Alexander, Respondents.
• Court: Arizona Supreme Court

Page 28

354 P.2d 28

88 Ariz. 164

PETER KIEWIT SONS' CO., a corporation, Petitioner, v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION of Arizona, and Fred W. Alexander, Respondents.

No. 6831.

Supreme Court of Arizona.

July 6, 1960.

Evans, Kitchel & Jenckes, Earl H. Carroll and L. Ray Haire, Phoenix, for petitioner.

Frances M. Long, Phoenix, for respondent, Industrial Commission.

Minne & Sorenson, Phoenix, for respondent, Fred W. Alexander.

BERNSTEIN, Justice.

In this certiorari proceeding Peter Kiewit Sons' Co. (hereinafter called the 'Company') seeks to set aside an award of The Industrial Commission of Arizona (hereinafter called the 'Commission') which found that on May 29, 1958, Fred W. Alexander (hereinafter called the 'Claimant') sustained a personal injury by accident arising out of an in the course of his employment with the Company. The injury resulted from an assault committed on Claimant by a third person not in the employ of the Company. As Claimant has filed an election under A.R.S. § 23-1023 'to pursue his remedy against such other person,' the Commission made no findings on the extent of Claimant's injuries or the amount of compensation to which he may be entitled. The sole issue presented is whether the injuries resulted from an 'accident arising out of and in the course of his employment' (A.R.S. § 23-1021).

On May 29, 1958, Claimant was employed by the Company as a cement finisher on a construction project on Highway 66 just east of Flagstaff, Arizona. His work day ran from 6:00 A. M. to 2:00 P. M. Shortly before 2:00 P. M. a highway inspector employed by the State Highway Department told Claimant that he was performing his work in a faulty manner and, after a verbal dispute arose between the two, the highway inspector requested the lead foreman to discharge Claimant. The lead foreman thereupon discharged Claimant and told him to wait in his car for his check which would be brought out to him.

At this time Claimant's car was about 80 feet away, 'kind of angling' across the highway, where Claimant's wife had parked it to pick up her husband at the end of the work day. Claimant walked to his car, put up his tools, and waited for his check. A few minutes later the general foreman arrived on the scene and, after being met by Claimant, told him to get his check at the Company's office which was located in a trailer court a short distance away.

Claimant thereupon returned to his car, but before he was able to drive away, the highway inspector, accompanied by an armed State highway patrolman, approached the car and started 'talking ugly' in front of Claimant and his wife. The highway inspector told Claimant to get out of the car. Claimant did so, and was struck several times and knocked down by the inspector, thereby receiving the injuries which are the subject of this claim.

It is clear and, indeed, the Company concedes that the fact that Claimant's injuries resulted from an assault committed by a person not in the Company's employ, does not, of itself, render these injuries non-compensable. A.R.S. § 23-901, subdivision 8, provides:

"Personal injury by accident arising out of, and in the course of employment' includes an injury caused by the wilful act of a third person directed against an employee because of his employment * * *.'

See also, 1 Larson, Workmen's Compensation, § 11.

The Company claims, however, that Claimant's injuries are not compensable because the assault or 'accident' did not arise out of and in the course of his employment. The Claimant and the Commission urge that the findings of the Commission are supported by competent evidence and should be affirmed.

Under A.R.S. § 23-1021 an employee who is subject to the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Law is entitled to compensation for injuries resulting from an accident, or, as here, an assault, 'arising out of and in the course of his employment.' The meaning and scope of these terms have on several occasions been defined by this Court.

In Goodyear Aircraft Corp. v. Gilbert, 65 Ariz. 379, 382-383, 181 P.2d 624, 626, it was stated:

'Both the elements 'arising out of' and 'in the course of employment' must coexist at one and the same time in order that an award be sustained. Pacific Fruit Exp. Co. v. Industrial Comm., 32 Ariz. 299, 258 P. 253, 55 A.L.R. 975; Brady v. Oregon Lumber Co., 117 Or. 188, 243 P. 96, 45 A.L.R. 812. 'The expressions 'arising out of' and 'in the course of' the employment are not synonymous; but the words 'arising out of' are construed to refer to the origin or cause of the injury, and the words 'in the course of' to refer to the time, place, and circumstances under which it occurred. An injury which occurs in the course of the employment will ordinarily, but not necessarily, arise out of it, while an injury arising out of an employment almost necessarily occurs in the course of it.' 71 C.J. 644.'

In Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Industrial Commission, 69 Ariz. 320, 324, 325, 213 P.2d 672, 674, this Court said that 'in the course of employment' refers to the 'time, place, and circumstances under which it [the accident] occurred; i. e. coincident with the employment'; whereas the term 'arising out of' employment refers to 'the origin or cause of the injury.' See also McCampbell v. Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, 71 Ariz. 244, 248-249, 226 P.2d 417, where it was recognized that the conditions of both terms must be satisfied before an award may be sustained.

The Company argues that the assault did not arise 'in the course of' Claimant's employment because Claimant had been discharged prior to the assault and because the assault took place outside the Company's premises.

It is not disputed that Claimant had formally been discharged from his employment prior to the time he sustained his injuries. The record shows, however, that Claimant remained in the area in order to receive his pay check. He was told, first, to wait in his automobile, and a few minutes later, to pick up his check at the Company's office. The circumstances immediately leading to the assault took place just after Claimant had returned to his automobile to comply with the latter request or direction.

It is clear that at the time of the assault Claimant was properly in the work area and, for the purposes of Workmen's Compensation, was still in the course of his employment. As stated in Nicholson v. Industrial Commission, 76 Ariz. 105, 109, 110, 259 P.2d 547, 550:

'Generally injuries incurred by the employee while leaving the premises collecting pay or getting his clothes or tools, within a reasonable time after termination of the employment, or within the course of the employment, are normally incidents of the employment relation. There are numerous cases holding that compensation converage is not automatically and instantly terminated by the firing or quitting of the employee. The employee is deemed to be within the course of employment for a reasonable period while he winds up his affairs and leaves the premises. * * *

* * *

* * *

'We are in accord with those cases holding that an employee has a reasonable length of time within which to collect his pay, gather up his clothes or tools, wash and clean up preparatory to leaving the premises, and while so engaged remains in the course of his employment.'

See also, 1 Larson, supra, § 26.30 where it is stated:

'The contract of employment is not fully terminated until the employee is paid, and accordingly an employee is in the course of employment while collecting his pay.'

Coverage of the employee is predicated on his right to receive immediate payment of his wages. Thus, A.R.S. § 23-353, subdivision A, provides:

'When an employee quits the service, or is discharged therefrom, he shall be paid wages due him, in lawful money of the United States, or by check of even date on a bank, and the wages shall be paid at once.' (Emphasis added.)

In the instant case Claimant's sole purpose in remaining in the work area was to receive his pay. He fully complied with all the directions of the Company's foremen, and there is no suggestion in the record that Claimant committed any unreasonable delay in accomplishing his proper purpose. See 1 Larson, supra, § 26.30; Peterson v. Moran, 111 Cal.App.2d 766, 245 P.2d 540.

The Company urges further that the assault occurred off its premises and, accordingly, did not arise in the course of employment. See McCampbell v. Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, supra. It is clear that in the instant case there were no well defined premises belonging to or controlled by the Company. The Company was performing a preject on a public highway; its office was located in a trailer court in the area. The assault occurred alongside Claimant's car which was parked 'kind of angling across the street' on the highway. The car was located about eighty feet from the precise area where Claimant had been working. There was no evidence that there was any physical separation between these two locations or that the Company exercised greater control and supervision over one location than over the other, or that the risks to which Claimant was subjected by virtue of his employment, at least so far as the assault was concerned, were different in the two locations.

In Field v. Charmette Knitted Fabric Co., 245 N.Y. 139, 156 N.E. 642, the employee Field was assaulted three or four feet from the door of the Company's mill by another employee, Magid, with whom a work dispute had taken place earlier in the day. The Company contended that it was not liable for workmen's compensation because the assault occurred on a public sidewalk located off its premises. In rejecting that contention, Chief Judge Cardozo of the New York Court of Appeals stated:

'We think the line of division is drawn too narrowly and closely when circumstances of place are thus considered to the exclusion of all others. The quarrel outside of the mill was merely a continuation or extention of the quarrel begun...