Peterson v. Le Faivre, 1764

Citation12 P.2d 385,44 Wyo. 378
Decision Date11 June 1932
Docket Number1764
PartiesPETERSON v. LE FAIVRE
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Wyoming

APPEAL from District Court, Weston County; C. O. BROWN, Judge.

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Law by E. W. Peterson employee, opposed by Jerome LeFaivre, as trustee of the LeFaivre Oil Snydicate, employer. From an order awarding compensation, the employer appeals.

Affirmed.

For the appellant, the cause was submitted on the brief of F. W Layman, of Casper, Wyoming.

The evidence does not show that the employee was engaged in extra hazardous employment, and the court made no specific finding as to what occupation the employee was engaged in, at the time of his injury. He was not engaged in logging, or in working about an oil well. He was engaged in work for the erection of an oil derrick, to be performed under contract by men skilled in that type of work. Logging is the business of felling trees and transporting logs. 4 W. & P. (3rd Ed.) 980. Also Vol. 3, page 266, same series. There is nothing in the evidence to sustain plaintiff's contention that he was logging when injured, and he was not working about an oil well, since there was no oil well in existence at the place where he worked. If gathering firewood for the camp was hazardous, then the task of keeping books and doing other clerical work also carried on at the same place must be held to be extra hazardous. He was gathering wood for stoves in the bunkhouses. Extra hazardous occupations have been defined by this court in Leslie v. Casper, 42 Wyo. 44, and cases cited. The court erred in excluding time provided for by the amendment. Laws 1927, page 180. Claimant was not entitled in any event to compensation for more than 7 days.

The cause was submitted for respondent upon the brief of C. W Clark, of Newcastle, Wyoming.

The phrase "working about an oil well", Sec. 124-104 R. S. 1931 means doing any and all things necessary in the preparation, erection of rig and sinking of the hole, and all kinds of work in connection therewith. The employee was injured while loading logs on a truck in connection with preparation for an oil well. He was also logging as the term is defined by the authorities. He was disabled for 24 days, is married and lives with his wife and three children. The judgment should be affirmed.

F. W. Layman, of Casper, Wyoming, in reply.

There is no admission to be found in appellant's brief that claimant might have been logging or working on an oil well. The report of the employer indicates that the employee was driving a truck. The evidence is insufficient to justify the conclusion that he was engaged in general trucking. The employee was not engaged in extra hazardous employment at the time of the injury, nor in any work having a casual connection with extra hazardous employment.

RINER, Justice. KIMBALL, C. J., and BLUME, J., concur.

OPINION

RINER, Justice.

The District Court of Weston County made an award in favor of E. W. Peterson, as an employe of Jerome LeFaivre as Trustee of LeFaivre Oil Syndicate, and under the Workmen's Compensation Law of this state. Dissatisfied with that award, the trustee has brought the record here by direct appeal for review.

The record shows the following: On March 3, 1930, the employe aforesaid filed his "report of accident" as required by law, wherein he stated in substance that on February 28, 1930, while loading a truck with logs, he slipped, fell and a log striking him on the neck, his collar bone was thereby broken; that this accident occurring in the course of his employment caused temporary total disability; that his duties were those of field manager for the employer named above; and that he was married, his wife and four children being listed as the members of the family dependent upon him. He duly made claim for an award under the Workmen's Compensation Law.

March 8, 1930, the employer filed his report of the accident wherein its cause was described thus: "Employe slipped while carrying firewood for cookstove and fell to the ground, injuring his shoulder" which resulted in "fractured right collar bone and torn ligaments in right shoulder." Describing the nature of the employe's duties, this report stated: "Preparation work for erection of an rig consisting of building roads, hauling timber, machinery and other materials, building bunk houses, moving bunk houses, cooking and getting in wood and coal for heating and cooking, time keeper and hauled sand and gravel with automobile truck and team of horses." The report also stated that the accident grew out of claimant's employment, was not due to his culpable negligence, that the workman intended to claim compensation and that the employer did not dispute such claim, if made in accordance with the State Workmen's Compensation Act. This report was positively sworn to by the employer.

The attending...

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