Stockley v. Sch. Dist. No. 1 of Portage Tp.

• Decision Date: 16 July 1925
• Docket Number: No. 121.,121.
• Citation: 204 N.W. 715,231 Mich. 523
• Parties: STOCKLEY v. SCHOOL DIST. NO. 1 OF PORTAGE TP. et al.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

231 Mich. 523

204 N.W. 715

STOCKLEY

v.SCHOOL DIST. NO. 1 OF PORTAGE TP. et al.

No. 121.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

July 16, 1925.

Certiorari to Department of Labor and Industry.

Certiorari by School District No. 1 of Portage Township and another to review proceedings of the Commissioner of Department of Labor and Industry awarding compensation to Florence Stockley, guardian of Edward B. Harmon, for accidental death of Mrs. Eva Harmon. Award sustained.

Argued before McDONALD, C. J., and CLARK, BIRD, SHARPE, MOORE, STEERE, FELLOWS, and WIEST, JJ.Rees, Robinson & Petermann, of Calumet, for applicants.

Ray Derham, of Iron Mountain, for respondent.

STEERE, J.

Defendants appeal by certiorari from an order of the Commission of the Department of Labor and Industry awarding compensation for the accidental death of Mrs. Eva Harmon on November 5, 1923, resulting from a collision of the automobile in which she was riding with an interurban electric railway car at a highway crossing between the city of Hancock and Calumet, in Houghton county, Mich.

Plaintiff, Florence Stockley, is a sister of deceased and guardian of her son, Edward Harmon, a minor then 9 years of age, and wholly dependent on his mother for support. The two sisters were school teachers living in Hancock. Miss Stockley taught in the Hancock school, and Mrs. Harmon was employed as a teacher in the high school at Houghton, which is located directly across Portage Lake to the west, a bridge connecting the two municipalities.

The county school commissioner of Houghton county had received instructions from the state superintendent of public instruction to advertise an ‘inspiration institute’ for the teachers of Houghton and Keweenaw counties to be held in the high school building at Calumet on Monday, November 5, 1923. This he did by publishing a notice in the newspapers of the district, which concludes as follows:

‘State Superintendent Thomas E. Johnson will be present as conductor. All teachers are urged to be present. A cordial invitation is extended to all interested in school, especially to school officers and parents, to attend both morning and afternoon sessions. [Signed] J. Bettens, Commissioner of Schools.’

Professor John E. Erickson was superintendent of ‘school district No. 1 of Portage township,’ which included the schools of Houghton, and had control of all teachers in that district. He issued a bulletin on October 23, 1923, copies of which were sent to the teachers in his district, a paragraph of which reads as follows:

‘Schools of Portage township will be closed Monday, November 5th, to allow teachers to attend the county institute which will be held at Calumet on that date. There will be morning and afternoon sessions, and all teachers are expected to attend. For time and place watch the newspapers.’

Superintendent Erickson testified that he instructed all the teachers under him to attend the institute, and attended it himself. They were all required to go, were paid for so doing as though teaching, and every teacher went every year, unless detained on account of sickness. Refusal to go would reflect on a teacher's professional standing. She would receive no pay for that day, and personally he ‘would not feel like recommending her for a position the following year.’ The superintendent of the Hancock schools gave like instructions to the teachers under him, and testified to like effect as to the result of failure to attend.

On the morning of November 5, 1923, the two sisters left Hancock in a Ford sedan they jointly owned for Calumet to attend the institute, accompanied by Mrs. Monroe, a teacher in the Houghton school, whom Mrs. Harmon had invited to ride with them. They first drove across Portage Lake to Houghton for Mrs. Monroe, and then started back through Hancock for Calumet by the main highway between the two places, a distance of between 12 and 13 miles. Miss Stockley drove the car, while Mrs. Harmon and Mrs. Monroe occupied the back seat.

At a point about a mile and a half from Calumet where the highway crosses an interurban railway track their auto collided with an electric interurban car, killing Mrs. Monroe and Mrs. Harmon. Miss Stockley was severely injured, but recovered. There was a clear view of the approaching electric are for several hundred feet. One auto driver had seen the car and stopped, but Miss Stockley drove past this standing automobile and on to the track just in time to be struck by it. Of the collision she testified:

‘The last I remember is that we made Quincy Hill on high, and that I remarked the engine never worked better, and that I would drive slowly so that we would not arrive at Calumet early. It have been told that I was driving slowly just before the accident; that I passed a car parked on the right side of the road; and that a Studebaker car passed on my left. I did not see the street car which came from my right off a trestle which ends at the crossing. I heard exclamation from the others, and don't think they realized they were struck. * * * I am very familiar with the crossing where the accident occurred. There is a clear view of the trestle for some distance. The day was clear.’

On November 6, 1923, Superintendent Erickson reported the accident to the Department of Labor and Industry on one of its blank forms entitled ‘report of compensable accident,’ naming ‘school district No. 1 of Portage Township’ as the employer. ‘By John E. Erickson, Supt. of Schools.’ He testified that as superintendent of the district he participated in hiring deceased, and had charge of all teachers in the district. Mrs. Harmon's contract to teach that year was signed, ‘District Board of School No. 1 of Portage Township, by W. F. Miller, Director. J. T. Finnigan, Moderator. Eva S. Harmon, Teacher.’

On December 3, 1923, a ‘supplemental report of fatal accident’ was made to the commission on one of its forms, signed ‘School District No. 1, Portage Twp. by W. F. Miller, Secretary.’ A claim for compensation was thereafter made, and filed with the commission. Liability was denied, and hearing had before a deputy commissioner, who made an award for the maximum amount authorized under the Industrial Accident Law for death, which was affirmed on appeal to the full commission.

The controlling issue presented here is whether the...