Taylor v. McManigal, 7427.
| Decision Date | 12 April 1937 |
| Docket Number | No. 7427.,7427. |
| Citation | 89 F.2d 583 |
| Parties | TAYLOR et al. v. McMANIGAL et al. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
George S. Baldwin and Alexander, McCaslin & Cholette, all of Grand Rapids, Mich. (McKenna, Harris & Schneider, of Chicago, Ill., and George D. Anthony, of Chicago, Ill., on the brief), for appellants.
Theodore C. Robinson, of Cleveland, Ohio (Wilbur M. Cunningham, of Benton Harbor, Mich., Robinson & Bleecker, of Cleveland, Ohio, and Francis C. Canny and Frederic W. Johnson, both of Cincinnati, Ohio, on the brief), for appellees.
Before MOORMAN, HICKS, and SIMONS, Circuit Judges.
Appellant was the operator of the passenger steamer, City of Grand Rapids, plying between Chicago and Milwaukee on Lake Michigan. At the close of the 1934 season the boat was docked in Benton Harbor. On May 28, 1935, while she was being conditioned there for the 1935 season, Burgoyne Watkins, an employee of appellant and husband of Ellice Watkins, appellee, was, with another employee, engaged in front of the boiler in putting in a pit plate. While at this work, he undertook to adjust an electric light cord and received a shock from which he died. An award was entered in favor of appellee Ellice Watkins against appellant by McManigal, a Deputy Commissioner of the United States Employees Compensation Commission, under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (). Appellant brought this suit to enjoin the enforcement of the award.
Upon the hearing the bill was dismissed. The sole question was whether Watkins was a member of a crew of the vessel when his death occurred, for, if he was, no compensation was payable. Section 903, 33 U.S.C.A., section 3 of the act, supra. The court found that he was not a member of the crew.
At the outset we are confronted with a controversy over the question of the proper rule for decision by the District Court. Section 921(b) provides that an injunction may issue against the collection of the award "if not in accordance with law." Appellee insists that under this statute the court was limited on its review of the findings of fact by the Deputy Commissioner in connection with the evidence to the question whether there was any substantial evidence to support them. If there was such evidence, the award was in accordance with law and the decree should be affirmed.
Appellant contends that whether Watkins was a member of the crew was a jurisdictional question because if he was, the act excluded him from its protection (sections 902(3), 903(1) U.S.C., 33 U.S.C.A. §§ 902(3), 903(1); that the Deputy Commissioner was unauthorized to make any award at all; and that the injunction proceeding should have been heard and determined de novo without regard to the findings of the Deputy Commissioner. Appellant's position is based upon Crowell v. Benson, 285 U.S. 22, 52 S.Ct. 285, 76 L.Ed. 598.
We are relieved from determining which procedure should have been adopted because the court, after using each of them, came to the same conclusion. The only evidence was that submitted to the Deputy Commissioner. The court not only found that there was substantial evidence to sustain the findings of the Commissioner, but that the weight of the evidence was that Watkins was not a member of the crew. If the latter finding was correct, so was the first and the decree should be sustained. A. O. Smith Corporation v. Petroleum Iron Works Co., 73 F.(2d) 531, 538 (C.C.A.6).
The evidential facts are not in dispute. The question is as to the inference that should be drawn from them.
The City of Grand Rapids was a steel combination freight and passenger vessel, 115 feet long, with a capacity of 2,280 passengers. She lay at the dock at Benton Harbor until June 27, 1935, when she made her initial run between Chicago and Milwaukee for that season. She carried a crew of 120. Appellant began to recondition her on the 1st of May. On that date he employed John Golden as chief engineer for the season. He was authorized to hire assistants and the necessary help to get the boat ready and to operate her when she was commissioned. He employed Gustafson as first assistant and the deceased as second assistant. Deceased began work on May 1. Golden also employed 6 or 7 helpers and added others from time to time until there were 21 in all. The work that Gustafson, Watkins, and the helpers were doing from May 1 up to the time deceased was killed was the usual fitting out of the boat for service, such as putting pumps together, grinding valves, replacing pipes, building bridge walks, and putting in grates.
Appellant also employed ...
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