Van Ness v. Bor. Of Haledon.

Citation45 A.2d 673
PartiesVAN NESS v. BOROUGH OF HALEDON.
Decision Date04 February 1946
CourtNew Jersey Court of Common Pleas

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

On Appeal from Workmen's Compensation Bureau.

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Loretta Van Ness, claimant, to recover compensation for the death of Charles Van Ness, employee, opposed by the Borough of Haledon, employer. From a judgment of the Workmen's Compensation Bureau granting claimant compensation, the employer appeals.

Affirmed.

Marcus & Levy, of Paterson, for petitioner-appellee.

William A. Davenport, of Newark, for respondent-appellant.

DELANEY, Judge.

This is an appeal from the finding of facts and determination and rule for judgment of the Workmen's Compensation Bureau, in which the petitioner was granted compensation for herself and her two infant sons, dependents of Charles Van Ness, deceased, her husband and the father of her two children.

Decedent was employed by the DeCora Company in Haledon and was a regularly appointed marshal on the Haledon Police Force. As a police marshal he was subject to call twenty-four hours a day, and in case of emergency would be called any one of the twenty-four hours, and Officer Van Ness was often called while at work with the DeCora Company. It was customary for Officer Van Ness to report to the police station every day, whether he was assigned to duty or not, and for the chief, if he was there, to send him out to assist the regular officer when a call came in. Whether ‘detailed’ or not, a marshal was to assist a regular officer. These were not ‘actual duty assignments,’ but emergency assignments, taken care of as they arose. For a marshal to be detailed to an actual duty assignment, the need of such detail would have to be known in advance, when the schedule for the police assignments was made up.

The three boroughs of Haledon, North Haledon, and Prospect Park had a reciprocal and mutual arrangement by which a call coming in to the Police Department of one borough would be answered by the Police Department of another borough if that were necessary.

On the night of July 10, 1944, decedent was attending a court session of the North Haledon Police Court as a witness to a motor vehicle violation in which he had assisted Captain Stutz, of the North Haledon Police, a few days previously. A radio call came to the Haledon Police Department and advised that department that a woman had fallen down a flight of stairs in a house on Saw Mill Road in North Haledon, and that she was in serious condition. Because Captain Stutz, of the North Haledon Police, was attending the North Haledon Police Court, and therefore was out of call, Officer Romanelli, of the Haledon Police, knowing this, picked up the call, drove to the North Haledon Police Station to ascertain the location of the home where the emergency had occurred. As he drove into the yard of the police station, Captain Stutz came running out of the door. The emergency had also been reported to the North Haledon Police by telephone. Captain Stutz, with two councilmen, got into the North Haledon Police car, and Officer Van Ness, the decedent, into the Haledon Police car, which Officer Romanelli was driving.

The two cars proceeded to the scene of the emergency, Captain Stutz and Officer Romanelli taking charge at the side of the woman, Officer Van Ness at the head of the stairs. Deciding that the woman needed an ambulance, Captain Stutz went to the North Haledon police car to summon the ambulance by radio. Officer Van Ness followed him, and when the Captain was unable to make contact with the ambulance corps, Van Ness suddenly remembered that that night the corps was having a meeting in the corps' rooms, attached to the ambulance station. There was no phone in the corps' room. He said, They are down in the corps' room. I will go for them.’ He got into the Haledon police car alone. He drove at a fast speed, with siren blowing, red flasher working, and at one obstructed corner rounded it on two wheels, and pulled up in front of the ambulance station.

Mr. Brown, a police marshal of the Haledon Police Department, who was also the Chief of the Haledon Ambulance Association, which had just adjourned its meeting, saw the advance of the police car and went to the curb to meet it. Decedent, excited and flushed, yelled, ‘Dave-Dave-get the ambulance right away, right away, North Haledon, North Haledon, Saw Mill Road, Saw Mill Road, a lady, lady-follow me, follow me,’ and turned the police car around, drove 25 to 35 feet and stopped. Brown, now at the wheel of the ambulance, pulled behind the stationary police car, blew his horn, and then hurried to the police car, where he found Van Ness slumped over the wheel, waving his arms, and muttering, ‘The woman, the woman, the woman.’ Van Ness was immediately placed in the ambulance and driven to the hospital, where he died about ten minutes after...

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2 cases
  • Miller v. Bingham County
    • United States
    • Idaho Supreme Court
    • 2 Mayo 1957
    ...Charon's Case, 321 Mass. 694, 75 N.E.2d 511; Burlington Mills Corporation v. Hagood, 177 Va. 204, 13 S.E.2d 291; Van Ness v. Borough of Haledon, 45 A.2d 673, 24 N.J.Misc. 29, see also Annotation, 109 A.L.R. 892. The fact that respondent may have been afflicted with arteriosclerosis which te......
  • Roberts v. Dredge Fund
    • United States
    • Idaho Supreme Court
    • 20 Junio 1951
    ...v. Doremus, 114 N.J.L. 47, 175 A. 369; Geltman v. Reliable Linen Supply Co., 13 A.2d 844, 18 N.J.Misc. 423. In Van Ness v. Borough of Haledon, 45 A.2d 673, 675, 24 N.J.Misc. 29, the employee, a police marshal of a municipality, under great strain and excitement from driving a car to secure ......

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