Walther v. Am. Paper Co.

• Decision Date: 20 November 1916
• Citation: 89 N.J.Law 732,99 A. 263
• Parties: WALTHER v. AMERICAN PAPER CO.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

99 A. 263

89 N.J.Law 732

WALTHER

v. AMERICAN PAPER CO.

Court of Errors and Appeals of New Jersey.

Nov. 20, 1916.

Minturn and Kalisch, JJ., dissenting.

Appeal from New Jersey Supreme Court.

Proceeding under Workmen's Compensation Act by Annie C. Walther, executrix, to obtain compensation for the death of Louis R. Walther, an employé, opposed by the American Paper Company, employer. From a judgment of the Supreme Court (98 Atl. 264) on certiorari to the Bergen county court of common pleas affirming a judgment for petitioner, the employer appeals. Reversed.

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act (P. L. 1911, p. 134). The decedent was a night watchman in a mill. At 9 p. m. he—

"was making a tour through the mill recording his passage by ringing in or registering on his watchman's clock, and while going from one station to another stopped to close a door opening from the mill to a loading platform adjacent to a railroad switch. This was a sliding exterior door, hung on wheels or pulleys. As Walther leaned down against the handle of the door to roll it shut, he was struck upon the head with a club by a person who had entered the mill and hidden himself behind some rolls of paper near the said door, and near an interior door through which Walther was accustomed to pass in making a tour of the mill. Walther died immediately, and the assailant took from Walther's vest pocket his pay envelope containing about $15. The assailant was an employé of the trustee in bankruptcy at the plant of the American Paper Company at Bogota, and had been paid off on the said 24th of December, 1914, earlier in the day. After being paid off, he had lost all of his money except 50 cents in a crap game. He knew that Walther had been paid off that day, and would probably have the money in his pocket. The assailant's purpose in going to the mill at night and hiding in it was to rob Walther, and he did not attempt any robbery from the office of the mill, or any destruction of the mill property or any mischief or crime other than the robbery of Walther."

James D. Carpenter, Jr., of Jersey City, for appellant. William J. Morrison, Jr., of Ridgefield Park, for appellee.

PER CURIAM. We think the death of Walther did not arise out of his employment. The case cannot be distinguished in this respect from Hulley v. Moosbrugger, 88 N. J. Law, 161, 95 Atl. 1007, L. R. A. 1916C, 1203. We ought to add that our opinion in that case had probably not been published when the present...