Webb v. Gem State Oil Co.

• Decision Date: 12 March 1936
• Docket Number: 6279
• Citation: 55 P.2d 1302,56 Idaho 465
• Parties: VIRGINIA WEBB, Guardian of the Person and Estate of R. A. WEBB, an Insane Person, Respondent, v. GEM STATE OIL COMPANY and AMERICAN EMPLOYERS' INSURANCE COMPANY, a Corporation, Appellants
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

55 P.2d 1302

56 Idaho 465

VIRGINIA WEBB, Guardian of the Person and Estate of R. A. WEBB, an Insane Person, Respondent, v. GEM STATE OIL COMPANY and AMERICAN EMPLOYERS' INSURANCE COMPANY, a Corporation, Appellants

No. 6279

Supreme Court of Idaho

March 12, 1936

WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION LAW-INJURY BY ACCIDENT ARISING OUT OF AND IN COURSE OF EMPLOYMENT-EVIDENCE-BURDEN OF PROOF-PRESUMPTION-INSTINCTS OF SELF-PRESERVATION.

1. Burden was on insane person's guardian, claiming compensation under Workmen's Compensation Law for injury to ward, to show that he suffered injury by accident arising out of and in course of his employment (I. C. A., sec 43-1001).

2. Instincts of self-preservation raise disputable presumption in proceeding to recover compensation under Workmen's Compensation Law for injury to employee, who was insane at time of hearing, that injury was accidentally, not purposely inflicted (I. C. A., sec. 43-1001).

3. Insane person's guardian, claiming compensation under Workmen's Compensation Law for injury to ward, was not bound to prove by more than preponderance of evidence that injury was caused by accident arising out of and in course of his employment, and presumption that he did not hurt himself purposely must be considered in determining such preponderance (I. C. A., sec. 43-1001).

4. Evidence held to warrant district judge's finding on appeal from Industrial Accident Board's order, denying compensation to injured employee, that he suffered injury by accident arising out of and in course of his employment (I C. A., sec. 43-1001).

5. Where depositions of witnesses testifying before Industrial Accident Board were presented to district judge on appeal from board's order denying compensation to injured employee and brought before Supreme Court on appeal from judgment reversing such order, Supreme Court must examine such evidence and determine value thereof (I. C. A., sec 43-901 et seq.)

6. Preponderance of expert witnesses' testimony in proceeding to recover compensation under Workmen's Compensation Law for injury to employee, who subsequently became insane, held to show that injury neither caused, accelerated nor aggravated his insanity (I. C. A., sec. 43-901 et seq.).

APPEAL from the District Court of the Seventh Judicial District, for Washington County. Hon. A. O. Sutton, Judge.

Appeal from judgment of district court reversing order of industrial accident board denying compensation, provided for by Workmen's Compensation Law, for injuries alleged to have been caused by accident arising out of and in the course of employment. Modified.

Judgment modified and cause remanded, with direction. No costs allowed.

Elam & Burke, for Appellants.

Findings of industrial accident board on conflicting evidence will not be disturbed on appeal, where there is competent evidence to support findings. (I. C. A., sec. 43-1408; Larson v. Callahan Canning Co., 53 Idaho 746, 27 P.2d 967.)

George Donart and Herman Welker, for Respondent.

In considering the question as to whether the evidence submitted sustained the findings of the board, the court will consider the competence, relevancy and materiality of the evidence according to the rules applicable to trials in the courts. ( McNeil v. Panhandle Lbr. Co., 34 Idaho 773, 203 P. 1068.)

MORGAN, J. Givens, C. J., and Holden and Ailshie, JJ., concur. Budge, J., did not sit at the hearing and took no part in the decision of this case.

OPINION

MORGAN, J.

--R. A. Webb was employed by Gem State Oil Company as its representative in sole charge of its warehouse and wholesale gasoline and oil business at Weiser. During a few days prior to his employment he twice agreed to accept it and, changing his mind without apparent cause, decided not to do so. September 13, 1933, he again agreed to accept the employment and, on that occasion, took charge of the warehouse and undertook the discharge of his duties. The next day he notified an official of the oil company, by telephone from Weiser to Twin Falls, that he was unable to discharge the duties of the employment and asked to be relieved therefrom.

It was arranged that someone would be sent, on September 16, to take over the business and J. A. Ricks, a representative of the company, produced by respondent as a witness, testified that he arrived in Weiser about four o'clock in the afternoon of that day, and went to the warehouse to make an inventory of the stock and place another man in charge. The warehouse was surrounded by a wire fence and he found the gates shut, the truck, used in conducting the business, in the garage and the doors of the warehouse closed. Hearing calls for help, he went into the warehouse where he found Webb lying on the floor, on his back, with a full drum of oil, weighing about 550 pounds, lying across his legs at about the knees.

Webb had an abrasion on his nose and another on his right elbow, neither of which was serious. He had a serious bruise on the right side of his chest and, several weeks after the event above mentioned, an X-ray picture showed a number of his ribs on that side had been fractured.

Ricks rolled the drum off Webb's legs and helped him to a chair in the office. Webb, in explanation of what had happened, told Ricks he was lifting the drum and slipped in a pool of oil on the floor and fell. There is a bench about two feet high in the building on which drums are placed for the purpose of drawing oil through spigots. There was no spigot in the drum found on Webb's legs, and it contained oil for which, at that time of year, there was no demand.

The drums containing oil are barrel-shaped, constructed of steel, and the sides extend beyond the heads about two inches at each end. A chain hoist was used to lift the drums onto the bench. It was stationary and was so attached to the building, directly above one end of the bench, that when a drum was lifted it would swing onto the bench. The hoist, when loaded, would not slip, but in order to raise or lower the drum it was necessary to pull the chain one way or the other as required. The hoist was equipped with crampons by means of which it could be attached to a drum.

Ricks was asked:

"Q. Did he have the chain in contact with the drum at that time, the end of the chain?

"A. I am not positive whether he did or not, but I do know, I think, that he did have it under the drum, and he told me he had tried to lift the drum off with the chain, but I am not sure.

"MR. SUPPIGER: Off himself?

"A. Off himself, yes."

When found Webb was lying about three feet from the end of the bench. He was taken to his home and a doctor was called, who treated him until October 25, 1933, when he had recovered from his bodily injuries.

October 28, 1933, Webb became violently insane and thereafter his wife, respondent herein, was appointed guardian of his person and estate. She made claim against appellants, his employer and its surety, for compensation provided for by the Workmen's Compensation Law. After hearing had, the industrial accident board made findings of fact and rulings of law, and entered an order denying compensation. The fourth and fifth findings are as follows:

IV.

"From the oral and documentary evidence submitted and from the view of the premises by the Board the Board specifically find that it was physically impossible for the drum of oil which on the 16th day of September, 1933, was on and across the legs of the said R. A. Webb to get on or to have gotten on or across his legs by accident and specifically find that the said drum did not get on and across the legs of the said R. A. Webb or against his body by accident and specifically find that none of the injuries to the body of the said R. A. Webb received on said September 16, 1933, were the result of any accident arising out of and in the course of the employment of the said R. A. Webb with the said defendant, Gem State Oil Company."

V.

"That for several years prior to September 16, 1933 said R. A. Webb suffered from nervousness; that he was of a very sensitive nature and had to be treated by his employer with great care on account of his sensitiveness and nervousness; that he was very nervous after taking over the work with the Gem State Oil Company and was not able to sleep nights; that he had great difficulty in arriving at a conclusion and vacillated greatly after arriving at a conclusion; that by training said R. A. Webb was well equipped to handle said work; that the duties of said work were simple in their nature and the work was very light being not much in excess of half-time work; that the mind of said R. A. Webb was so badly disorganized that he could not handle said work--even the simplest duties thereof--in a logical reasonable manner; that he asked about compensation immediately after said J. A. Ricks had helped him up from the floor; that within a few days after September 16, 1933 he began to ask about compensation and began to voice the opinion that the Gem State Oil Company was antagonistic to him; that he imagined that different parts of his body were not functioning properly; that he had fully recovered from his physical injuries by October 25, 1933; that he became violently insane on October 28, 1933 and was committed to the insane asylum at Blackfoot; that he was later transferred to the United States Veterans Hospital at American Lake near Tacoma, Washington, a mental hospital; that he suffers from Dementia Praecox, Catatonic form; that his mental condition has been of a progressive nature over a period of years and has now reached a stage where he is totally and permanently disabled by reason of his said mental condition; that the injuries received by said R. A. Webb on September 16, 1933 did not cause his mental condition and did not contribute,...