Wisdom v. Industrial Commission
| Decision Date | 20 February 1956 |
| Docket Number | No. 17863,17863 |
| Citation | 133 Colo. 266,293 P.2d 967 |
| Parties | William Henry WISDOM, Plaintiff in Error, v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION of Colorado, Clevenger Auto Company and Clevenger Land and Cattle Company, and Fireman's Fund Indemnity Company, a Corporation, Defendants in Error. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Jack Merwin, Florence, for plaintiff in error.
Duke W. Dunbar, Atty. Gen., Frank E. Hickey, Deputy Atty. Gen., Peter L. Dye, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant in error Industrial Commission of Colorado.
Claimant, now plaintiff in error, on June 29, 1954 was an employee of the Clevenger Land and Cattle Company, and as a result of a fight with a fellow employee sustained injuries for which he filed claim for compensation on June 2, 1955. Hearing on the claim was held at Pueblo in July 1955 and in August the referee entered an award dismissing plaintiff's claim. The award was affirmed by the Industrial Commission and the statutory proceedings for review followed. On December 8, 1955, the award and final order of the Industrial Commission was affirmed by the district court.
The only question presented by this record is whether or not the injuries received by claimant were proximately caused by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment.
It appears that plaintiff and his claimed assailant were fellow employees of equal status so far as superiority or rank was concerned. While in the course of their work in rounding up and separating cattle on the ranch they met and without any previous known ill feeling, and without any provocation whatever the fellow employee asked plaintiff how long it would take him to get off his horse. Plaintiff dismounted and a fight followed resulting in the injuries to plaintiff. The real cause of the altercation is unknown; however, it does appear that it was not a dispute concerning the work or duties of either. Plaintiff in testifying before the referee, after describing the attack responded to the following interrogatories by the referee:
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The hearing referred to was on a complaint filed by claimant before a justice of the peace and upon the hearing defendant entered a plea of guilty and wanted to pay a fine, but this was not accepted by the justice of the peace, who found him guilty and bound him over to the district court under bond.
Ordinarily assaults by co-employees are not considered as incidental to the employment and do not arise 'out of employment.' If an assault might reasonably be anticipated because of the general nature or character of the employment, then in some instances, controlled entirely by the facts presented, injuries received as a result thereof are compensable.
If jealousy on the part of this claimant or...
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Question Submitted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, In re, 87SA127
...94 Colo. 398, 30 P.2d 868 (1934), Industrial Commission v. Strome, 107 Colo. 54, 108 P.2d 865 (1940), and Wisdom v. Industrial Commission, 133 Colo. 266, 263 P.2d 967 (1956), we came to different conclusions. In Rocky Mountain Fuel Co. v. Kruzic, a fellow employee shot the claimant at work ......
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Bennett v. Furr's Cafeterias, Inc.
...injury in question. City and County of Denver, Etc. v. Industrial Comm., 196 Colo. 131, 581 P.2d 1162 (1978); Wisdom v. Industrial Commission, 133 Colo. 266, 293 P.2d 967 (1956); Deterts v. Times Publishing Company, 38 Colo.App. 48, 552 P.2d 1033 (1976); Alpine Roofing Co. v. Dalton, 36 Col......
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Kandt v. Evans
...143 Colo. 382, 353 P.2d 743 (1960); University of Denver v. Nemeth, 127 Colo. 385, 257 P.2d 423 (1953). In Wisdom v. Industrial Commission, 133 Colo. 266, 293 P.2d 967 (1956), this Court declared that an employee's injuries from an assault by a co-employee are compensable under the Act, as ......
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Kirk v. Smith
...Ordinarily assaults by co-employees are not considered as incidental to or arising out of the employment. Wisdom v. Industrial Commission, 133 Colo. 266, 293 P.2d 967, 968 (1956). Although there are exceptions to this rule, Colorado courts have not consistently applied any single test to de......