Earl Ranch, Ltd. v. Industrial Accident Commission

THE COURT.

A hearing was granted in this ease after decision by the District Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Two. After further consideration, we are satisfied with the determination of the cause reached by said court, and we hereby adopt the following opinion of Mr. Justice Scott, pro

tempore,

as part of the opinion of this court:

“Respondent Anderson was injured June 17, 1932, while working as farm laborer employed by petitioner. The latter had acquired the ranch property about April 1, 1932. An award was made to said employee for said injury and petitioner seeks to have it annulled on the ground that the employer did not come within the terms of the- Workmen’s Compensation Act because its payroll had been less than $500 for the preceding

calendar

year. It appears that it had no payroll whatever embracing agricultural laborers until it took over the ranch on which Anderson worked. Between the time of acquisition of the property and the date of the accident—a period of about two months—petitioner’s total payroll exceeded by a substantial amount the sum of $500.

“The Workmen’s Compensation Act (Deering’s Gen. Laws, 1931, Act 4749, see. 8), in defining ‘employee’ excludes agricultural laborers. Chapter 834, Statutes 1927, page 1681, modifies the effect of such definition and provides that both employer and employee shall be conclusively presumed to have accepted the compensation provisions of said Workmen’s Compensation Act as amended unless each takes affirmative action as therein prescribed rejecting its provisions. In 1931 (Stats. 1931, chap. 955, p. 1962) section 1 of said chapter 834 was amended so that this presumption would not be operative so as to require such notice of rejection ‘where the payroll of such employer for the preceding calendar year has not exceeded five hundred dollars’. No notice of rejection was given in this case.

“ We find no substantial support in the cases cited for respondent’s contention that the term ‘calendar year’ should be construed as synonymous with ‘year’ and that such year could be calculated as the twelve months preceding the accident. The words ‘calendar year' mean from January 1

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