London Guarantee & Accident Co. v. Industrial Accident Commission

SPENCE, J.

Petitioner seeks the annulment of an award of the respondent commission in which the applicant Barbara Butterfield was awarded a death benefit of $6,000, in

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addition to burial expenses, for the death of Archie S. Rosier, the deceased employee. Said award was based upon the finding that the deceased “left surviving and wholly dependent upon him, Barbara Butterfield, a minor, his acknowledged grand-niece, and a member of said deceased employee’s household in good faith at the time of and prior to the injury and death of the deceased ...”

Petitioner contends that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the finding that the applicant was “wholly dependent” upon the deceased and, in our opinion, this contention must be sustained. The essential facts are not in dispute.

All parties are agreed that the applicant was not within the class of persons who are conclusively presumed to be wholly dependent (Lab. Code, sec. 3501); that the applicant was, however, a member in good faith of the household of the deceased (Lab. Code, see. 3502); and that the question of the existence as well as of the extent of the dependency must be determined in accordance with the facts as they existed at the time of the injury of the deceased. (Lab. Code, sec. 3502).

Deceased was a granduncle of the applicant, having married applicant’s grandaunt. He died on July 10, 1942, as the result of an industrial injury received on that day. He was a steel window erector and was earning $64 per week. The applicant was 18 years of age and had been steadily employed as an usherette for some time prior to the death of the deceased at a wage of approximately $80 per month. She lived in the home of the deceased, doing certain housework for the deceased, and the latter paid all the ordinary expenses for the maintenance of the home. The applicant had, however, spent all her earnings during the past year upon herself for the purpose of maintaining a certain standard of living. There is an abundance of testimony showing in detail the purpose for which the various expenditures were made by the applicant and the deceased, but we need only summarize such testimony here. Deceased paid the rent, utility bills, food bills, medical bills and also the bills resulting from charge accounts at certain restaurants and other places. The applicant paid for some of her clothes, admittedly having spent at least $200 out of her own earnings for that purpose during the year immediately preceding the death of the deceased. She paid for some of her meals which she ate away from the home and