Employers Mutual Liability Insurance Co. v. Industrial Accident Commission

41 Cal.2d 676 (1953) EMPLOYERS MUTUAL LIABILITY INSURANCE COMPANY OF WISCONSIN (a Corporation), Petitioner,

v.

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT COMMISSION and FRED E. GIDEON, Respondents.

L. A. No. 22765. Supreme Court of California. In Bank.

Nov. 13, 1953. Spray, Gould & Bowers and C. W. Bowers for Petitioner.

Keith, Creede & Sedgwick and W. N. Mullen, as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

Edmund J. Thomas, Jr., and T. Groezinger for Respondents.

CARTER, J.

A panel of the Industrial Accident Commission denied workmen's compensation to the applicant, Fred E. Gideon, employee of Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc., on the ground that, while the head injury suffered by him occurred in the course of his employment, it did not arise out of it. On reconsideration, it found the injury both occurred in the course and arose out of the employment and awarded compensation. That award is here for review.

The facts are not disputed. Gideon was on the job on his [678] employer's premises and working for his employer. He was suffering from a headache after returning from the employer's dispensary where he had obtained aspirin to relieve it, and while walking down an aisle on his employer's premises, he had an idiopathic seizure not connected with his employment, which caused him to fall to the concrete floor and strike his head thereon, causing the injuries to his head for which compensation was awarded. There is no question that the injury occurred in the course of the employment. The dispute is whether it arose out of his employment.

[1] It is settled in this state and elsewhere that an injury suffered from a fall on the employer's premises, in the course of employment, from a height or on or against some object, arises out of the employment and is compensable, even though the fall was caused by an idiopathic condition of the employee (National Auto. etc. Ins. Co. v. Industrial Acc. Com., 75 Cal.App.2d 677 [171 P.2d 594], where numerous authorities are cited), and it is pointed out that Brooker v. Industrial Acc. Com., 176 Cal. 275 [168 P. 126, L.R.A. 1918F 878], to the contrary, is no longer the law since G. L. Eastman Co. v. Industrial Acc. Com., 186 Cal. 587 [200 P. 17], and California etc. Co. v. Industrial Acc. Com., 59 Cal.App. 225 [210 P. 524] (see cases collected in Horovitz on Workmen's Compensation, p. 144 et seq.; Horovitz, Current Trends in Workmen's Compensation, p. 649 et seq.; Schneider's Workmen's Compensation (Text--Perm. Ed.), 1376). [2] The reasoning of those authorities is that the injury for which compensation is sought, was caused by the impact of the employee's body with an object or surface of the employer's premises, and hence arose out of the employment, because such injury was an incident thereof, although the fall may also have been a causal factor which had no connection with the employment. That reasoning is equally applicable where the fall is merely to the floor or ground, in the course of the employment, and death or injury results from striking the floor or ground. It has been held that such injury arises out of the employment, and is compensable, although the fall was caused by a disease of the employee, having no relation to the employment. (See Barlau v. Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Co., 214 Minn. 564 [9 N.W.2d 6]; President & Directors of Georgetown College v. Stone, 61 App.D.C. 200 [59 F.2d 875]; Savage v. St. Aeden's Church, 122 Conn. 343 [189 A. 599]; Rockford Hotel Co. v. Industrial Com., 300 Ill. 87 [132 N.E. 759, 19 A.L.R. 80]; General Ins. Corp. v. Wickersham,