McGrath v. Young

NOURSE, P. J.

Petitioners sued in mandamus to review the order of the Fire Pension Board denying them a pension claimed for the death of their husband and father. The proceedings in the superior court were had on a transcript of the evidence taken by the pension board and of that taken before the Industrial Accident Commission in a separate proceeding which was compromised and settled. No new evidence was offered in the superior court.

The pension board based its order on a finding that deceased “died as a result of a coronary occlusion” and that he “did not lose his life as a direct result of the actual performance of his duty.” After reviewing the entire record of the proceedings before the board and the record before the Industrial Accident Commission, the trial court found that deceased “did not lose his life as a direct result of the actual performance of his duty and that his work as a fireman did not cause his fatal heart condition.” On these findings judgment was entered denying the relief sought.

On this appeal the appellants cite at length the evidence favorable to them and ask us to evaluate the testimony taken before the pension board to determine that the weight of the evidence is against the judgment, and also to hold that the compromise settlement before the Industrial Accident Commission was an adjudication favorable to deceased. This is not the function of the appellate court. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held as in

Estate of Bristol,

23 Cal.2d 221, 223 [143 P.2d 689] : “The rule as to our province is: ‘In reviewing the evidence ... all conflicts must be resolved in favor of the respondent, and all legitimate and reasonable inferences indulged in to uphold the verdict if possible. It is an elementary . . . principle of law, that when a verdict is attacked as being unsupported, the power of the appellate court begins and ends with a determination as to whether there is any

substantial

evidence, contradicted or uncontradicted, which will support the conclusion reached by the jury. When two or more inferences can be reasonably deduced from the facts, the reviewing court is without power to substitute its deductions for those of the trial court.’ (Italics added.)

(Crawford

v.

Southern Pacific Co.

(1935), 3 Cal.2d 427, 429 [45