Douglas Aircraft Co. v. Industrial Accident Commission

EDMONDS, J.

The Industrial Accident Commission awarded a death benefit to the minor children of a mother who was killed in an industrial accident. Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc., the mother’s employer, by writ of review, now challenges the commission’s jurisdiction to make the award, and the question for decision concerns the construction of section 3501(b) of the Labor Code which declares that,

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under stated conditions, a minor child shall he conclusively presumed to have been wholly dependent upon a parent.

There is no dispute as to the facts. In 1942, Nathan Meehan and Hazel N. Meehan, his wife, with their two minor children, came to California from Oklahoma where they had conducted a grocery store. Meehan found employment in a shipyard. Because his salary of about $50 per week, less the deductions made for war bonds, federal income tax and social security payments, was insufficient to meet all of their living expenses, Mrs. Meehan secured a position at the aircraft factory and their salaries were pooled in a common fund for the support of the family. Three weeks after she went to work, Mrs. Meehan was killed in an accident arising out of and occurring in the course of her employment. Upon these facts the commission found that Meehan was not dependent upon his wife for support; also, that “said employee left surviving, wholly dependent,” two minor children who are entitled to a death benefit of $5,844.02, based upon stipulated earnings. An award was made accordingly with an additional amount of $150 for burial expenses.

The commission acted without or in excess of its power (Lab. Code, § 5952), the employer asserts, because the uncontradicted testimony of the minors’ father shows that at the time of the death of the mother, they were not wholly dependent upon her as they were receiving substantial support from him. Under these circumstances, says the employer, the conclusive presumption of total dependency specified in section 3501(b) of the Labor Code is not available to the minor children. In support of its award, the commission takes the position that, according to the express terms of that statute, a minor child is conclusively presumed to have been dependent upon a parent, either father or mother, with whom he was living at the time of an industrial accident by which such parent was killed. The commission also urges that its award should be upheld because Mrs. Meehan was legally liable for the support of her minor children. Adopting the same grounds for affirming the award as those stated by the commission, counsel for the children also say that as the employer is attacking only the amount allowed to the minors, the provision regarding dependency should be liberally construed in accordance with the legislative mandate requiring the enactments concerning workmen’s compensation