Employers' Liability Assurance Corp. v. Industrial Accident Commission

TYLER, P. J.

Certiorari

to review an award of the Industrial Accident Commission made in favor of the widow of a deceased employee. The facts are as follows: One Henry T. Godwin was in the employ of F. Dohrmann, Jr., as a chauffeur. On the evening of December 3, 1931, he had taken his employer and a number of guests to the theater. After the performance he drove them back to his employer’s home. He had then finished his work for the day and he proceeded to his own home in a distant part of the city in his own automobile, which he had left at his employer’s residence for that purpose. When the employee arrived at his home he stopped his car, got out and went down to open the garage door. The brakes of the ear in some way became released and the car moved down an incline toward the garage, throwing the employee against the door and severely injuring him. He thereafter filed an application for benefits before the Industrial Accident Commission. Hearing was had and a decision was filed holding that the injuries sustained by the applicant arose out of and occurred within the course of his

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employment. Thereafter a rehearing was had and the commission then found as a fact that the injuries to the- applicant did not arise out of nor occur in the course of his employment, and it was ordered that the applicant take nothing by reason of his claim. Thereafter Henry T. Godwin died from natural causes wholly apart from and not connected with the injuries he sustained on December 3, .1931, and his widow thereupon filed an application in her own right for the purpose of determining whether or not she was entitled to disability indemnity up to the date of said employee’s death. No claim was made for a death benefit, the employee having died from natural causes not connected with the injury. Hearing was had and in direct opposition to its previous award the commission found that the deceased employee had sustained his injuries in the course of and arising out of his employment, and as a consequence the widow was entitled to an award in the amount of $491.06. A petition for a rehearing was filed and denied. No application for a writ of review was made but a petition to reopen the entire ease under section 20 (d) of the Workmen’s Compensation, Insurance and Safety Act for good cause was presented before the commission within the prescribed time. This petition was denied, and a rehearing was also denied the same day. This application for