State Compensation Insurance Fund v. Industrial Accident Commission

KNIGHT, J.

William D. Casey, an employee of the L. D. MacLean Company in San Francisco for more than twenty years, died on May 31, 1927, as a result of injuries sustained by him six days prior to his death. His sur- . viving widow, Annie Casey, thereafter applied to the Industrial Accident Commission for compensation and was granted an award which the petitioner herein, as the insurance carrier for said company, seeks by this proceeding in

certiorari

to have annulled. The sole question presented for determination is whether, contrary to the finding of said Commission, the nature of the service the decedent was performing at the time he was injured was such as to bring the case within the operation of the so-called “going and coming” doctrine, which in effect declares that injuries sustained by an employee while going to or returning from Ms work are not compensable under the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act (27 Cal. Jur. 380).

As stated, the decedent had been working for said company for many years, and for some time immediately preceding his death filled the position of outside salesman, his duties being to call on customers, take orders, and sell goods; and he was required to report each morning for duty at the company’s store on Sutter Street. On May 25, 1927, before leaving the store at the end of Ms day’s work he was instructed by one of the company’s executives to return to the store that night, after he had finished Ms dinner at

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home, for the purpose of unlocking the door and admitting an electrician who would be there to repair a broken switch; to remain on the premises until the work was finished, and then to see that the store was locked. In accordance with his usual custom the decedent left the store on the day mentioned about 5 o’clock, went to his home on Eighth Avenue, San Francisco, ate his dinner, and, pursuant to the instructions of his employer, returned to the store, unlocked the door, allowed the electrician to enter and remained there from 7 o’clock until 10, at which time the electrician finished his work and departed. The decedent then locked the store and boarded a street-car to go home. On the way home, and while transferring from one car to another, he slipped and fell on the street or curb, cutting his eye and chin. Believing that his injuries were not serious, he went to work the next day, but on the day following grew worse and consulted a doctor. The injuries rapidly developed into a case of erysipelas and on May 31, 1927, he died.