Sun Indemnity Co. v. Industrial Accident Commission

TYLER, P. J.

Certiorari

to review an award of the Industrial Accident Commission in allowing compensation for injuries to one W. R. Doolittle, who, on the evening of February 18, 1925, was injured in an automobile accident.

[166]

Doolittle was employed by P. S. and S. J. Round, proprietors of a general store at Costa Mesa, California, of whom petitioner is the insurance carrier, to manage their meat department. His hours of labor were from 7 A. M. to

6 or 6:15

in the evening. Part of his duties consisted in the buying of meats and in this connection he was vested with certain discretion. Ordinarily the meats were purchased from the Cudahy Company, but at times a small supply was procured from a market conducted by a Mr. Klamm at Santa Ana, a city close by. On the evening of February 18, 1925, Doolittle reported to his employer that the store was running short of pork and lamb. He was directed to take the firm’s delivery truck home with him that night instead of going in his usual way, which was by stage, and purchase the necessary meat from Klamm and bring it back next morning when he reported for duty. Doolittle had bought meat under similar circumstances on three former occasions.

Pursuant to these instructions Doolittle left the shop for Santa Ana with the truck at about 5:45 o’clock in the evening, his declared intention being to notify Klamm before going to his own home, which was also situated in that city, to open his shop the next morning before the usual hour so that he could get back to Costa Mesa early the next morning with the meat. While proceeding along the highway in the most direct route to his destination Doolittle attempted to pass a car driven by three boys. He blew his horn, but the boys refused to give him a right of way. He made an attempt to pass, but the car crowded him and he was forced to drop back. On reaching a straight stretch of the road Doolittle, driving at about twenty-five miles an hour, again attempted to pass the car driven by the boys, but was crowded into a ditch. He was thrown through the windshield and suffered multiple lacerations of both hands, which injuries were of a serious nature. Under these circumstances the Commission found that Doolittle sustained his injuries in the course of his employment; that such injuries caused temporary total disability entitling him to compensation for a period of fourteen weeks in the weekly sum of $15.44, a total of $216.16.