Blair v. Armour and Company

306 S.W.2d 84, 1957 Mo. App. LEXIS 625
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 3, 1957
Docket22610
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 306 S.W.2d 84 (Blair v. Armour and Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blair v. Armour and Company, 306 S.W.2d 84, 1957 Mo. App. LEXIS 625 (Mo. Ct. App. 1957).

Opinion

CAVE, Judge.

This is a workmen’s compensation case. It is an appeal by the employer, Armour and Company, from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Buchanan County affirming the final award of the Industrial Commission in favor of the employee, Oscar Blair, in the sum of $4,130.

For convenience, the claimant, Blair, will hereafter be referred to as the “employee”; Armour and Company as the “employer”; and the Division of Workmen’s Compensation as the “commission”.

The employee filed claim before the commission for compensation for the loss of his right eye as the result of an accident allegedly arising out of and in the course of his employment. The claim was heard by a referee who found that the employee sustained “an accident on May 24, 1954 * * *, but that said accident was not an incident of nor did it arise out of and in the course of his employment * * *. I further find that the condition complained of, * * * the loss of the total sight and the removal of the right eye, was not the direct result of the alleged accident, * * *. Therefore, compensation must be * * * denied”.

Employee filed application for review by the commission and the findings and award of the referee were reversed. The commission found that the employee sustained an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment; that as a result thereof, his right eye was removed; that the eye was sightless at the time of the accident; that under Section 287.190, RSMo 1949, V.A.M.S., the loss of a totally sightless eye is compensable; and awarded employee $35 per week for 118 weeks. ■

The employer appealed to the circuit court, which affirmed the findings and award of the commission, and appeal was perfected to this court.

Employer’s first contention is that the commission and the court erred in holding that the accident arose out of and in the course of the employment. The basis of this contention is that the evidence clearly establishes that the claimant arrived on the employer’s premises and suffered the injury approximately two hours before he was required to report for work; consequently, the accident did not arise out of and in the course of his employment. We shall review the evidence relative to this contention.

The employee was a “utility butcher” working in the “cattle kill” department and had been so employed for many years. His duties required him to be available at all times during working hours to take the place of “regular butchers” while any one of them left his work to “grind his knives” or for other purposes. All butchers were required to have sharp knives and to do their own sharpening. The employer supplied the knives and maintained electric grindstones in its plant for use by the employees. Employee received an injury to his right eye while grinding his knives. These general facts are not in dispute.

Relative to the time of his arrival on the day of the accident, the employee testified that he was due to go to work at 6 :30 A. M., “but I always get there in time to grind my knife, so, I won’t have to do it before I let the guys out to grind theirs. * * * I get there about 4:30 or 5 :30”. On cross examination, he testified that a Miss Adams was the nurse- employed by the employer, and that after the accident he went to her office at about 6:20.

“Q. You told her you came to work at 4:00 o’clock? A. Yes, sir, I told her I hurt my eye shortly after 4:00 o’clock. * * * She asked me what time I got there, and I told her 4:00; and she asked me again and I told her T dressed, and, went upstairs, and went to work’.
*86 “Q. Sometime after 4:00 ? A. Yes. * * *
so. * * You prior think “Q. work don’t Ch cti • - O P O o CO

He was required to punch a time clock when he went to work, and the employer’s record shows that he punched the clock at 5:32 A.M. on the day of the accident. When asked whether he had punched the clock prior to the accident, he stated, “I think so; I think I had checked in, already.” He testified that it required 10 or IS minutes to sharpen each knife and that on the day in question he sharpened four.

“Q. Was the company aware of the fact that you ground your knives before you went to work ? A. Well, we all do that; all of us.
“Q. That is not only you, but all the employees there do that before the time of work — sharpen their knives? A. Yes, sir; and, they are still doing it now. * * *
“Q. Were you allocated any time in which to sharpen your knives ? A. Yes, sir, I could any time; yes, sir.
“Q. Did they give you a set time? A. No, sir.”

He stated that the reason he had four knives was that he had to use a different knife on different parts of the carcass as it was processed.

Mr. Shewmaker, employment manager of the employer, testified with reference to employees arriving early for work:

“ * * * it is a custom to get there early. We have a restaurant, and it is entirely possible he (employee) comes to eat breakfast.
“Q. They are required to have sharp knives? A. Well, yes, they are.
“Q. Are they given time to sharpen the knives? A. Yes.
“Q. And, each man is allocated time to do that? A. Yes, sir.”

Such evidence establishes that the employee was sharpening his knives, when injured, on the employer’s premises and with the machinery provided for that purpose; that sharp knives were essential to properly do the work required of the employee; and that the employer would benefit from the work employee was doing at the time of his injury. On this feature of the case the opinion in Wamhoff v. Wagner Electric Corp, 354 Mo. 711, 190 S.W.2d 915, 919, 161 A.L.R. 1454, quotes with approval this general rule: “An injury suffered by an employee while performing an act for the mutual benefit of the employer and the employee is usually compensable, for when some advantage to the employer results from the employee’s conduct, his act cannot be regarded as purely personal and wholly unrelated to the employment. Accordingly an injury resulting from such an act arises out of and in the course of the employment; and this rule is applicable even though the advantage to the employer is slight”.

With reference to the time of his arrival, the employee speaks of it as being shortly after 4:00 A.M., and at another time as 4:30, and again as 5:30. The exact time of his arrival is not the decisive fact issue. The vital question is what he was doing at the time of his injury and how long that was prior to the time he was required to go to work. It is perfectly clear he was performing a necessary and required service for the employer at the time of his injury. The most specific and reliable evidence of his presence on the premises and the performance of service is the time he punched the clock, which was 5:32 A.M.; and he testified that in his opinion the accident occurred after that time. If so, this would be one hour before the required starting time. Certainly the commission could so find.

We are not cited to any Missouri case, and we find none, specifically discussing

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Bluebook (online)
306 S.W.2d 84, 1957 Mo. App. LEXIS 625, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blair-v-armour-and-company-moctapp-1957.