Chatham v. Arrow Drilling Co.

1938 OK 157, 80 P.2d 944, 183 Okla. 243, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 243
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 8, 1938
DocketNo. 27720.
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 1938 OK 157 (Chatham v. Arrow Drilling Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chatham v. Arrow Drilling Co., 1938 OK 157, 80 P.2d 944, 183 Okla. 243, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 243 (Okla. 1938).

Opinion

DAVISON, J.

This is an original proceeding to review an order of the State Industrial Commission denying an award to- the petitioner.

The Industrial Commission found that the evidence is not sufficient to show that the accident occurred while claimant was employed in a hazardous occupation as defined by the Workmen’s Compensation Law of- the state of Oklahoma: that the commission was without jurisdiction, and that the claim for compensation should be denied.

The respondent Arrow Drilling Company was, at the time of the accident complained of. engaged in the occupation and business of drilling contractor. While the testimony does not definitely show, we may conclude that the drilling contracts included the drilling of oil and gas wells.

The petitioner, the claimant herein, was in the employ of the respondent drilling company as a' truck driver. If he ever ha.d any other employment or duties than that of a truck driver hauling pipe and machines pertaining to oil and gas wells, it is not disclosed by the testimony.

The petitioner was furnished with a truck equipped with a trailer. The truck was equipped with a winch, consisting of a cable and operated by the power from the engine of the truck, which could be used in assisting in the loading and unloading of the truck and moving material and machinery.

The petitioner was at work in the Fitts oil field in Pontotoc county, and was directed by his foreman to proceed to Still-water to move some equipment to Seminole. The petitioner proceeded on his trip slightly after 4 o’clock p. m., through Ada and Seminole on to Shawnee, where he stopped and talked over the telephone to his wife in Oklahoma City and then proceeded into McLoud, then turned into the road leading to Capitol Hill, Oklahoma City, where claimant lived. The petitioner was injured in a wreck nine miles east of Oklahoma City.

At the hearing of the cause, it was insisted by the respondent Arrow Drilling Company that the occupation of the petitioner herein, at the time of the alleged injury, was not subject to nor covered by the Workmen’s Compensation Act, and further that the accident did not arise out of and in the course of the claimant’s employment, but that claimant had left the scope of his employment and was on a mission of his own.

In Harris v. Oklahoma Natural Gas Co. 91 Okla. 39, 216 P. 116, this court held:

“Our Workmen’s Compensation Law is remedial in its objects and operation, and should receive a liberal construction in favor of those entitled to its benefits, but before one is entitled thereto he should be held to strict proof that he is in a class embraced within the provisions of the law, and nothing can be presumed or inferred in this respect.”

This holding has been confirmed and approved in Southland Cotton Oil Co. v. Pritchett, 167 Okla. 6, 27 P.2d 819; Rose Hill Burial Park v. Garrison, 176 Okla. 355, 55 P.2d 1045; Southland Refining Co. v. State Industrial Commission, 167 Okla. 3, 27 P.2d 827, and other cases not necessary to mention and none which seem to have been overruled by this court.

In Mashburn v. City of Grandfield, 142 Okla. 247, 286 P. 789, this court said:

“It must be borne in mind that the Workmen’s Compensation Acts are in derogation of the common law and in derogation of a common right of action in the courts. In other words, it takes from the citizen his right to be heard in the law courts upon principles and procedure almost as old as Anglo-Saxon civilization itself; and while the law will be given, and .is given, a liberal construction in favor of a class for whom it was apparently, or supposedly, enacted to protect, yet the courts are without authority, and should be without authority, to extend its operation to classes and persons beyond which the Legislature has expressly or by clear implication designated.”

That the various classes of business and industry enumerated in and defined as hazardous by the Workmen’s Compensation Law may have employees engaged in various lines of business connected with their institution, some of which fall within the Compensation Act and some of which do not, has often been recognized and emphasized by this court. Stayman v. McKellop, 165 Okla. 183, 25 P.2d 710; Crown Drug Co. v. Hofstrom, 158 Okla. 27, 12 P.2d 519; Lee Way Stage Lines v. Simmons, 166 Okla. 203, 26 P.2d 905; Southwestern Cotton Oil Co. v. Spurlock, 166 Okla. 97, 26 P.2d 405; Ingram Drug Co. v. O’Brien, 164 Okla. 228, 23 P.2d 642.

The law-making body of the state could easily anticipate the confusion that would *245 necessarily arise in this connection, and in subsection 15 of section 1S350, O. S. 1931, it is provided:

“Where several classes or hinds of work is performed, the commission shall classify such employments, and the provisions of this act shall apply only to such employees as are engaged in manual or mechanical labor of a hazardous nature.”

This court has several times construed this section in cases not materially different from the ease here considered. In Southwestern Cotton Oil Co. v. Spurlock, supra, this court held:

“The Workmen’s Compensation Act recognized the fact that the same employer may conduct different departments of business, some of which fall within the act and some which do not.
“Before a claimant can recover under the Industrial Act he must show that he was engaged, not only in manual or mechanical work or labor, but that such work or labor was of a hazardous nature.
“Owners or operators of motortrucks, authorized to operate as motor carriers for compensation, held not within provisions of Compensation Law covering ‘industries and business enterprises.’ ”

And said:

“That the operation of a motortruck, in which business claimant was employed at the time of his injury, is not a hazardous employment, as defined by the act, has been determined in the case of Choctaw Cotton Oil Co. v. Hall, 163 Okla. 288, 21 P.2d 1059, which involved a state of facts practically identical with the facts involved herein.”

And further said:

“It is admitted that petitioner Southwestern Cotton Oil Company, in so far as the operation of the oil mill is concerned, is engaged in a hazardous employment within the terms of said act. This fact alone, however, is not sufficient to bring claimant within the terms of the act.”

In Beatrice Creamery Co. v. State Industrial Commission. 174 Okla. 101, 49 P 2d 1094, this court held:

“In order to justify a recovery under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, it is not sufficient to show that the employer is primarily engaged in a hazardous business, but it must appear that the employee at the time of his injury was engaged in a branch or department of such business which is defined as hazardous by the Workmen’s Compensation Act.”
“We therefore hold that the petitioner Beatrice Creamery Company was primarily engaged in the operation of a hazardous employment, to wit, a creamery operated by power and within the provisions of section 13349, O. S. 1931.

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Bluebook (online)
1938 OK 157, 80 P.2d 944, 183 Okla. 243, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 243, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chatham-v-arrow-drilling-co-okla-1938.