Collins v. Troy Laundry Co.

297 P. 334, 135 Or. 580, 1931 Ore. LEXIS 54
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 20, 1931
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 297 P. 334 (Collins v. Troy Laundry Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Collins v. Troy Laundry Co., 297 P. 334, 135 Or. 580, 1931 Ore. LEXIS 54 (Or. 1931).

Opinions

CAMPBELL, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment awarding damages for personal injuries. The sole question presented is: Did the injury complained of arise out of and in the course of plaintiff’s employment. If it did it was a complete defense; if not, it was no defense.

The defendant is a corporation engaged in the laundry business in Portland. The laundry building, where *581 the plaintiff worked, is a two-story structure, extending on East Pine street from East Tenth street to East Eleventh street (200 feet), and on East Tenth street and East Eleventh street (100 feet). The numbered streets run northerly and southerly, and at right angles to Pine street. The plaintiff and many other employees worked on the second floor of the building, and their common entrance and exit was an inclosed stairway located in the northeasterly corner of the building, leading along the north wall down to Eleventh street. Immediately south of the stairway was what is termed a driveway, 12 feet wide, leading into the building. The record does not disclose the purpose of this driveway, but the sidewalk was not peculiarly a part of it; that is, that part of the sidewalk immediately in front of it was no different than the rest of the sidewalk along the premises. The defendant used many trucks in collecting and delivering laundry. These trucks were loaded and unloaded, from and to the building, over the sidewalk adjacent to the building on Eleventh street. One or more of these trucks were at this place engaged in this process almost continuously, from seven o’clock a. m. until seven o’clock p. m. Eleventh street is a public street, improved with sidewalks twelve feet wide, open to and used by the public generally. The plaintiff’s work was entirely within the building, and was in no way connected with the loading or unloading of the trucks.

On the 7th day of December, 1927, the plaintiff completed her day’s work at five o’clock p. m.; rang out her card, after which she went to the dressing room; changed from her working clothes into her street clothing; and then about five-thirty p. m. left the building by the usual exit. Upon reaching the sidewalk she turned south and proceeded but a short distance when *582 she tripped over some iron bars. These bars were about seven feet long, laid parallel to each other. One end of each bar was attached to the rear end of a truck which was standing backed to the west curbing of Eleventh street, and the other ends of the bars were rested on the sidewall? towards the building, creating an obstruction to persons walking northerly or southerly past the building. The truck belonged to the defendant, and at the time was being used in its business in connection with either receiving or discharging packages of laundry from or to the building in the customary and usual manner. The way she selected to travel was perhaps the most convenient way for her, but not by any means the only practical one.

In the pleadings there were other issues presented; the negligence of the defendant; contributory negligence of the plaintiff; assumption of risk; and the extent of injury; but these latter issues are all out of the case so far as this appeal is concerned.

At the close of the testimony, defendant mioved for a directed verdict on the ground that the evidence showed that the injury complained of arose out of and in the course of plaintiff’s employment. The motion was overruled and an exception taken. The court in instructing the jury gave the following instruction among others:

“There was some testimony, you remember, about the State Industrial Accident law and the necessity of presenting claims, etc., so I will instruct you that the accident upon which this action is brought was not one arising out of or in the course of the plaintiff’s employment by the defendant; therefore, she would have no right to claim or receive compensation from the State Industrial Accident Commission, but her cause of action, if any, is against the defendant, Troy Laundry Company. ’ ’

*583 To this instruction an exception was taken.

At the beginning of the case there was a stipulation entered into between the counsel for the respective parties, that plaintiff and defendant were subject to what is commonly known as the Workmen’s Compensation Law, Oregon Code 1930, § 49-1801 et seq., at the time of the accident. This stipulation was dictated into the record but was not carefully worded, and no doubt, there was an honest misunderstanding as to just what it meant. However, taking it as meaning that both parties were subject to the said act, do the facts show that the injury arose out of and in the course of her employment?

“If any workman while he is subject to this act and in the service of an employer who is thus bound to contribute to the industrial accident fund shall sustain a personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment caused by violent or external means, he or his beneficiaries or dependents, if the injury result in death, shall receive compensation * * Oregon Code 1930, § 49-1827.
“The words are used conjunctively and, therefore, both elements must coexist for neither alone is sufficient”: Blair v. State Ind. Acc. Comm., 133 Or. 450 (288 P. 204); Brady v. Oregon Lumber Co., 117 Or. 188 (243 P. 96, 45 A. L.R. 812); Larsen v. State Ind. Acc. Comm., ante, p. 137 (295 P. 195).
“* * _ # It is sufficient to say that an injury is received ‘in the course of’ the employment when it comes while the workman is doing the duty which he is employed to perform. It arises ‘out of’ the employment, when there is apparent to the rational mind upon consideration of all the circumstances, a causal connection between the conditions under which the work is required to be performed and the resulting injury. Under this test, if the injury can be seen to have followed as a natural incident of the work and to have been contemplated by a reasonable person familiar with the whole situation as a result of the exposure *584 occasioned by the nature of the employment, then it arises ‘out of’ the employment. But it excludes an injury which cannot fairly be traced to the employment as a contributing proximate cause and which comes from a hazard to which the workman would have been equally exposed apart from the employment. The causative danger must be peculiar to the work and not common to the neighborhood. It must be incidental to the character of the business and not independent of the relation of master and servant. It need not have been foreseen or expected, but after the event it must appear to have had its origin in a risk connected with the employment, and to have flowed from that source as a rational consequence”: In Re McNicol et al., 215 Mass. 497 (102 N. E. 697, L. R. A. 1916A, 306).

It would be useless to attempt an analysis of the m!any cases which have been decided by the courts of last resort of the different states touching the point at issue in the instant case, under the Workmen’s Compensation Law. A careful analysis of them, however, shows that they all follow the general rule announced in Cudahy Packing Co. v. Parramore,

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488 P.2d 795 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1971)
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20 P.2d 227 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1933)

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Bluebook (online)
297 P. 334, 135 Or. 580, 1931 Ore. LEXIS 54, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/collins-v-troy-laundry-co-or-1931.