Gauthreaux v. O'Keefe

7 Pelt. 241
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 19, 1923
DocketNO. 8856
StatusPublished

This text of 7 Pelt. 241 (Gauthreaux v. O'Keefe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gauthreaux v. O'Keefe, 7 Pelt. 241 (La. Ct. App. 1923).

Opinion

By WILLIAJf A. BSLL, Judge

The plaintiff herein, am har own Behalf as widow and ^or ner minor son, has obtained Judgment against defendant in the tfull amount aooorded her under Section 8, Paragraph 2 (h) of tho Employers' Liability Act of Louisiana. Defendant as appellant oen-oedes before this court the facts of this oase and also agrees as to the correct basis of tho computed liability, if there be any liability. It may be said that the sole contention on appeal is, therefore, upon tho qucstien of law as to whether the accidental Injury causing the death of the plaintiff's husband according to the admitted facts was one arising out of and in the course, of his employment.

The deceased was a conductor e$ the Tiller# line in the employ of the defendant company. His duties required him to leave his heme early every morning in time enough to get his oar out of the Canal Street barn at 4:45 o'clock a.a. His run onded daily at 5:12 p.m. at or near tho corner of Canal and Dauphino Sts., and each evening ho was allowed, under his contract with tho company, an additional time of ton minutes to got to the Canal Street bam and turn in his cash and transfers. .In other words, his time of actual work for whioh ho was aotually paid onded each day at 5:22 p.m. On Juno 14, 1921, the deceased reached tho bam at about 6:50 p.m., made his returns at enoe and proceeding across the switch tracks immediately in front of the barn, ho wont towards the lower side of Canal Street at about 5:50 p.m., far the purpose of catching a Canal Street car going towards his homo. In tho act of boarding this homoward-bound ear of his employer's company he fell beneath ito wheels and was almost instantly killed, about 5:40 p.m. Thus it may be seen from the facts of this ease, that the border lino between tho cones' of employment or non-employment, ef eervioe er non-sOrvioo, is measured by no more than five minntcs of time and ia of such restricted preportiens an may be hardly diaeemible. She sole' defense [243]*243in this case, however, is predicated upon the contention of law that the five minutes which ticked away fatally for the deceased and propitiously for his employer has precluded the widow and the son from all right of compensation under the Act invoked hy them. The contract of employment between the company and its conductors provides as follows:

"Whenever conductors are required to take their oars at a distance from the harn, or are required to leave their oars at a point other than the barn, they shall be entitled to charge at the regular rate per hour for suoh time as is consumed by the conductor in going to or coming from the barn; it being the sense of this article that where conductors are required to report at the barn at the beginning or conclusion of their runs they shall be paid for all time aotually engaged in the service of the company regardless of where they are required to take or leave their cars.
"All motormen or conductors in regular uniform shall be allowed free transportation on all lines."

There is, of course, no issue in this case involving the question of negligence. We are impelled to the viewpoint ef our learned brother, then a judge of the district court, who, in his able written opinion or reasons for judgment, has said,in part, as follows:

"The contract with the defendant company provides for free transportation for motormen and conductors while in uniform. This .provision is not a mere permission or license, as contended for by counsel for defendant. It is a part of the consideration of the contract. If it was not so provided, and the motormen and conductors employed by the oompany were required to pay when going to and returning from work the usual fare expected of passengers, their compensation under the contract would be increased at least uro tanto to meet .this requirement. This is the inesoapable oonolusion from the mere reading of the contract itself."

We gather from the evidence of this case the particular fact that the work or employment of the deceased required his presence not only at the barn when reporting for work but also at the barn on retiring or withdrawing from work. Had the accident befallen him as he descended from the morning oar depositing him at the barn and before he had mounted his own oar which was to leave the barn at the early morning hour above specified, we cannot see [244]*244that the situation would have been in any way different from that which presents itself under the facts of this case and upon which defendant relies in establishing its contention that the accident happened at a time when the injured employe was not performing services arising out of and incidental to his employment.

The pertinent clauses of the Act which should he considered in connection with the facts of this case are as follows:

"Every person performing services arising out of and incidental to his employment in the course of his employer's trade, business or occupation in the following hazardous trades, business and occupations: * * *.
"Section 2. * * * Receives personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of such employment, his .employer shall pay compensation in the amounts and to the person or persons hereinafter specified."

The last clause of the defendant's answer to this suit is framed in the exact language of the first above paragraphs tafeen from the Act and reads as follows:

"That at the time he was killed said Gau-threaux was not performing'any services arising out of and incidental to his employment in the course of his employer's trade, business or occupation."

The clean-cut and sole issue therefore made clear by the pleadings in this case iS/Whether the deceased was at the time of his death performing any services "arising out of and incidental to his employment."

There cannot be found in our jurisprudence more thorough or exhaustive study of the interpretations already given to the above clauses in similar Employer's liability Acts of America and England than that set forth by our learned and recently retired Chie: Justice in the case of Myers v. Louisiana Railway and Navigation Co. 140 La., 937 (74 South., 256). In this cited case,it was the contention of the defendant that while the injury in that case arose "in the course of" the employment, it did not arise "out of" it. In the present case the contention is that the injury at. the time.it ocourri befell the deceased while he was not performing any service either [245]*245arising out of or incidental to Ms emuleyment. It may be aaia in this case as was said hy Chiar Justice Provosty in the ease of Myers v. L. R. & N. Company as follows:

"However, after vain attempts at formulating some verbal test for determining when the injury has or not arisen’ out of the employment, the courts have oome to the eon-olusion that each case must he determined from its own facts; that the question cannot he solved hy phrases."

In the Myers case it was contended that the accident did not arise out of the employment of the plaintiff for the reason that the injury sustained was of a nature not at all connected with those duties assigned to and being in their nature otherwise performed hy the plaintiff. The oourt found, however, that placing such a narrow construction upon the statute was contrary to the purpose of the lawmaker, and said:

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Related

Williamson v. Industrial Accident Commission
171 P. 797 (California Supreme Court, 1918)
Myers v. Louisiana Ry. & Nav. Co.
74 So. 256 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1917)
Prevost v. Gheens Realty Co.
92 So. 38 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1922)

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Bluebook (online)
7 Pelt. 241, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gauthreaux-v-okeefe-lactapp-1923.