Home/Utah Supreme Court/Harrington v. Industrial Commission of Utah

Harrington v. Industrial Commission of Utah

83 P.2d 270, 96 Utah 32, 1938 Utah LEXIS 74
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 29, 1938
DocketNo. 5969.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 83 P.2d 270 (Harrington v. Industrial Commission of Utah) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harrington v. Industrial Commission of Utah, 83 P.2d 270, 96 Utah 32, 1938 Utah LEXIS 74 (Utah 1938).

Opinions

MOFFAT, Justice.

The parties agree that the writ of review in this case presents to this court for determination a single question. That question is: Was Benjamin Harrington, at the time he received the injury resulting in his death, engaged in an activity forming a part of a service in interstate commerce?

The Industrial Commission of the State of Utah concluded that deceased, at the time of the injury resulting in his death, was engaged in interstate commerce, and upon that finding, concluded and decided that the Industrial Commission of Utah was without jurisdiction to proceed with the cause or award compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation Law of Utah, Rev. St. 1933, 42-1-1 et seq., no *34 matter how meritorious the claim. Without attempting to separate facts from conclusions, the Commission stated in its findings:

“I. That on February 9, 1937 and for several years prior thereto the defendant Railroad Company owned and operated a railroad extending from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Payson, Utah, and was engaged in interstate commerce and employed more than three employees and had complied with the laws of Utah pertaining to Workmen’s Compensation, and the Great American Indemnity Company was the insurance carrier of said B. L. Ball as Receiver.
“II. That on February 9, 1937, and since November 1, 1936, Benjamin H. Harrington was in the employ of the defendant, B. L. Ball as Receiver of the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad Company, and was employed as a brakeman earning an average weekly wage of $19.81, working seven days per week; that on February 9, 1937 said Benjamin H. Harrington suffered an accidental injury while in the course of his employment in interstate commerce by said defendant, which resulted in his death on March 7, 1937.
“III. That at the time of said accidental injury the deceased was engaged and working as a brakeman on a train of seventeen cars operated by defendant southbound between Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah; that said train contained and included a carload of interstate freight, to-wit, a car of scrap paper billed and being transported in interstate commerce from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Kalamazoo, Michigan, and a car of poultry feed originating at Salt Lake City and billed and being transported to American Fork, where the defendant Railroad Company was to deliver the car to the Utah Poultry Company at its place of business.
“The Utah Poultry Company and the Chipman Mercantile use the same industrial track and siding and in order to deliver the car of feed to that siding it was necessary to unlock and open gates across the railroad company’s tracks to permit cars to enter the private premises of the companies above named. When said train reached the town of American Fork the crew thereof, consisting of Harrington and his fellow employees,' detached the engine and the car of poultry feed from the train and moved down the main line about one-half mile, stopping at the switch leading to the siding of the Utah Poultry Company for the purpose of delivering said car of poultry feed; that the balance of the train was left one-half mile west of said point at said time in order to not leave said train within the business district of American Fork and in order to not obstruct the main street of said town with said train while the crew was switching and delivering said car of poultry feed to the Utah Poultry Company.
*35 “That while delivering and spotting said ear of poultry feed out of said interstate train it became necessary for said deceased to cross the public highway in American Fork in order to open said gates leading into the industrial siding into the Utah Poultry Company in order to enable deceased and other members of the crew to switch, deliver and spot said car of feed out of said interstate train; and while so crossing said highway to open said gate said deceased was struck by a motor truck being operated by Wayne Godfrey of Murray, Utah; * * *” (Harrington died shortly after from the effects of the injury.)

From the foregoing the Commission concluded “that at the time of said accident and injury said deceased and said B. L. Ball, as receiver of the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad Company were engaged in interstate commerce and said accident and injuries arose out of and during the course of interstate commerce.”

The following statement of facts is agreed to by both parties. The diagram, not a scale drawing, will assist in following movements of the cars, engine, and parties:

Mr. Harrington was a brakeman of the crew which went on duty at Provo at 10:45 P. M., February 8,1937. The crew proceeded to Springville, picked up some cars and continued on with their train toward Salt Lake City. The crew usually-tied up at Provo. It was the practice for the northbound crew to- meet the train southbound from Salt Lake City at Cutler. Cutler is a station about two miles north (railroad directions) from American Fork. The two trains met at Cutler about 5:30 A. M., on February 9, 1937. The crew of the southbound train took the northbound train and the crew of which Mr. Harrington was a member took charge of the southbound train. The southbound train contained 17 cars; 16 of these were received from the Union Pacific Railroad Company, at South Salt Lake and one car loaded with scrap paper was picked up at the Salt Lake industry track of the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad Company, one of the defendants herein. This car contained a shipment to the Pioneer Paper Stock Co., at Kalamazoo, Michigan, moving from *36 Salt Lake City to be delivered enroute to the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad at Grundy, a station near Provo, Utah. The train also contained a car of feed, moving from Salt Lake City to the Utah Poultry Company at American Fork, Utah. It is conceded that the entire train, with the exception of the car moving from Salt Lake City to Kalamazoo, Michigan, was wholly intrastate in character; but it is claimed in accordance with what is said to be the general *37 rule that the presence of the interstate car impressed the whole train as interstate.

*36

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Related

Harrington v. Industrial Commission
88 P.2d 548 (Utah Supreme Court, 1939)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
83 P.2d 270, 96 Utah 32, 1938 Utah LEXIS 74, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harrington-v-industrial-commission-of-utah-utah-1938.