Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. v. Frye

55 S.W.2d 1092
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 14, 1932
DocketNo. 3935.
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 55 S.W.2d 1092 (Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. v. Frye) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. v. Frye, 55 S.W.2d 1092 (Tex. Ct. App. 1932).

Opinion

HALL, C. J.

This is a workman’s compensation case in which the Industrial Accident Board awarded Mrs. Frye and her minor daughter compensation on account of the death of N. 6. Frye, the husband of Mrs. Frye.

The appellant, the insurance carrier, filed this suit to set aside the award and the case was submitted to the jury-upon special issues.

The first special issue is as follows: “Were the injuries that N. 6. Frye received on the 12th day of May, 1931, sustained in the course of his employment with the Schermerhorn-Winton Co.?”

This was answered in the affirmative.

Following. this issue, the court instructed the jury as follows: “You are instructed that the term ‘injuries sustained in the course of his employment’ shall have the following meaning: Injuries of every kind and character having to do with or originating in the work, business, trade, or profession of an employer received by an employee while engaged in or about the furtherance of the affairs or *1093 business of an employer wbetber upon tbe premises of said employer or elsewhere.”

In response to further special issues the jury found that during the year preceding May 12,1931, Frye’s average weekly wage was $31.15 and that hardship and injury would result to Mrs. Frye and her daughter if the court did not decree a lump sum settlement.

The substance of the appellees’ answer and cross-action is that N. G. Frye had been in the employ of the Sehermerhorn Oil Company and the Schermerhorn-Winton Company, which were kindred and allied companies, for about two years prior to May 12, 1931, the date upon which he lost.his life; that said employers owned two oil and gas leases on the line of Howard and Glasscock counties in the state of Texas, which said leases were about seven miles apart; that Frye’s duties were as a pumper, and, when not so engaged, he was performing general work as a roustabout under the direction of George Campbell, the foreman of said employers; that on the date above mentioned, after the said Campbell had assigned to Frye work for that day to be done upon connecting lines of said company’s tank and while Frye and other employees were gathering tools at the headquarters of the particular lease upon which they were working, said tools to be used in the performance of their duties, and at about 8 o’clock, a. m., one W. A. Davidson, an employee of Black, Sivalls & Bryson, Inc. (a tank company which was working upon a tank for the owner, Schermerhorn-Winton Company), gave an alarm that indicated distress and need of assistance; that all of the employees of the Schermerhorn-Winton Company who were at the headquarters, including the foreman Campbell, saw the distress signal and heard the alarm and at the suggestion of, and under the direction of, the said Campbell, went in haste to the tank; that Frye went in his employer’s truck in which he had come to the headquarters and being one of the first to reach the tank and finding that Sam Davidson, an employee of the tank company, had gone into the tank to drive out some bolts and was lying upon the bottom of the tank helpless, hastily descended the ladder inside the tank to rescue Davidson, but was himself overcome and was unable to rescue Davidson or to save himself on account of the fact that gas had accumulated in the tank and both Davidson and Frye had been rendered unconscious by such gas; that, other workmen, going to the tank, finding the two men prostrate and helpless, the foreman Campbell hurriedly brought a gas mask from a point a few hundred yards away and another employee of the oil company, by using it, was able to fasten ropes to the two victims and they were drawn out of the tank, but both died a few hours later from the effect of the poison gas; that the victims were eared for and treated by physicians of the Big Spring Hospital where they had been hurriedly carried after being rescued.

It was alleged that as a pumper Frye received $150 per month, and, while engaged in doing general work, his wages were $135 per month.

By supplemental petition the appellant indemnity company alleged that, prior to .the 12th day of May, 1931, the Schermerhorn-Win-ton Company entered into an oral contract with Black, Sivalls & Bryson, a corporation engaged in constructing tanks, by the terms of which said Black, Sivalls & Bryson agreed to repair an oil stock tank belonging to Scher-merhorn-Winton Company for a stipulated price; that said Black, Sivalls & Bryson was a separate, distinct entity and was in no way connected with Schermerhorn-Winton Company ; that they were rebuilding said tank under an independent, separate contract; that Schermerhorn-Winton Company had no control or right of supervision over the work being performed or over the employees of Black, Sivalls & Bryson and that the indemnity company was the insurer for Schermerhorn-Win-ton Company and was not an insurance carrier for Black, Sivalls & Bryson; that about 8 o’clock on the morning in question while Frye, Campbell, and other employees of the Schermerhorn-Winton Company were at the headquarters of its leasehold waiting for instructions to proceed with the day’s work, W. A. Davidson, who with his brother Sam Davidson was employed by Black, Sivallg & Bry-son to work about a quarter of a mile distant from the headquarters of the Schermerhorn-Winton Company, gave a distress signal which was seen and heard by the employees of the Schermerhorn-Winton Company, and immediately the said Frye and other employees left the headquarters and hastened to the tank in response to the urgent call or alarm given by W. A. Davidson; that upon reaching the tank, Frye saw the position of danger and peril of Sam Davidson, who at that time was lying upon the bottom of the tank, and thereupon voluntarily descended into the tank for the purpose of rescuing said Sam Davidson; that as a direct and proximate result of said act Frye was overcome with gas; that the situation, danger, and peril of Sam Davidson created a clear and plain emergency demanding immediate remedial action on the part of W. A. Davidson and other employees of Black, Sivalls & Bryson; that in answering the call of W. A. Davidson, Frye, in leaving his company’s headquarters, became' the employee of Black, Sivalls & Bryson and his resulting injury did not have to do with and originate in the work of Schermer-horn-Winton Company, but did have to do with and originated in the work of Black, Sivalls & Bryson and were received while he was engaged in the furtherance of the busi,ness of Black, Sivalls & Bryson, whose employee he became at that time.

*1094 Based upon the verdict the trial court rendered a lump-sum judgment in favor of Mrs. Frye and her minor daughter for $6,728.40.

By its first, second, and fourth propositions the appellant insists that the court should have peremptorily instructed a verdict in its favor.

Under the issues made by the pleading and evidence, we think the court would have erred in directing a verdict for appellant and these propositions are overruled.

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55 S.W.2d 1092, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hartford-accident-indemnity-co-v-frye-texapp-1932.