Industrial Commission v. Ernest Irvine, Inc.

212 P. 829, 72 Colo. 573
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedFebruary 5, 1923
DocketNo. 10,525
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 212 P. 829 (Industrial Commission v. Ernest Irvine, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Industrial Commission v. Ernest Irvine, Inc., 212 P. 829, 72 Colo. 573 (Colo. 1923).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Burke

delivered the opinion of the court.

Plaintiff in error the Industrial Commission is herein[575]*575after referred to as “the commission,” plaintiff in error Rose Lewis as “the plaintiff,” defendant in error Ernest Irvine, Inc., as “the corporation”, defendant in error Maryland Casualty Company as “the Insurance Company,” and John Lewis, formerly the husband of plaintiff, as “the deceased.”

February 28, 1922, deceased was employed by the corporation in its business of selling automobiles. Upon entering the garage of Oscar J. Harris on the evening of that day he was shot and killed by Harris under the assumption that he was a burglar who had entered the garage with felonious intent. The corporation was operating under the Workmen’s Compensation Act and plaintiff, claiming that her husband’s death was due to an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, brought this action before the commission for compensation. Findings and award in her favor were, on appeal by the corporation and tíie Insurance Company, reversed by the district court, and to review that judgment the plaintiff and the commission prosecute this writ.

Three questions were raised by the pleadings: 1. Did the findings support the award? 2. Did the commission act without or in excess of its powers? 3. Was the evidence “sufficient?”.

It is apparent to us that the trial- court, mistaking its power and duty in the premises, disposed of this case upon the question of the sufficiency of the evidence. Its finding was:

“This cause having been heretofore submitted to the court and by the court taken under advisement upon its merits, and the court being now sufficiently advised in the premises, doth find the issues joined for the plaintiff and that the finding and award of the Industrial Commission be set aside.”

The judgment of the court should have disclosed its conclusion upon each specific question before it. It had no power to disturb findings of the commission entered on conflicting evidence. Industrial Commission v. Johnson, 66 [576]*576Colo. 292, 181 Pac. 977. No fraud being charged, that court was limited, as is this, to the determination of questions 1 and 2, supra.

There is evidence in the record before us to justify the following conclusions:

From October, 1921, to January, 1922, Harris and deceased were partners operating a garage at 1445 S. Broadway in the city of Denver. During that time and up to the date of the death of deceased these two men were on friendly and intimate terms. In January, 1922, deceased sold out to Harris and turned over to him the possession of the business and the keys of the building. Thereafter deceased sometimes called at the garage, and Harris visited at his home. Deceased began working for the corporation as a salesman immediately after the dissolution of his partnership with Harris. His duties were to demonstrate cars to prospective purchasers and aid in making sales. He supposed at the time of the dissolution of the partnership that he had turned over all the keys in his possession. Several persons kept cars in the Harris garage and carried keys to the door because the place was closed early in the evening and not open during the night. After Harris and deceased began business there in October, several keys were brought in by persons not known to have possession thereof. Two or three days preceding the shooting deceased and his minor son, searching a box at their home for a pencil clip, found one of these keys. Deceased hung it on a nail in his kitchen and left word with his wife to deliver it to Harris if the latter called in his absence. On February 25, 1922 (Saturday), the corporation had one prospective purchaser in Denver and another in Littleton. The corporation’s place of business was closed early in the evening and not open on Sundays. Deceased’s employer directed him to take a car home with him that evening that it might be accessible for demonstration to the Denver customer early Sunday morning and the Littleton prospect later in the day. Deceased acted accordingly. He reached his home in the city and had supper about 6:30 p. m. His own garage was [577]*577unheated, the night was cold and threatening to get colder. He discussed with his wife the danger of the car freezing up and she suggested the difficulty be obviated by taking it to the Harris garage and storing it for the night. Acting on this suggestion after supper he took the key and departed with that object in mind. His duty to his employer under the circumstances was to take care of the car in his charge and use his own best judgment to that end. His relations with Harris were such that it was perfectly satisfactory to the latter for him to come and go at the Harris garage at any time of day or night and Harris, neither prior to the shooting nor afterwards, had the slightest suspicion of deceased. Had he known that the latter carried a key to his garage he would have had no objection thereto and no objection to the storage of the car therein. The Harris garage was frequently full at night with the exception of a passage way which would hold one or two cars and had at times been so completely filled that an additional car could not be stored therein. Prior to the day in question a number of thefts of oil, gasoline and tools had been committed from the Harris garage. Harris, after consultation with the police, had determined to lie in wait for the perpetrators of these thefts and on the night in question was concealed in his garage for the purpose of apprehending them. He was armed with a pistol and the garage was in darkness. Deceased, ignorant of the presence and purpose of Harris, drove past the door and getting out of the automobile went to the garage to ascertain if there was room therein for further storage. He knew that just inside the door was an electric light switch. He stepped in, closed the door, and without turning on the switch took one step away from the door, when Harris called to him to throw up his hands. Deceased did not respond, but putting both hands in his pockets, started to take a second step. Harris repeated his demand and shot. The ball passed through deceased’s hand in his pocket, cutting off one finger and entering the abdomen. As he fell Harris came to him and for the first time discovering his [578]*578identity cried out, “My God, Billy, what are you doing' here?” Deceased was taken to a hospital and shortly thereafter died. Prior to his death he was visited at the hospital by his wife, his employer and Harris. He talked over the transaction with each and, cognizant of the fact that death was near, repeated to each the details and purpose of his visit to the garage as above outlined, the only variation being that at one time he said to Harris that he was going to get his tools. (At the time of the dissolution of the partnership he had left some of his tools in the garage.) He explained his failure to respond to the demand of Harris to throw up his hands by the assertion that when he heard his voice he recognized the speaker and was dumbfounded, that he thought he was joking and hesitated too long. It also developed that deceased was totally unarmed. Harris had warned all persons, known to him to have keys to the garage, of his own presence and plan, and would have told deceased had he known that he had a key or had there been any occasion to speak to him about it.

The commission found:

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Bluebook (online)
212 P. 829, 72 Colo. 573, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/industrial-commission-v-ernest-irvine-inc-colo-1923.