Knack v. Industrial Commission

503 P.2d 373, 108 Ariz. 545, 1972 Ariz. LEXIS 393
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 22, 1972
Docket11029-PR
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 503 P.2d 373 (Knack v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Knack v. Industrial Commission, 503 P.2d 373, 108 Ariz. 545, 1972 Ariz. LEXIS 393 (Ark. 1972).

Opinion

STRUCKMEYER, Justice.

Respondent, J. V. Moan Company, is a commissary company engaged in the food service business contracting for the service of meals to the workmen of other employers. One of its clientele is the Southern Pacific Company for which food is furnished to its tracklaying crews in some of the western states.

Petitioner is by occupation a cook and had worked for the Moan Company for some 20 years until he suffered a stroke while employed near Horse Mesa Dam in Arizona. He was hospitalized and unemployed for over a year. On June 15, 1969, while living in Tucson, Arizona, he discussed working for the Moan Company again with C. W. Woodcock, a supervisor in charge of some aspects of the company’s business. Woodcock hired petitioner and drove him in a company car from Tucson to Indio, California, where he started to work. Petitioner’s paychecks were at first made out in Arizona, drawn on a California bank and mailed to him. Later, when he was sent to Nevada and Oregon, they were made out in Lafayette, California. Petitioner continued to work for the commissary company as a cook on a train which accompanied tracklaying crews.

In Oregon, on the night of September 30, 1969, he went outside the train car to open up a butane tank from which gas for cooking was obtained. He slipped and fell, rolling down an embankment and sustaining certain disabling injuries for which he applied for • compensation with the Industrial Commission of Arizona. The Industrial Commission of Arizona found a non-compensable claim on the ground that petitioner was not hired in Arizona within the meaning of its Workmen’s Compensation Act.

Arizona’s statute, by § 23-904, subsec. A, provides:

“If a workman who has been hired * * . * in this state receives a'personal *547 injury * * *, he shall he entitled to compensation according to' the law of this state even though the' injury was received' without the state.”

Of this statute, we said in Collins v. American Buslines, Inc., 79 Ariz. 220, 228-229, 286 P.2d 214, 220 (1955), rev’d on other grounds, 350 U.S. 528, 76 S.Ct. 582, 100 L.Ed. 672 (1956):

“Section 56-923, A.C.A.1939, indicates that the application of our workmen’s compensation laws is not to he limited to only those injuries occurring within the state. The legislature specifically intended extraterritorial coverage for employees hired in this state. Presumably employees hired in Arizona are citizens of this state and entitled to the benefits of Arizona law when their employment takes them into another state.”

See, Baker v. Industrial Commission, 92 Ariz. 198, 375 P.2d 556 (1962); and Alaska Packers Ass’n v. Industrial Accident Commission, 1 Cal.2d 250, 34 P.2d 716 (1934), aff’d, 294 U.S. 532, 55 S.Ct. 518, 79 L.Ed. 1044 (1935); Travelers Ins. Co. v. Workmen’s Comp. App. Bd., 68 Cal.2d 7, 64 Cal.Rptr. 440, 434 P.2d 992 (1967); Gardner Motor Co. v. Feistel, 160 Colo. 135, 414 P.2d 915 (1966); State Compensation Ins. Fund v. Howington, 133 Colo. 583, 298 P.2d 963 (1956); McLaughlin’s Case, 274 Mass. 217, 174 N.E. 338 (1931); Roan v. D. W. Falls, Inc., 72 N.M. 464, 384 P.2d 896 (1963); Franklin v. Geo. P. Livermore, Inc., 58 N.M. 349, 270 P.2d 983 (1954); Prendergast v. Industrial Commission, 136 Ohio St. 535, 27 N.E.2d 235 (1940); Allen v. Industrial Commission, 110 Utah 328, 335-340, 172 P.2d 669, 672-675 (1946), for the application of similar statutes in other states.

The Arizona statute is predicated on the benevolent social policy that residents of Arizona who may return after injuries to their homes in this state or whose families may reside in Arizona need the protection of Arizona’s laws. The workman or his family may become indigent and dependent upon welfare in Arizona if the workman is incapacitated or killed in an accident occurring while working for an employer outside of Arizona.

The evidence' before the Commission referee established that petitioner was hired in Arizona.

Petitioner testified on cross-examination:

“Q Now, isn’t it true that Mr. Moan told you — I mean, Mr. Woodcock told you that if you went to California they could give you a job in California?
A Oh, he just told me he had a job in Indio, California.
Q And he said that if you wanted to work in California, that you could go over there and be hired, is'that correct?
A No, he hired me here.” (Emphasis added.)
Woodcock testified:
“Q Did you have occasion ..to • hire him to work in the State of California?
A Yes, sir.
Q Where did you hire him?
A I hired him in Tucson.” (Emphasis added.)
Woodcock also testified: ■
“Q As I understand, he just rode with you when you went over to California, is that correct?
A Yes, I hired him for the job and took' him over there in the company car.
Q But he wasn’t paid for that day, he was paid for the day he started in California ?
A Yes, Ma’am.
i|c ifc ‡ ‡ # > Jfc
Q And I believe you stated that at that time there was never any intention that he work in Arizona; he was intended to work with the California crew, is that correct?
A Yes. Although, this crew is a rollr ing crew, it could have went to Arizona or Texas, Phoenix, any place that the S.P. desired this crew to move.
*548 Q But ait that time it was working in California, Nevada and Oregon, is that correct ?
A Yes.” (Emphasis added.)

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Sherring v. Indus. Comm'n of Ariz.
426 P.3d 1233 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 2018)
Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation v. KROETER
697 F. Supp. 2d 1118 (D. Arizona, 2010)
DiMuro v. Industrial Commission
688 P.2d 703 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1984)
Frank E. Basil, Inc. v. INDUS. COM'N OF ARIZ.
634 P.2d 984 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1981)
Ryan v. Indus. Com'n of Ariz.
623 P.2d 37 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1981)
Eastern Idaho Production Credit Ass'n v. Placerton, Inc.
606 P.2d 967 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1980)
Enders v. Wesley W. Hubbard and Sons, Inc.
513 P.2d 992 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1973)
Pauley v. Industrial Commission
508 P.2d 1160 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1973)
City Products Corporation v. Industrial Commission
506 P.2d 1071 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
503 P.2d 373, 108 Ariz. 545, 1972 Ariz. LEXIS 393, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/knack-v-industrial-commission-ariz-1972.