Markoff v. Emeralite Surfacing Products Co.

252 N.W. 439, 190 Minn. 555, 1934 Minn. LEXIS 995
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJanuary 26, 1934
DocketNo. 29,645.
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 252 N.W. 439 (Markoff v. Emeralite Surfacing Products Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Markoff v. Emeralite Surfacing Products Co., 252 N.W. 439, 190 Minn. 555, 1934 Minn. LEXIS 995 (Mich. 1934).

Opinions

HILTON, Justice.

Certiorari to review an order of the industrial commission awarding compensation for injuries sustained by an employe.

Markoff worked for relator in its plant located three miles from the city of Ely on state highway No. 35. He lived on a farm near that highway two miles from the plant and between it and Ely. Relator regularly furnished transportation to its employes, including Markoff, to and from work by means of a truck owned by it.

On March i, 1932, after work at the plant had ceased, Markoff, together with other employes, was being transported homeward on the company truck. The truck had a cab; the back part of it was uninclosed. The employes thereon sat on the floor with their legs hanging downward; Markoff sat on the left side. When the truck reached a point on the highway opposite the path which led to the farm it was stopped on the right side of the highway, facing toward Ely, to permit Markoff to alight. He did so on the left side of the truck and started directly across the highway to reach the path. After descending and taking two or three steps (not over five feet) he was hit by a car going in the opposite direction from that of the truck and driven by a third person. Markoff was quite seriously injured.

*557 The claims of relator are: (1) The notice of intention to claim compensation on behalf of the employe was insufficient in law; (2) the facts do not warrant an award of compensation to the employe for the reason that the accident did not arise out of and in the course of his employment.

The employe gave no written notice to the employer of the occurrence of the injury. However, the general superintendent of the employer knew of the accident within ten minutes after it happened; the foreman of the quarrying department of the plant in which Markoff worked, who was his immediate superior, rode on the same truck and knew of the accident. Through its superintendent and foreman the employer had knowledge of the occurrence of the injury. The finding to that effect was proper. Under such circumstances written notice is unnecessary. 1 Mason Minn. St. 1927, § 4280; State ex rel. City of Northfield v. District Court, 131 Minn. 352, 155 N. W. 103, Ann. Cas. 1917D, 866; State ex rel. Crookston Lbr. Co. v. District Court, 132 Minn. 251, 156 N. W. 278; Kraker v. Nett, 148 Minn. 139, 180 N. W. 1014.

The workmen’s compensation act, after making provision for compensation where injuries or death result to an employe from an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, by § 4326(j) provides:

“Without otherwise affecting either the meaning or interpretation of the abridged clause ‘personal injuries arising out of and in the course of employment.’ It is hereby declared:
“Not to cover workmen except while engaged in, on, or about the premises Avhere their services are being performed, or where their services require their presence as a part of such service, at the time of the injury, and during the hours of service as such workmen; provided, that where the employer regularly furnishes transportation to his employes to or from the place of employment, such employes shall be held to be subject to this act while being so transported, * *

The italicized portion of the above quotation came into the act by L. 1923, c. 300, and was apparently enacted because of the decision *558 in Nesbitt v. Twin City F. & F. Co. 145 Minn. 286, 177 N. W. 131. In that case the terms of the contract of employment provided for free transportation of the employes to and from the end of the nearest street car line to the place of work. It was held that the restrictive clause, “not to cover workmen except while engaged in, on, or about the premises,” etc. prevented a recovery for injuries sustained by a workman while riding to his place of work in a conveyance furnished by his employer. The court recognized that the rule was otherwise in some jurisdictions not having such a restrictive clause. That restriction has now been removed in this state by the amendment of 1923, hereinbefore quoted, as to injuries sustained during transportation to or from the place of employment where the employer regularly furnishes such transportation, and such an injury is now one arising out of and in the course of the employment. Wiest v. Bolduc, 178 Minn. 310, 227 N. W. 48. See also Rosvall v. City of Duluth, 177 Minn. 197, 224 N. W. 840. The situation now is no different where the injury occurs during transportation furnished by the employer as an incident to the employment than where an injury occurs on the employer’s premises, or at a place where the employe’s services require his presence.

Whether or not Markoff’s injury arose out of and in the course of his employment depends upon the determination of the question as to whether at the time of the injury he was being “so transported.” We think he was. This court has never been called upon to decide the exact time or place when such transportation commences or ceases. That question has, however, been before courts of other jurisdictions not having in their workmen’s compensation act a provision expressly covering injuries sustained during transportation furnished by the employer under the terms of the contract of employment.

In Scott v. Willis, 150 Va. 260, 263, 142 S. E. 400, the employer in the contract of employment had agreed to furnish free transportation to Willis “to and from his home * * * and the place where he was required to work.” The transportation was furnished by means of a truck. At the end of a working day Willis was being transported to his home. The truck stopped on the extreme right- *559 hand side of the highway for Willis to alight. He lived on the left side of the road, as the truck was facing. He alighted from the right side of the truck, which then moved on. After walking to the back of the truck, Willis took two steps into the highway, intending to cross it, when he was hit by an automobile and injured. An award of compensation was sustained. The court in disposing of the first question presented, as to whether or not an injury sustained by an employe during transportation was compensable, said [150 Va. 265]:

“There seems to be now no question as to the law, and it is conceded by counsel for the plaintiffs in error that in view of the contract of the employer to transport the claimant back to his home, if the injury occurred during the transportation, it arose out of and in the course of his employment, and is, therefore, compensable

The italicized portion of the above holding is in effect the same as the proviso contained in our statute, § 1326(j), hereinbefore quoted, and the question then squarely before the court was whether, under the facts stated, the injury occurred during the transportation. On that issue it stated [150 Va. 266]:

“It could hardly be doubted, we think, that if the injury had occurred while the claimant was approaching the automobile for the purpose of commencing his journey, either to his work or to his home or while in the act of boarding it, that this would be compensable.

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Bluebook (online)
252 N.W. 439, 190 Minn. 555, 1934 Minn. LEXIS 995, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/markoff-v-emeralite-surfacing-products-co-minn-1934.