Parker v. Royal Indemnity Co.

59 S.W.2d 243, 1933 Tex. App. LEXIS 549
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 18, 1933
DocketNo. 11394
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 59 S.W.2d 243 (Parker v. Royal Indemnity Co.) 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
Parker v. Royal Indemnity Co., 59 S.W.2d 243, 1933 Tex. App. LEXIS 549 (Tex. Ct. App. 1933).

Opinion

LOONEY, Justice.

W. C. Parker appealed from the final decision of the Industrial Accident Board -on his claim for compensation for injuries alleged to have been sustained while in the course of employment with Buick Motor Company, subscriber ; appellee, Royal Indemnity Company, being the insurance carrier.

When injured, appellant had been working for Buick Motor Company, at its business establishment in the city of Dallas, for nearly two years; his duties were varied, that is, he served as fireman, janitor, and special officer; as fireman it was his duty to fire the boiler and keep the Building warm; as janitor to scrub the floors and keep the office furniture clean; as special officer to see that the law was not violated in and around the building, -to watch the entrance thereto, and cars brought to the plant, and those belonging to the employees and Buick dealers, while parked on -both sides of Harwood street, on which the business establishment of the motor company abutted. The morning of the injury appellant was at work at the plant, but, not feeling well, told his superior, Mr. Robinson, building superintendent, that he thought he was taking flu; thereupon Mr. Robinson gave him some soda mint tablets as a preventive, also gave him 25 cents, with directions to go •to the drug store across the street (Harwood) in about an hour, 'buy more tablets and take them; so, as directed by Robinson, appellant was in the act of crossing the street to the drug store for the medicine, when -struck by an automobile, knocked down, and severely injured. The place where appellant was struck by the auto was within the zone where he was required to perform duties as special officer, and when -struck was watching the building of his employer.

At the conclusion of the evidence, on motion of appellee, the court instructed a verdict in it-s favor, on the theory that appellant’s injuries were not sustained in the course of employment, within the meaning of the Oom-pensation Law (Vernon’s Ann. Oiv. St. art. 8306 et seq.). Judgm'ent was rendered against appellant accordingly, from which -he appealed.

But two questions are presented for consideration: One, the alleged error of the court in directing the verdict; the other, error in excluding certain evidence offered by appellant. These questions invoke the identical doctrine and are ruled by the same authorities.

We think appellant could, with propriety, combine the purely personal purpose of his trip across the street to the drug store for medicine, with the discharge of duties as employee, without departing from the scope of his employment. Whether or not an employee [245]*245when injured is in the course of employment is ordinarily a 'question of fact, and, in the instant case, we think the facts tended strongly to show (and the jury would have been authorized to find) that the activity of appellant when injured, though primarily to serve an immediate personal purpose, was intimately connected, interwoven, had to do with, and originated in, the work and business of his employer, and that he sustained the injuries while engaged in and about the furtherance of the affairs and business of his employer.

Many cases may be found more or less analogous to the case at bar, but are of no special value as precedents, because not directly in point; however, we are not without controlling precedent from our own courts, as well as from courts of other states.

In Southern Surety Co. v. Shook et al. (Tex. Civ. App.) 44 S.W.(2d) 425, 429 (writ refused by the Supreme Court), the Eastland court had before it and allowed compensation in a case based upon facts in substance as follows: Lucien Shook was employed by Braden Company, as pumper on an oil lease in Eastland county, his duties being to keep the pump in operation night and day; he lived alone, and occupied a two-room shack near the oil well being pumped; kept dogs and hunted in the vicinity; maintained a croquet court near the shack for diversion, and did not at all times remain upon the lease or at the pump; all this was known to his superintendent. About 6 p. m. September 7, 1928, three young men of the community approached the shack where Lucien Shook stayed, to rob or murder him, but, finding his brother Leon present, one of the three outlaws, named Thompson, for the purpose of enticing the Shook brothers from the shack, falsely stated that some wolves were held at bay over the hill about a half mile away, requested the Shook brothers to accompany the party with their dogs, lantern, etc., on a wolf hunt; this was agreed to, and, while approaching the place where the wolves were supposed to be held at bay, walking single file, Thompson shot and killed both Lucien and Leon Shook. The facts show that the noise of the pump in operation was heard for more than a mile, and that the place where the wolves were supposed to 'be was within that radius. Mrs. Shook, mother of Lucien, and other legal beneficiaries, filed suit to set aside an award of the Industrial Accident Board denying compensation.

The opinion of Judge Hickman is lengthy, but his reasoning may be gleaned from the following excerpt, he said: “The logical conclusion of appellant’s argument is that he [Lucien Shook] was on employment only when he was actually at work. Under the strict construction which it employed he was not on duty while sitting in his shack listening to the engine. Our view is that, so long as he was in a zone where he could hear the engine -and was in a position where he could go to it when occasion arose, it could make no difference whether he were sitting quietly in his shack, sleeping, eating, exercising, dancing, playing cards, or doing anything else. Of course, if the .dancing, card playing, etc., afforded the reason for his being murdered, a different case would be presented. Suppose he and his brother had been dancing or playing cards together or with others in the shack when these boys came up and Thompson had ■then shot him for the purpose of robbery. Should that fact operate to deny a right of’ recovery? We think not.

“Shook’s employment was analogous to that of a driver of a fire truck. He spends twenty-four hours per day in and around the fire station to be in readiness to go to a fire when an alarm is turned in. Could it be reasonably and justly contended that such fireman would not be in the course of his employment while playing games in the fire station or playing croquet or baseball on the outside within convenient distance thereof and within hearing of the gong? Surely not. The same reasoning that would exclude Shook under the facts of this case would likewise exclude the fireman under the facts of the suggested case.”

Comparing the Shook Case with the case at bar, it is obvious that the Eastland court, in holding that the death of Lucien Shook, received under the circumstances there involved, was compensable, extended the rule of liberal construction much further than is necessary should be done to hold that the injuries received by appellant are compensable under the Compensation Law.

The facts in Taylor v. Hogan Milling Co., 129 Kan. 370, 282 P. 729, 66 A. L. R. 752, were these: An employee of a milling company, during his hours of service, went to an upper floor on a man lift to pay a bill owed to a fellow employee, with the permission of his foreman. It was a rule of the employer that employees should pay their bills to collectors when they called, and to do so on the company’s time, and it was the practice of the company that employees, in going from one floor to another, should use the man lift; the purpose being to conserve the time and energy of employees.

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Bluebook (online)
59 S.W.2d 243, 1933 Tex. App. LEXIS 549, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parker-v-royal-indemnity-co-texapp-1933.