Petroleum Chemical Corp. v. State Industrial Com.

1931 OK 750, 6 P.2d 775, 154 Okla. 67, 1931 Okla. LEXIS 488
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 1, 1931
Docket22403
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 1931 OK 750 (Petroleum Chemical Corp. v. State Industrial Com.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Petroleum Chemical Corp. v. State Industrial Com., 1931 OK 750, 6 P.2d 775, 154 Okla. 67, 1931 Okla. LEXIS 488 (Okla. 1931).

Opinion

ANDREWS, J.

This is an original proceeding in this court to review an award of the State Industrial Commission in favor of the claimant therein, respondent herein, against the petitioners herein. The State Industrial Commission found:

“(1) That claimant, on and prior to March 24, 1930, was in the employment of this respondent and engaged in a hazardous occupation covered by and subject to the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Law.
“(2) Arising out of and in the course of his said employment, claimant on March 24, 1930, sustained an accidental personal injury, as a result of which he was temporarily totally disabled from June 21, 1930, to November 1, 1930;
“(3) As a further result of said injury claimant suffered the loss of the left leg by amputation;
“(4) That the average wage of claimant at the time of said injury was $200 per month”

■ — and made an award based on those findings.

The petitioners present two propositions as follows:

“The claimant’s employment was not such an employment as would bring him within the purview of the Workmen’s Compensation Act.”
“The claimant at the time of his injury was not engaged in the course of his employment, nor did his injury arise out of or in the course of such employment.”

The petitioners assert that the burden is upon the claimant to establish the fact that he is in a class embraced within the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, and that nothing can be presumed or inferred in this respect. In support thereof they cite the decision of this court in Hamilton v. Randall, 136 Okla. 170, 276 P. 705. The decision cited does not sustain that contention. It holds only that the burden is upon a claimant to prove that the relationship of employer and employee existed at the time of the injury. When the relationship of employer and employee has been shown, there is a presumption that the claim is within the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act. Bishop v. Wilson, 147 Okla. 224, 296 P. 438. In that case it was held:

“Under the Workmen’s Compensation Act (paragraph 1 of section 7295, C. O. S. 1921), providing that there shall be a presumption that a claim comes within the provisions of the act in the absence of substantial evidence to the contrary, the Industrial Commission must presume that the business conducted by the employer was within the provisions of the act defining ‘hazardous employments’ in the absence of such substantial evidence.”

The record shows that the claimant at the time of the injury was an employee of the petitioner and that he was acting at that time under the direction of his superior. We are not concerned with the nature of his duties at some other time and we are considering his duties and his occupation at the time of his injury. With reference thereto the petitioner showed by evidence *68 that the claimant was employed as “assistant engineer" under one Liddell, the “chief engineer"; that on the night of the injury a fire occurred so close to the plant of the petitioner as 'to endanger the property of the petitioner; that the chief engineer directed .the claimant “with two other pipe fitters to make some temporary connections at the alcohol plant itself to .permit the use of one of our plant lines at that time leading to and conducting material from the plant to about 1,500 feet away from the plant”; and that the injury occurred while the claimant was so engaged in the protection of. his employer’s property. With reference thereto the chief engineer testified:

“A. This tank fire occurred about 12:15 a. m., on March 24th, at which time I was at home. The blowing of the fire siren took me down to the plant. I did no active work in the fighting of the fire, but confined my operations to the removal of the light butene fraction in the storage tank about 250 feet from the scene of the fire, which belonged to the Chemical Petroleum Corporation. The removal of this material from this location consisted of laying considerable two-inch pipe line, strung on the ground. On completion of this line, Thomas and several men were delegated to watch the burning of this material. This burning-commenced, as X remember it about 6 o’clock in the morning and continued until about two o’clock in the afternoon, at which time all of this hazardous material was removed. Q. What orders did you give Mr. Thomas, at this time, if any? A. We had a consultation at the scene of the fire and agreed that this light material should be removed from the scene. I delegated Thomas with two other pipe fitters to make some temporary connections at the alcohol plant itself to permit t'he us? of one of our plant lines at that time leading to and conducting-material from the plant to about 1.500 feet away from the plant. He organized the -pipe fitting on the line but did no actual pipe fitting. He was superintending the fitting of the pipe, getting the pipe from the storage and fitting it, and, so on. Q. Then you ordered Mr. Thomas to superintend the laying- of the line in order to remove this material belonging to the Chemical Petroleum Corporation from the scene of the fire? A. Yes, sir. Q. Was this within the line of his employment under ordinary conditions? A. Not under ordinary conditions"

■ — and:

“Q. Mr. Liddell, do you recall whether or not Mr. Thomas made any complaint this particular night of an injury, which he claims to have sustained at that túne? A. Yes. sir. Q. What report did he make to you of that injury? A. He stated that he had stumbled and I am not sure whether he actuallv fell or not, but he fell over some of the lines in the plant and stated he hurt his foot, his foot was bruised and was paining him. Q. What did you advise him to do at that time? A. I asked him how serious it was and he thought it was simply bruised and I asked him if he thought he could carry on with us at that time, and he believed he could and he stayed with us during- the course of that fire. Q. Hid he return to work the next day ? A. Yes, sir; as I remember, he did. Q. Hid he work for some little period after this iujury? A. Yes, sir. Q. Ho you recall approximately what length of time he worked after he sustained —after this particular night? A. I don’t recall exactly. I believe it was about ten or fourteen days. Q. On this particular night, did you call out Mr. Thomas or was he on duty at that time, carrying- out his employment as a draughtsman or did he respond voluntarily to the fire? A. He responded voluntarily. He was on the job a couple of minutes before I was. Q. He was under no duty to — by reason of any express order from the company to report to such fire? A. No, sir. Q. His work in supervising- of the laying of this pipe line was entirely foreign to his employment, was it now? A. Yes, except in an emergency case, it was.”

The claimant “carried on” in an emergency at the direction of his superior in order to protect the property of his employer from danger of loss by fire. He was injured while superintending the “getting the pipe from the storage and fitting it, and so on.” That (he chief engineer was authorized to direct the operations is shown by the testimony of the resident manager, as follows:

“A.

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Bluebook (online)
1931 OK 750, 6 P.2d 775, 154 Okla. 67, 1931 Okla. LEXIS 488, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/petroleum-chemical-corp-v-state-industrial-com-okla-1931.