Sena v. Continental Casualty Co.

643 P.2d 622, 97 N.M. 753
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 25, 1982
Docket5292
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 643 P.2d 622 (Sena v. Continental Casualty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sena v. Continental Casualty Co., 643 P.2d 622, 97 N.M. 753 (N.M. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

OPINION

LOPEZ, Judge.

The defendants appeal a judgment in a workmen’s compensation case awarding total and permanent disability and other benefits to the plaintiff. We affirm.

There are two issues on this appeal: 1. Whether the plaintiff’s accidental injuries arose out of and in the course of his employment; and 2. Attorney’s fees.

The trial court entered 38 Findings of Fact regarding the issue of whether the accidental injuries arose out of and in the course of his employment. Only one finding, No. 33, has been challenged. The, unchallenged findings show the following facts.

Rafael Sena began working for Cream-land Dairies, Inc., in 1957. Creamland is located at Third and McKnight in Albuquerque. On Thanksgiving morning, November 22, 1979, Sena drove his pickup truck to work and parked it on the street beside the Creamland premises. He locked the pickup, removed the keys, and went in to work. He punched in at 4:30 a. m., and began carrying out his duties as a milk receiver, which consisted of emptying tankers of milk. He had hooked up hoses to the tanker and turned on the pump to pump the milk out of the tanker. At 5:15 a. m., he made a notation on his log sheet. He then climbed a ladder up onto the top of the tanker, checked the level of the milk, and started to climb down. That is the last thing Sena remembers until he woke up in the hospital several days later.

At 5:29 a. m., police officer Emsing was dispatched to Third and Lomas. This is about twelve blocks from Creamland. When he arrived, an ambulance and rescue squad were already there. Sena was lying in the road on Third Street about 230 feet south of Lomas, severely injured.

At approximately 5:15 a. m., police officer Steele observed at Copper, a pickup truck traveling south on Third Street at a high rate of speed with no lights on. He pursued the truck for some distance. Finally, the driver abandoned the truck and ran off. He was never caught. The pickup belonged to Sena, and was the same truck he had driven to work that morning.

The trial court entered 15 findings regarding attorneys fees. Only 4 are challenged, Nos. 48, 49, 51, and 54.

39. Plaintiff is entitled to a reasonable attorney fee.
40. The Defendants refused to pay any Workmen’s Compensation to the Plaintiff for the injuries he received on November 22, 1979.
41. The Defendants never offered any settlement to the plaintiff or his attorneys.
42. The Defendants contested all issues until immediately before trial and [sic] which time they stipulated that the plaintiff was permanently and totally disabled.
43. After the trial on the merits, the Court found totally in the plaintiff’s favor awarding him back benefits, future benefits, medical and rehabilitation expenses.
44. The issue that was eventually tried was whether the Plaintiff was within the scope and course of his employment when he was injured.
45. The factual and legal issues involved in this case were: Where plaintiff’s injuries occurred, whether he fell from his pickup or whether he was struck by an object in the eye, whether his job was a “high-risk” one because of the area of town he worked in, whether the presumption in this case should have been that plaintiff’s injuries arose out of his employment and whether, even if plaintiff had left defendant’s premises voluntarily, if it constituted such a minor deviation as to be compensable.
46. The attorney who did the majority of work on this case showed excellent ability and skill and presented plaintiff’s case in a professional manner and has an outstanding reputation in the community for an attorney with his four years experience.
47. The plaintiff himself had no money and was, in fact, destitute as a result of his injury, and could not have afforded an attorney, nor the costs of litigation.
48. Narciso Garcia, Jr., one of the plaintiff’s attorneys put in a minimum of eighty-five (85) hours, while the other attorneys in his firm also worked on the case.
49. A reasonable estimate of the time spent on this case by plaintiff’s attorneys would be one-hundred thirty (130) hours.
50. The hourly rate for attorneys with the years of experience of the attorneys who worked on this case range from $50.00 to $125.00 an hour.
51. The hourly rate normally charged by an attorney with Mr. Garcia’s experience would be between $70.00 to $75.00 an hour.
52. Plaintiff’s case was an “all or nothing” type situation and if plaintiff had not been successful, his attorneys would not have been compensated for their work.
53. The amount of benefits paid to plaintiff over the 600 maximum weeks is in excess of $100,000.00.
54. A reasonable attorney fee is Twelve Thousand Five Hundred and no/100 Dollars ($12,500.00).

Arising out of and in the course of employment.

The Workmen’s Compensation Act requires that an accidental injury arise out of and in the course of the workman’s employment in order to be compensable. Section 52-1-9 and § 52-1-28, N.M.S.A.1978. An injury arises out of the employment when it is “caused by a risk to which the worker is subjected in the employment.” Losinski v. Corcoran, Barkoff & Stagnone, 97 N.M. 79, 636 P.2d 898 (Ct.App.1981). Whether an injury occurs in the course of employment “relates to the time, place and circumstances under which the accident takes place.” Velkovitz v. Penasco Independent Sch. Dist., 96 N.M. 577, 633 P.2d 685 (1981).

The question of compensability of an accidental injury under the New Mexico Workmen’s Compensation Act is a matter of law to be decided by the court from the facts. Tafoya v. Kermac Nuclear Fuels Corp., 71 N.M. 157, 376 P.2d 576 (1962); Burton v. Crawford and Company, 89 N.M. 436, 553 P.2d 716 (Ct.App.1976). The defendants challenge the judgment of the trial court on the grounds that findings No. 32 and 33 are inconsistent and that they do not support the conclusions arrived at by the trial court. Findings Nos. 32 and 33 read as follows:

32. The events that transpired from 5:15 a. m. to 5:29 are unexplained.
33. Plaintiff suffered an accidental injury arising out of and in the course of his employment.

Defendants also contend that finding No.

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Bluebook (online)
643 P.2d 622, 97 N.M. 753, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sena-v-continental-casualty-co-nmctapp-1982.