United Air Lines Transport Corp. v. Industrial Commission

151 P.2d 591, 107 Utah 52, 1944 Utah LEXIS 127
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 31, 1944
DocketNo. 6680.
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 151 P.2d 591 (United Air Lines Transport Corp. v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United Air Lines Transport Corp. v. Industrial Commission, 151 P.2d 591, 107 Utah 52, 1944 Utah LEXIS 127 (Utah 1944).

Opinions

TURNER, Justice.

This case comes before us on a writ of certiorari to review the decision of the Industrial Commission of Utah which requires the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company to pay to the Treasurer of Utah for the use and benefit of the Combined Injury Benefit Fund the sum of $1002.06, pursuant to 42-1-64 (1), U. C. A. 1943, by reason of the fatal injury suffered by Neva Cantwell, employed by the plaintiff United Air Lines Transport 'Corporation.

The material facts are not in dispute. Those pertinent to the problems presented here are as follows and are taken from the findings of facts of the Commission and from the files of the case now before this court.

Neva Cantwell was in the employ of the United Air Lines Transport Corporation on the 1st day of May, 1942, as stewardess, on which day she received injuries which resulted immediately in her death. The injuries were received at the time, of the fatal crash of the United Air Lines’ transport plane which crashed into the mountains just north of Ensign Peak in Salt Lake County, Utah; that the said injuries arose out of and in the course of her employment, were proximately caused thereby, and occurred while the employe was performing services arising out of and incidental to her employment as stewardess.

Neva Cantwell entered into a contract of employment with the United Air Lines in Oakland, California, on October 24, 1941. She maintained a permanent residence at 1401 Floribunda Avenue, in Burlingame, California, which is situated just a few miles south of San Francisco. She was in the State of Utah in the normal course of her employment on a regularly scheduled trip which had its beginning *55 in California and was to cover a number of states, including Utah, as the trip proceeded east.

The employer was given due notice of the injury and death of Miss Cantwell.- She had earned approximately $875 for the three months preceding January 1st, 1942, based upon an annual salary of $1500. The Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company was the insurance carrier for the United Air Lines and prior to the hearing held by the Industrial Commission of Utah and the making of its order had paid the burial expenses of Miss Cantwell in accordance with the order of the Industrial Accident Commission of California.

The files contain a copy of the agreement of employment which was executed at Oakland, California, October 24, 1941. There is also an affidavit of Mrs. Ethel Watts who, under oath, said she is the mother of Neva Cantwell who was killed in the wreck of the air liner near Salt Lake City on the 1st day of May, 1942, and that no person or persons were wholly or partially dependent for support on Miss Cantwell at the time of her death.

The files also contain copies of correspondence between the Industrial Commission of Utah and plaintiff United Air Lines. Also copies of findings and award made in two matters designated by numbers 77232 and 77031, made by the Industrial Accident Commission of California. The award in Case No. 77232 is that made because of the death of Donald W. Brown who was pilot of the air liner which crashed and in which Miss Cantwell met her death. The award in Case No. 77081 is that made because of the death of Harold W. Miner, First Officer on the air liner which crashed.

The files also contain two affidavits that offer some material matters. One is made by R. A. Whittaker, manager of the California Inspection Rating Bureau. The officer says that there was issued on October 1, 1941, a policy of workmen’s compensation insurance wherein the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company was the insurance carrier and the United Air Lines was the employer and that the policy covered the entire operations of the *56 United Air Lines; that it insured the payment of Workmen’s Compensation benefits to all employes of the Corporation and the dependents of deceased employes for injuries or death sustained by such employes arising out of or in the course and scope of their employment during the calendar year following October 1, 1941, whether such injuries or death occurred in the State of California, or elsewhere, as long as the liability arose under the Workmen’s Compensation Act of the State of California, and that the liability of the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company to such employes under said policy is unlimited in amount and that said employer has provided extraterritorial coverage insuring its employes while working within the State of Utah temporarily on interstate flight trips where such employe was hired in California, maintained residence there and operated therefrom as a base.

The other affidavit is that of Wm. H. Hitchings, Pacific Department attorney for the Hartford Company. The last paragraph of the affidavit is: “That the extraterritorial provisions of the Utah Workmen’s Compensation Act are recognized in the State of California and that employers and employes, who are covered in the State of Utah under circumstances similar to those in the present case, are likewise exempted from the application of the Workmen’s Compensation Laws of the State of California.”

Plaintiffs contend that the decision of the Industrial Commission of Utah is erroneous for several reasons. We think the alleged grounds can be summarized as follows: That its decision is contrary to law in that, first, the order is in violation of Sec. 1 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and also in violation of Sec. 7 of Art. I of the Constitution of the State of Utah, providing that no person shall be deprived of property without due process of law. Second, that the Commission does not have jurisdiction over the matter. Third, because of the provisions of the Utah statutes, if the Commission could have had jurisdiction over the matter, it could not make the award for the reason the record affirmatively shows that *57 settlement was made for the death of Neva Cantwell under the Workmen’s Compensation Act of California prior to any action by the Industrial Commission of Utah to assume jurisdiction. Fourth, that, whereas settlement was made under the workmen’s compensation laws of California and such fact was made known to the Utah Commission, the decision of our Commission is in violation of Sec. 1, Art. IV, of the Constitution of the United States, providing that full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other state.

The questions presented here invite a careful consideration of 42-1-43, 42-1-64, 42-1-52 and 42-l-52a of the Utah Code Annotated, 1943. 42-1-43 is as follows:

“Every employee mentioned in section 42-1-41 who is injured, and the dependents of every such employee who is killed, by accident arising out of or in the course of his employment, wheresoever such injury occurred, provided the same was not purposely self-inflicted, shall be entitled to receive, and shall be paid, such compensation for loss sustained on account of such injury or death, and such amount for medical, nurse and hospital services and medicines, and, in case of death, such amount for funeral expenses, as is herein provided.”

This section is general in its nature and calls attention to other provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Law.

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151 P.2d 591, 107 Utah 52, 1944 Utah LEXIS 127, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-air-lines-transport-corp-v-industrial-commission-utah-1944.