Younghans v. City of St. Paul

222 N.W.2d 100, 301 Minn. 498, 1974 Minn. LEXIS 1297
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedSeptember 27, 1974
DocketNo. 44301
StatusPublished

This text of 222 N.W.2d 100 (Younghans v. City of St. Paul) 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
Younghans v. City of St. Paul, 222 N.W.2d 100, 301 Minn. 498, 1974 Minn. LEXIS 1297 (Mich. 1974).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

Employer seeks a review of a decision of the Workmen’s Compensation Commission awarding benefits to respondent, widow of the deceased employee. The only issue is whether employee, a St. Paul police officer, met his death during and in the course of his employment. We remand for further proceedings.

The decision of the compensation judge and the Workmen’s Compensation Commission is based on the testimony of a witness whose version of the facts is completely discredited in all major respects by her testimony in the prosecution of Luther William Fulford whose conviction of murder in causing the death of the employee we affirmed in State v. Fulford, 290 Minn. 236, 187 N. W. 2d 270 (1971). For reasons which are beyond comprehension, the city failed to impeach the testimony of the principal witness who may have perjured herself by testifying inconsistently in the murder trial and the compensation hearing. Accordingly, in the interest of justice, the matter must be remanded for further consideration by the commission in the light of the testimony which was not considered.

The critical evidence on which the compensation judge and the commission based their decisions was this: Paulette F. Garvie, also known as Pat Nordstrom, was living in the Glendale Apartments. Luther Fulford and others had been in and out of her room at the Glendale, drinking with her most of the day of February 3, 1969. At some point, Fulford accused her of stealing $20 from him and held a knife to her throat until she apparently convinced him she hadn’t taken the money. At the compensation hearing, she testified that she was frightened, that she barricaded her door against his return, and that she was very upset. When she finally left her apartment about 7 o’clock that evening, Fulford came “charging out of his apartment, come running with his knife in his hand. So David and I just split, got out of there.” She said she and her companion ran down to Wabasha Street. Miss Garvie met Officer Younghans at Geraldo’s Bar between 11:30 and midnight. She had not seen him at any other time that evening. She testified that she [500]*500did not call the police about her trouble with Fulford because she herself was in an illegal profession but trusted Younghans. When asked whether Younghans was drunk when she talked to him, she said: “To me Dick was perfect. I’d — I seen him, I talked to him. To me, to my eyesight and my knowledge, he looked fine to me.” She said he was not drunk. She related to him the experience she had had with Fulford that day, and asked him “if he’d take a check up there [at the Glendale] and see what’s going on.” This all occurred just before midnight, she testified.

She twice testified she had not seen Younghans that evening until just before midnight. She stated that he was very seldom in the Glendale.

“Q. And did you see him in the Glendale Apartments quite often?
“A. No.
“Q. You didn’t?
“A. No.
“Q. During the course of the days did you ever know that he was in the Glendale Apartments?
“A. No.”

Miss Garvie remained in the bar with Younghans until closing time. Younghans before leaving the bar said he would “check it out.” At 1 a.m.. he was found dead at the Glendale Apartments.

Although Younghans had not been working for several days and was not on duty, the commission found that he was acting in the line of duty when killed. These conclusions are predicated on the following assumptions: First, that Miss Garvie was so frightened by Fulford that she turned to Younghans for help; second, that Younghans was so dedicated to duty he responded promptly, acting in his capacity as a police officer; and, third, that his only purpose in being at the Glendale was to find Fulford and restrain him from further disturbance.

As to the first assumption, bearing in mind that Miss Garvie’s testimony at the compensation hearing was adduced on September 20, 1972, she previously testified in May, 1969, at the murder trial, as follows: The incident which resulted in Fulford’s threatening her with a knife occurred at 10 or 10:30 on the morning of February 3. Later that morning, Fulford came back to her apartment and she let him in. When she was asked, “After that incident in the morning were you afraid of the defendant [Fulford]?” she answered, “If I would have been afraid I wouldn’t have let him in the second time.” When she and a companion finally left her apartment at 7 o’clock that evening, Fulford emerged from his room and Miss Garvie’s companion started to run. [501]*501However, she said she “walked out of the building and nothing even happened. Luther didn’t chase us or nothin.”

This testimony given almost 3Yz years before the compensation commission hearing completely contradicts Miss Garvie’s position at the compensation commission that she sought help from Younghans because she was frightened of Fulford.

The second assumption on which the decision is based was the testimony of Miss Garvie that she complained to Younghans about midnight and within the hour he was murdered while responding to her appeal for help. In the compensation hearing she testified she had gone to a motion picture after leaving her apartment, and she left the theater between 10 and 10:30 to go to Geraldo’s Bar where she met Younghans between 11:30 and 12. At the murder trial she testified on at least six different occasions that she saw Younghans at 8 o’clock in the evening and at no other time and that her conversation with him occurred at 8 o’clock. She was asked:

“Q. Did you after 8:00 o’clock or after that first conversation you had with him?
“A. Pardon — did I see him again?
“Q. Yes.
“A. No.
“Q. You have indicated already that you didn’t see him after 8:00 o’clock again after you had conversation with him, is that correct?
“A. No, I did not.”

Younghans wanted to buy her a drink but she declined because she wanted to go to a movie.

At the commission hearing Miss Garvie was asked whether in her opinion Younghans was drunk at the time of her conversation with him, to which she responded:

“A. To me Dick was perfect. I’d — I seen him, and I talked to him. To me, to my eyesight and my knowledge, he looked fine to me.
“Q. And was he drunk?
“A. No.”

At the murder trial, on the other hand, when asked whether he appeared to have been drinking heavily, Miss Garvie stated:

“All right. Like I said, I knew Dick for a year and he was starting to hit the juice pretty good when he got off duty.” [502]*502She was further asked whether Younghans had consumed a considerable amount by 8 o’clock and answered, “He had quite a few.”

The commission did have before it the testimony of Officer Fred Leske who was making his rounds in line of duty and ran into Young-hans at midnight. He described Officer Younghans as follows:

“A. I believe he was too intoxicated to know what was going on.
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“A. Well, his speech was.

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Related

State v. Fulford
187 N.W.2d 270 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1971)

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Bluebook (online)
222 N.W.2d 100, 301 Minn. 498, 1974 Minn. LEXIS 1297, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/younghans-v-city-of-st-paul-minn-1974.