Court Opinion

ID: 9532667
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:23:45.472555+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:48.397676
License: Public Domain

Ethridge, J..
(dissenting).
The effect of the majority opinion on suggestion of error is to place a wholly unwarranted restriction upon the terms and purposes of the Mississippi Workmen’s *641Compensation Act. A by-product of that interpretation is to deny compensation to the widow and child of the deceased employee based upon a reading of the statute which is wholly out of line with practically all of the decisions in recent years from other states interpreting substantially similar legislation. The majority opinion overturns the decision of the attorney-referee, who was then chairman of the Commission, on a, finding of fact, where he saw the witnesses and had the benefit of analyzing their testimony from personal observation. It also reverses the considered judgment of the entire Commission, and subsequently of the Circuit Court of Copiah County. And it does those things on legal theories which are not supported by the majority of the courts today, and on a disputed issue of fact.
The original opinion rendered in this case and now withdrawn as the majority view is printed in 55 So. (2d) 381-398, and sets forth in detail the views of the now dissenting judges. I will not repeat that discussion, but will refer to and incorporate in this opinion that opinion originally rendered. But several additional comments are pertinent. This case was considered by the court in several conferences prior to handing down the original decision. At that time the court consisted of six judges and three commissioners. Three of the justices voted to affirm the award, two dissented and one wrote a separate opinion which was in effect a dissent. Since that time the court has been increased to nine judges. Prior to handing down the original opinion in 55 So. (2d) 381, every one of the cases substantially relied upon by appellants and by the majority opinion on suggestion of error were considered in conference, and it was determined then that the statutory interpretations in them were not sound and should not be applied to assaults by third persons under the Mississippi ’Workmen’s Compensation Act. See 55 So. (2d) 391-392.
Sec. 2(2) of the Act, Chap. 354, Laws of 1948, provides that “injury” includes “an injury caused by the wilful *642act of a third person directed against an employee because of his employment, while so employed and working on the job.” The majority opinion now concludes that this imposes a distinct requirement as to wilful assaults by third persons, which is in addition to the requirement of Sec. 4 that it must arise out of and in the course of employment. Yet it is well established that the principal purpose of this provision is to remove the necessity of inquiry as to' whether the injury is “accidental”. To that effect, the original opinion cited Asaeda v. Haraguchi, 37 Hawaii 556, 559 (1947), and Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company v. Hoage, 1936, 66 App. D. C. 160, 85 F. (2d) 417. See 55 So. (2d) 386. These appear to be the only cases considering this problem as to a substantially similar statute. The majority opinion on suggestion of error does not distinguish these only precedents which are in point, nor does it show wherein they are unsound.
It is said that the wilful purpose of the assailant is the main criterion for determining whether the employee is covered by an assault by a third person upon him. But cases dealing with assaults by insane persons on workers are conclusive on this position, I think, because they negative and contradict it. Such cases make it manifest that the mental condition or attitude of the assailant is not the determining factor, because in the insane cases the assailant has no mental volition. If the mental attitude of the assailant were important, the insane cases would not have allowed coverage. Those cases are discussed in the original opinion, 55 So. (2d) 381, 395.
The award by the Commission should be upheld upon any one of three basic propositions: (1) That the employment was a concurrent, contributing cause of Watts’ death; (2) that the time-place rule is the better rule in assault cases and is in accord with established precedents from the courts of numerous other states; (3) and further, that the Commission was amply warranted in disbelieving the testimony of Mrs. Garrett, for the reasons set *643forth in 55 So. (2d) 397-398. The fundamental question is whether there is substantial evidence to support the finding of the hearing examiner and of the Commission. This limitation upon this court’s scope of review is well established in our previous decisions. Yet this award is overturned with a statement of the conclusion that no such substantial evidence exists, without indicating in what respects it is lacking. The fundamental responsibility for administering the Workmen’s Compensation Act is placed upon the Commission and not upon this Court.
Since the passage of the first compensation act in this country around 1910, employees have had considerable difficulty in obtaining from the courts practical interpretations of workmen’s compensation legislation in the light of its purposes and without the restrictions of the common law of torts. The common law theories of deviation, detour, and intervening cause, for example, are of questionable value in compensation cases in determining whether the required causation exists. Horovitz Assaults and Horseplay under Workmen’s Compensation Laws, 44 Ill. L. Rev. 311 (1946). At the time Watts was shot he was performing a service of benefit to his employer. He was picking up the clothing for cleaning which would result in a profit for the appellant employer. There is no dispute whatever in the record about this. He was working on his regular laundry route, and admittedly was on the porch at the time for the purpose of picking up the laundry. He had done nothing illegal at the time. Under the authority of modern common law and workmen’s compensation cases, there is substantial evidence to support the finding of the attorney-referee that Watts’ job was a concurrent, contributing cause of his death. A logical and practical interpretation of the workmen’s compensation act cannot be obtained by parsing the statute as grammarians, or by applying it as an abstract exercise in lexicography, or by disregarding the manifest legislative intent that the abstract common-law *644theories of intervening and proximate cause should not he applied in determining a causal relationship to the employment. The reversal of the award is, in my opinion, based upon these factors, and not upon a sound application of the statute and the legislative purpose. The restrictions imposed by Sec. 2(2) of the act as interpreted concerning wilful assaults by third persons will exist only-under such limited circumstances. However, the inequity of this unwarranted reading of Sec. 2(2) of the act as to wilful assaults by third persons will affect numerous claims under the act. The controlling opinion indicates that the wilful purpose of the third party assailant, however misguided and incorrect it may he, is the main criterion for determining whether the employee is coa^ered by the assault upon him. Continued application of this principle will effectively deny recovery to admittedly innocent employees who are working’ on their jobs at the direction of their employer. I would overrule the suggestion of error.
Hall, Lee and Arrington, JJ., join in this dissent.