Chick

This is a proceeding in certiorari to review awards of the Industrial Accident Commission whereby there was granted to Ira M. Rowell and Otto Sehuek additional compensation because they were found by the commission to have been injured by reason of the serious and wilful misconduct of their employer. The employer was engaged in constructing a steel arch bridge with concrete deck over the Smith River in Del Norte County. The steel work had been completed and the employer was engaged in laying the deck. This was being done progressively a section at a time. The sections were called bays and when a bay was completed the forms used in constructing it were stripped off and the material used in constructing the next bay. In order to conduct this stripping operation the employer made use of a suspended platform underhanging the bridge at a distance of about 4 feet. Below the platform at the time these workmen were injured was a drop of about 60 feet to the bed of the river. At the time of the injury the platform failed and the men had been catapulted into the river, receiving injuries. There was at no time any dispute concerning their right to compensation, but the men applied to the…