Goodhew

Petitioner, Geneva Goodhew, widow of the deceased employee, James H. Goodhew, Jr., who was president of the respondent-employer, Goodhew Ambulance Service, Inc., seeks annulment of that part of a decision after reconsideration made by the respondent Industrial Accident Commission which denied her the increased compensation provided by Labor Code, section 4554, recoverable upon an employer’s wilful failure to secure payment of compensation by insurance or otherwise.

James H. Goodhew, Jr., the deceased, died on August 20, 1955, as the result of an automobile accident and the respondent commission found that the injury proximately causing his death arose out of and occurred in the course of his employment and ordered payment of the normal death benefits by the employer to the widow and minor child. The commission also found that at the time of the injury, the employer was uninsured as to the decedent, but not wilfully so, and that both the employer and employee were subject to the provisions of the workmen’s compensation laws.

The question presented in this proceeding is whether the commission’s conclusional finding and determination on reconsideration that the employer was not…