Popst

This is a proceeding in certiorari, having for its purpose the modification of an order of the Industrial Accident Commission whereby these petitioners, the parents of Lynn Popst, who died as the result of injuries sustained in the course of his employment, were awarded a certain amount as a death benefit under subdivision 2 of paragraph 3 of section 9 of the Workmen’s Compensation, Insurance and Safety Law (Stats. 1919, p. 917). The commission found that petitioners were partially dependent upon their son for their support at the time of his death, and that the “annual amount” that he so devoted to their support was four hundred dollars.

[1] Nowhere in the Workmen’s Compensation, Insurance and Safety Law is any rule or basis prescribed for the determination of what shall be deemed to be the “annual amount” devoted by a deceased employee to the support of his dependents where, as here, the sums contributed to such support during the year preceding the demise of the injured employee have not been constant, either in amounts or times of payment. In the very nature of the case, the determination of what is such “annual amount,’’ when, as here, the support contributed by the injured…