Shell Co. v. Industrial Accident Commission

Petition for writ of review by the Shell Company of California against the Industrial Accident Commission and Catherine Fleming, individually, and as guardian ad litem of John Fleming.

The undisputed facts of this matter are briefly these: On July 8, 1916, the husband of the respondent, Catherine Fleming, and father of John Fleming, received an injury while in the employ of the petitioner, the Shell Company of California, by which the neck of his femur was broken. Pie made a slow recovery, and on January 11, 1917, while exercising his leg by walking in his yard, under the special direction of his surgeon so to do, he slipped and refractured the bone at the same point. The bones never united after this second' fracture except by a fibrous connection, and on April 27, 1917, the doctor decided that an open operation was necessary to readjust the bone. This was performed, and while the operation seemed to he a success, it transpired that within a few hours thereafter his stomach filled with gas and became greatly distended, his heart collapsed, and he died.

The Industrial Accident Commission awarded a death benefit to the respondents, Catherine Fleming and John Fleming, and the…