National Automobile Insurance v. Industrial Accident Commission

An application for a writ of certiorari to review an award of the Industrial Accident Commission.

The undisputed facts are as follows: Respondent Stall was employed by petitioner Armstrong as a garage floorman. On September 1, 1932, while cleaning one of the automobiles stored in his employer’s garage, he found on the seat of the car what appeared to be and what he thought was a fountain pen. The article was in fact a loaded pen pistol which, while in Stall’s hand, exploded, totally destroying the sight of one of his eyes and injuring the other. An award was made to him by the Commission.

Petitioners claim that the evidence did not justify the findings, and that consequently the Commission acted in excess of its jurisdiction.

Stall testified that he did not voluntarily manipulate the mechanism of the pistol in any way, and his employer testified that it was his duty to take charge of any article found in a car and deliver the same to his employer or place it in a pocket in the car. A dealer in arms and ammunition, called on behalf of petitioners, testified that he was familiar with the type of pistol which caused the injury. He gave as his opinion that when fully compressed the…