Independence Indemnity Co. v. Industrial Accident Commission

Certiorari to review an award of the respondent Industrial Accident Commission. An application for adjustment of claim was filed with the respondent Commission on behalf of the father and dependent minor son of one Leo Loya, deceased. At the time of his death on January 3, 1926, the deceased was in the employ of the Southern Pacific Company as a member of a section crew operating upon the lines of said railroad in the vicinity of Los Angeles. After hearing it was found that the Southern Pacific Company was the general employer of the deceased and that the Wm. Fox Vaudeville Company was the special employer for whom he was rendering service when fatally injured. Petitioner, as insurance carrier of the Wm. Fox Vaudeville Company, was thereupon directed to pay the death benefit awarded to the minor son of deceased. No award was made in favor of the father, for it was found that he was neither wholly nor partially dependent upon the deceased for support. In this proceeding we are confronted by the question of whether or not the evidence adduced upon the hearing before the respondent Commission warrants and supports the finding of the relation of special employer and special employee…

I dissent. The Industrial Accident Commission found that the Wm. Fox Vaudeville Company was the special employer of Loya at the time of his fatal injury and rendered an award solely against the petitioner, which is the insurance carrier of that company. In my opinion the findings of the Commission and the award were amply supported by the evidence. The section crew of which the deceased was a member was sent out from Saugus to “location,” with instructions to follow the directions, of the Fox company in handling the motor-car from which the deceased was thrown to his death. When the day’s work was completed the crew, including the deceased, was sent back to Saugus to the home base on this same motor-car. It was on the return trip to Saugus that the accident occurred. It was the duty of the deceased to assist the Fox company and return the motor-car to the general employer at Saugus. Until the motor was so returned the deceased was rendering service incidental to the work of the Fox company in carrying on its work and until such return the deceased was using the instrumentality provided by the Fox company in going to and from “location.” In this respect the case comes within the…