Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. v. Industrial Accident Commission

By this proceeding the petitioner seeks to annul an award made by the Industrial Accident Commission to George Abram in so far as said award applies to the owner of a daily newspaper, of which the petitioner is the insurance carrier. The relationship of employer and employee between the newspaper proprietor and Abram is admitted, but it is contended that at the time of the injury for which compensation was awarded the employee was not acting within the scope of his employment.

The facts in brief are as follows: George Abram, a minor, was employed by the newspaper proprietor to deliver its newspapers to certain subscribers, a list of whom was furnished to him. The method of accomplishing the delivery, the means of transportation and the particular route to be followed were left to the arrangement and discretion of Abram. He was, however, required to commence deliveries about 4:30 o’clock in the morning and to make deliveries to the subscribers as soon thereafter as possible. The driver of a milk truck, operated by a creamery company, traversed in a general way the same territory in the delivery of milk and cream as that covered by the newspaper route. The milk driver passed near…