Fidelity & Deposit Co. v. Industrial Accident Commission

By this review petitioner seeks to have an award given under section 84 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1913, as that act was amended in 1915, declared invalid. W. D. Head, president and superintendent of the Head Drilling Company, a corporation, was killed. The award was made to his widow. There is thus within this case the question of the power of the commission to make any award in case of death. But as that question is not necessary to the decision of this case, and as it is now under the consideration of this court in another case, it is here passed over without determination.

The question presented is whether or not Head was guilty of willful misconduct when he met his death. (Workmen’s Compensation Act, sec. 12a, subd. 3.) This question is a jurisdictional one, and therefore subject to review by this court. (Great Western Power Co. v. Pillsbury, 170 Cal. 180 , [ 149 Pac. 35 ].) Over the facts there is no dispute. In the course of his employment Head, who was at Taft, was directed to go to Los Angeles on the work of his company. He hired an automobile, with a driver, to take him from Taft to Bakersfield, at which point he proposed to embark on a train for Los Angeles.…