176 Ga. 833 | Ga. | 1933
It appears from the record R. D. Pickens, an employee of the City of Atlanta, was struck by the driver of an automobile passing along a street. R. D. Pickens was a member of the “asphalt gang” employed by the city for the purpose of repairing its streets. From the collision with the automobile Pickens suffered certain injuries. Pneumonia developed, and Pickens died. His widow filed a claim for compensation, on the ground that her husband received the injury while in the employment of the city, although the injury was done by a person other than those in the
It is provided in the Civil Code (1910), §§ 86-1, 865: “No municipal corporation shall levy or collect for the ordinary current expenses of said corporation, except as hereinafter provided, any ad valorem tax upon the property within said corporation, exceeding one half of one per cent, upon the value of said property. . . The term 'ordinary current expenses’ shall be construed to include all
In Murphy v. Constitution Indemnity Co., supra, the question was as to the jurisdiction of the industrial commission to make an award against a county board of education, whereby an automobile driver injured while he ivas employed by that board might be compensated. It was contended that the board of education was an agency by which the county handled its school matters, and that the
So the first question which now arises is whether the Department of Industrial Relations had jurisdiction of the claim for compensation now under review. The employer was the City of Atlanta in its corporate capacity. In the language of the act, “Employers shall include any municipal corporation within the State. . . Employee shall include every person except one whose employment is not in the usual course of trade, business, occupation, or profession of the employer.” The employee was a member of the city’s “asphalt gang” working in repairing its streets. So it seems that if we were correct in our construction of the workmen’s compensation act in Hartford Accident &c. Co. v. Thompson, supra, the city would clearly be subject to that legislation in the present instance. But the city attacks this portion of the workmen’s compensation act upon, the ground that it is in conflict with article 7, section 6, paragraph 1, of the constitution of 1877, which provides: “The General Assembly shall not authorize any county, municipal corporation, or political division o'f this State to become a stockholder in any company, corporation, or association, or to appropriate money for, or to loan its credit to, any corporation, company, association, institution, or individual, except for purely charitable purposes.” The contention that this provision of the workmen’s compensation aot, so far as it relates to municipal corporations, is unconstitutional, is based upon the same grounds as were sustained in Floyd County v. Scoggins and Murphy v. Constitution Indemnity Co., supra. We can not concur in the opinion that decisions relating to the absence of power of counties to levy tax for the insurance of its employees have any application to such municipal corporations as the plaintiff in error. The rulings in the two cases which we have just cited were necessarily compelled by reason of the fact that a county’s power of taxation is confined and restricted by the provisions of the Code (1910), § 513, whereas it is a matter of judicial knowledge that no such restrictions are imposed upon the power of a municipality to tax. A city chartered by the State, if empowered by its charter to levy and collect occupation taxes of various kinds, may raise sufficient funds from which may be paid accident insurance for its employees. The municipality may allow employees to be engaged in repairing the streets where the funds
While various sections of the constitution are formally specified, as required by the rules of this court, in the appeal by the city, no separate reference is made to any particular article, section, or paragraph in the brief of counsel for the plaintiff in error, nor are any authorities cited to support the contention that the provision of the workmen’s compensation act as to municipal corporations is unconstitutional. However, we have carefully considered the question whether the act offends either one or all of the constitutional provisions set forth in the appeal, and have ruled upon each: The statements contained in the headnotes do not require further elaboration. Our conclusion upon the case as a whole is so well condensed and summarily stated in the judgment of the trial judge that we adopt it as a portion of our opinion: "The court is of the opinion that the act bringing municipalities within the provisions of the workmen’s compensation act impliedly authorized municipalities to tax for that purpose, if indeed it is authorized under other charter provisions. The legislature has more liberal control of municipalities than of counties, since the latter are safeguarded more strictly in the constitution.”
Judgment affirmed.