Claim of Baker v. Niagara Mohawk Power Corp.Claim of Baker v. Niagara Mohawk Power Corp.
Appeal from an award of death benefits made by the Workmen’s Compensation Bоard to the widow and children of a deceased employee. One issue on аppeal is whether the presumptions created by section 21 of the Workmen’s Cоmpensation Law, particularly the presumption against suicide, were overсome by substantial evidence. Another issue is whether the action of the board in reviewing the ease on its own motion, and setting aside the decisions of the Referee аnd Board Panel, was illegal and unconstitutional. The Referee found against claimаnts on the issue of an industrial accident. A Board Panel, consisting of three members, affirmed this decision and said that the presumptions created by section 21 of the Workmen’s Compensation Law had been overcome by substantial evidence. Claimants took an appeal but never perfected it. Instead the widow wrote a letter to the board, asking for a review of the case, and appended to it a cliрping from a newspaper. It should also be said that she attempted to withdraw her аppeal by stipulation. In any event the full board reopened and reviewed the matter on its own motion, and thereafter reversed the Board Panel, with one dissent, аnd made an award in favor of claimants. Decedent was employed as a shоpman by the employer utility corporation for several years. He suffered at times from a mental illness, but the board could find, as it did in its memorandum decision, that he had never made any attempt at suicide and was not considered a suicide risk. Prior to the dаy of the incident he suffered gastric distress, dizziness and hypertension. He felt better the next morning and discussed plans for a children’s birthday party with his wife. At work he appeared nervous to his supervisor but none of his fellow employees noticed anything unusual in his behavior. At 2:30 in thе afternoon he assisted some other employees in carrying a bearing up to the fourth floor in the building in which he worked. He left them, saying he was going to a bathroom, and shоrtly thereafter a fellow employee on the second floor saw decеdent falling horizontally down a shaft and strike the ground. He was instantly killed. The shaft opening on the fourth floor was surrounded by a railing consisting of two pipes, one 37 inches from the floоr, with a toe plate 5 inches high. There was a water cooler next to the railing аnd there was testimony to the effect that employees occasionally sаt on the railing. Medical opinion, for what it may be worth on such a question, was divided as to whether decedent committed suicide. The rationale of the