218 N.W. 555 | Minn. | 1928
At the time of her alleged injury relator was employed in the office of the respondent Dr. F. A. Swartwood at Waseca. Her duties were those of office assistant and secretary to a physician and surgeon. Her "noon hour" was from 12 to 1, and it was her custom to go home for lunch. On May 26, 1926, at the request of Dr. Swartwood, who expected to be absent at midday, she lunched at a cafe near the office. Not only that, she arranged with the telephone central that all calls for the doctor, while she was absent from the office, should be given her at the cafe. The price of the lunch was advanced by the doctor. A part of the meal was coffee, apparently the first served from a new urn. She noticed something in the cup "that looked like a white powder." Relator lunched between 12:30 and 1 o'clock and returned immediately to the office. There, about 1:30, she was taken violently ill. It was diagnosed as a case of chemical poisoning, and the evidence requires a finding that the cause was in the coffee she drank from the new urn at the cafe. The industrial commission denied compensation, holding that relator had suffered an accidental injury but that it had not arisen out of or in the course of her employment. Not much if any question seems to have been made whether the event satisfied the statutory definition of "accident" in our workmen's compensation law and produced "at the time injury to the physical structure of the body." G. S. 1923, § 4326(h).
1. As to whether there was in fact an accident within the meaning of the statutory definition just referred to, we are concluded by the affirmative finding. The opinion of two doctors established quite clearly that relator's illness was the result of chemical poisoning. There is no direct proof that chemical poisoning results at the time in injury to the physical structure of the body. We assume that to be a matter of common knowledge and that it would be surprising if there could be chemical poisoning without immediate or at least early injury to the human anatomy. But be that as it may, it is one of those things with respect to which the industrial commission may find the fact without special evidence. Here it has found that there was an accident, and that necessarily includes the element of resulting injury to the physical structure of the body. *149 There is nothing in the record which will permit us to disturb that finding.
2. The remaining question, whether the accident arose out of and in the course of the employment, the facts being undisputed, is a question of law with respect to which we find ourselves constrained to disagree with the industrial commission. Even though not in the office, the relator while at lunch was on her employer's business. She was where he directed her to be, and doing what he required her to do — waiting for telephone calls in close proximity to the office. The expected calls had to do with obstetrical cases soon to require the doctor's assistance. That the meal was for relator's refreshment did not take her out of the course of the employment any more than did the smoking of the cigarette which caused the injury in Kaletha v. Hall Merc. Co.
There seems to be no dissent from the proposition that "the relation of employer and employee is not suspended, as a rule, during the noon hour, when the master expects, and expressly or by fair implication invites, the servant to remain upon the premises, in the immediate vicinity of the work." 18 R.C.L. 583. Thomas v. Wisconsin C. Ry. Co.
The instant case is distinguishable from Maxa v. County of LeSueur,
Order reversed with directions to allow compensation, and in this court relator may tax an attorney's fee of $75. *151