55 Ga. App. 790 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1937
It is contended by the plaintifE in error that there was not sufficient evidence to warrant a finding that at the time of his injury the claimant was working for the Gainesville Cotton Mills. It is undisputed that he was injured at the time and in the manner claimed, but it is argued that such an injury did not arise out of and in the course of his employment with the de
Knickerbocker, however, denied that he had ever used the mill’s property or its employees at the mill’s expense, and the mill’s assistant secretary and treasurer testified that, so far as he knew, Knickerbocker had no such authority. That, however, was -only his own personal construction of the extent of Knickerbocker’s authority. The mill superintendent testified that Knickerbocker would have been discharged if such use of the mill’s property or employees had come to his attention. That, too, was only a conclusion on the part of the witness; and, in the absence of any express instructions to Knickerbocker as to what he could not do, the real question is whether or not, in the scope of his employment as outside overseer, and as one who had purchased much wood for the mill’s commissary, he was authorized, in the exercise of his own judgment as agent for the mill, to provide himself with a laborer from the mill and thereby expedite or make available the supply of cord-wood for the mill. Despite the dual capacity in which he would be thereby placed, we hold that such an act would not necessarily be beyond the scope of his employment. If that be true, as we hold it is, it necessarily follows that the claimant, who was under the control of Knickerbocker and of his. second hand, Wallace Nix, who repeated instructions of Knickerbocker, was likewise in the scope of his duties in executing the orders of his
The Department of Industrial Relations found that in going to
It is well settled that the finding of the Department of Industrial Relations on questions of fact, if supported by any evidence, is conclusive. Ocean Accident & Guaranty Corporation v. Council, 35 Ga. App. 632 (2) (134 S. E. 331), and cit.; Johnson v. American Mutual Liability Insurance Co., 50 Ga. App. 54 (116 S. E. 901). It is also the rule that the workmen’s compensation act shall be liberally construed in determining whether a particular employment is within its provisions. New Amsterdam Casualty Co. v. Sumrell, 30 Ga. App. 682, 689 (118 S. E. 186); Pridgen v. Murphy, 44 Ga. App. 141, 149 (160 S. E. 101). In New Amsterdam Casualty Co. v. Sumrell, supra, it was said, quoting from a leading Massachusetts case: “It is sufficient to say that an injury is received 'in the course of’ the employment when it comes while the workman is doing the duty which he is employed to perform. It ‘arises out of’ the employment, when there is apparent to the rational mind, upon consideration of all
Judgment affirmed).