185 Iowa 1346 | Iowa | 1919
It is to be doubted whether there is any evidence of willful misconduct, or of such conduct with intent to inflict the injury. Be that as it may, it is perfectly clear that whether there was such misconduct, or such misconduct with such intent, is fairly a question of fact, and that, on the evidence, reasonable minds may differ as to whether or not there was such misconduct. The same situation exists as to the claim that there was intoxication which was the proximate cause of the injury. One of the vital purposes of the Compensation Act is to minimize litigation and expensive contests. In aid of this purpose, the decision of the statute tribunals on some things is made final. All findings of fact upon conflicting evidence, or upon evidence from which reasonable men may draiw differing conclusions, are within that class. We agree with appellant that our decision at this point should not be controlled by Fischer v. Priebe & Co., 178 Iowa 512, and we have held, in Griffith v. Cole, 183 Iowa 415, that the limitations placed by the Priebe case on the power of the district court are expressed in a dictum. None the less, the effect of the Griffith case is that we cannot review a finding of fact unless the transcript makes it ap* pear, as matter of law, that such finding is not sustained by or is contrary to the evidence, and say in that connection that “the court may not go into a general fact controversy.” We therefore hold that we may not interfere with the finding of the statute tribunal® that there was no willful misconduct, no intention to inflict the injury, and that there was no intoxication which was the proximate cause of the
We find nothing that is either held or cited with approval in Hunter v. Colfax Cons. Coal Co., 175 Iowa 245, inconsistent with our pronouncement at this point.
II. The appellant was in business in Sioux City, Iowa. ' It there employed one Pierce. In line with the employment, it directed Pierce to drive a moving van from Sioux City to the town of Homer, in Nebraska, for the purpose of con- \ veying to Sioux City a lot of household goods. Pierce was I injured while so employed, and in Nebraska. Appellant 1 presents that the Workmen’s Compensation Act of the state * has no application where the injury occurs outside of the? state of Iowa.
It is claimed that, in jurisdictions wherein it has been held that their act has no extra-territorial effect, the statute construed indicates an intent to limit itself to the state not more strongly than does the Iorwa act; that provisions in our own statute for which it is claimed they show an intention to give no extra-territorial force, are not found in statutes that have been construed to have extra-territorial force; and that the cases urged by appellee are not applicable, because of the nature of the statute which these cases construe. Each party here contends the authorities relied on by the other are inapplicable, because of differences between our act and the statutes which these authorities construe. Both agree that the authorities are in decided conflict. We 'conclude that resort to the decisions in other jurisdictions would be of very doubtful value in interpreting the Iowa Act, and we shall refrain from so resorting. It is fortunate that there I is no disagreement on the proposition that the’state can give! a compensation act extra-territorial effect. The ultimate j question, then, is this: On application of approved canons j of construction, should it be found that there was an inten-1
Section 2477-m, Subdivision d, Code Supplement, 1913, provides that every employer shall be conclusively presumed to have provided compensation according to the act “for injuries sustained arising out of and in the course of the employment.” Section 2477-m2 (a) is to like effect; Section 2477-m, Code Supplement, 1913, that, unless the Act otherwise provides, the employer has elected to pay compensation according to the Act “for any and all personal injuries * * * arising out of and in the course of the employment.” Where stated things are enumerated, things not named aré excluded. On the same reasoning, where a statute declares that compensation under its terms is to be made for any and all injuries sustained, without limitation beyond that they shall occur in the course of and arise out
It is provided in Subdivision e, Section 2477-ml6, that:
“The words ‘personal injury arising out of and in the course of such employment’ shall include injuries to employees whose services are being performed on, in or about the premises which are occupied, used or controlled by the employer, and also injuries to those who are engaged elsewhere in places where their employer’s business requires théir presence and subjects them to dangers incident to the business.”
Appellant tells us that the only way every section of the statute may 'be given full force and effect is by adding, to a provision dealing with services performed about the premises of the employer and “elsewhere in places where their employer’s business requires their performance,” the limiting words, “within the state.” We shall presently attempt to show that, for the purposes of the present controversy, it is not essential that every provision of the ant shall have effect. Be that as it may, we have found no argument that satisfies us that we have the right to add such a limitation.
Appellant cites cases which proceed on the reasoning that the courts may not construe such an ant as this to have extra-territorial operation, unless authority for such construction is found in the act in “unequivonable language, or plain and unmistakable words.” The case of Kennerson v. Thames Towboat Co., 89 Conn. 367 (94 Atl. 372), is at least one respectable authority that holds to the contrary. We do not refer to it as a standard for construing the Iowa act,
3-a
Upon what does the right to recover in this case rest?
Subdivision d of Section 24-77-m, Code Supplement, 1913, provides that the employer shall be conclusively presumed to have elected to pay compensation according to the provi
Our statute is confessedly elective. We are told that no distinction in construction is tó be based upon whether the act is compulsory or elective. That is true as to some provisions of Compensation Acts. But that the statute is elective has controlling bearing on one thing that is most highly important. Where the statute is elective as to both employer and employee, payment of compensation is not the; performance of a statute duty, but the performance of con-j ditions in the contract of hiring, which conditions are in the contract by means of reading the compensation statute into) the contract. We agree with appellant that the state “can limit the operation of a contractual obligation just as authoritatively as it can a compulsory statute.” ,But that, of course, is not a denial that, under an elective statute, payment of compensation is purely a discharge of a contract obligation. It follows, then, that it is quite unnecessary to make this case turn upon a holding that the statute itself is operative in Nebraska. It suffices if employer and employee contracted in Iowa that, if injury was sustained in Nebraska, compensation should be governed by the terms and
We hold that the employee in this case has a valid oonjtract, which allows him to recover compensation according jto the terms of the statute for an injury suffered in Nebraska; that the case stands .precisely as if it had been ex
IV. What are the avoidances?
Subdivision b of Section 2477-m makes the aot compulsory on both employer and employee, where the employer is a municipal Corporation. It is suggested that, if we give o-ur statute such effect as the employee here claims for it, the said provision of the statute would, in a sense, work class legislation, in that a large mass of employers and employees are relegated to the provision® of a compulsory statute, while as to another large class, the statute is merely elective. We ire unable to see that this bears relevantly upon whether diere may be a recovery for injuries suffered elsewhere than in the state. Be that as it may, if this is a good objection, Its effect does not stop with destroying the enforeibility of the statute as to injuries sustained in another state, but destroys the act in toto. If it he objectionable class legislation, it is as ineffectual where an injury is suffered in Iowa as if suffered in another state. ,
So of the argument that Section 2477-m21 indicates an intent to limit the operation of the act to the state. In effect, this provision makes the act inapplicable where, under certain conditions, the employment is in interstate commerce. Passing the question whether sending an employee from the business place of the employer in Sions City across the state line to haul 'back a load of furniture in a moving van may be said to be an employment in interstate commerce, it remains true that one hired in Iowa to do work in Iowa may, while performing it, be engaged in interstate commerce. Therefore, this particular statute has no relevant bearing on whether the legislature intended to give the statute operation beyond the state line, and, so far as available, is just as available for some injuries sustained in Iowa as for those suffered iu another state. It may properly be added
Section 2I77-m8 provides that failure to give notice within stated times provided shall work a bar to recovery; Section 2477-mll, that, on request, the employee must submit himself to medical examination, within a reasonable'time. It is argued that these provisions indicate an intent to limit the scope of the statute to the state, because, if the injury were suffered at a great distance from, the place of hiring in Iowa,, the employee might be prevented from giving notice within tine time required, and might be subjected to great hardship to submit to an examination at the place selected by the employer. If this argument is persuasive, it would be equally so as to many injuries that might be sustained within the state. In one set of circumstances, 90 days is allowed wherein to give *aotice. It is inconceivable, in the present state of facilities for communication, that distance from the residence of the employer would make it impossible to give him notice within 90 days. Be that as it may, it can well be conceived that it would be as, or more, difficult to give notice within the prescribed time of an injury suffered within the state as of one sustained 'beyond its boundaries. Certainly, an employer living in Sioux City may be notified of an injury sustained by his employee in Jefferson, South Dakota, as quickly as if the injury had been suffered in Keokuk. Certainly, where, in Texas, the employer resides in the northwest comer of the state, and the injury is suffered in the southeast corner, there might well be as much delay in getting notice to the employer as if the injury occurred four or five miles from where the employer resides, but just across the state line of Texas.
4-a
Section 2477-m6 provides, in effect, that, under certain conditions, there may be subroga,tion to the rights of the employee to recover for injury. It seems to be the thought of appellant that the existence of this provision is an argument why the statute cannot have extra-territorial effect. We have already pointed out that, strictly speaking, the question is not whether the statute 'has or does not have such effect. We are unable to see how the existence of such a provision for subrogation furnishes any reason why an employee who sustains an injury in another state may not have compensation adjusted according to the terms of the Iowa statute.
4-b
Section 2477-m7 provides that no contract rule, regulation, or device whatsoever shall operate to relieve the employer, in whole or in part, from any liability created by this act, except as the act provides. It seems to be the argument
“In legislative acts inaugurating a new system, not infrequently are found contradictory positions, and it becomes the duty of the court to reconcile them, so far as it can. It does this, whenever it is possible, in such way as to sustain the act and carry out its purposes.”
Aside from the position thait what is clearly available may- not be lost because something else is not available, and despite the fact that, in passing this new legislation, it could well have been arranged that everything given by the aot would always be available, safe ground as to this whole controversy can be readied by the one holding that it is fairly within the purpose, reason, and intendment of the act to construe it to enact that, as to provisions such as to where the arbitration committee shall sit, or as to presenting the award to the district judger, 'and the like, it is intended, Where an injury otherwise within the act occurs without the state, “that place” means the place where the contract was entered into. It is no strain upon the manifest purpose of the statute to hold that, where one sustains an injury in another state that is within the provisions of the act, the arbitration committee may meet in the place where the hiring was done, and that, where action on part of a judge or a court is provided for, it shall mean a judge or court having jurisdiction in the place where the contract was entered into. As was said' in Kennerson v. Thames Towboat Co., 89 Conn. 367 (94 Atl. 372) :
“In a sense, the injury may be said to have been sus
It is onr judgment that the award and the action of the district court thereon should be — Affirmed.