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Dawe v. Norge Division of Borg-Warner Corp.

Supreme Court of Michigan
Oct 5, 1938
281 N.W. 549 (Mich. 1938)

Opinion

Docket No. 67, Calendar No. 40,117.

Submitted June 14, 1938.

Decided October 5, 1938.

Appeal from Department of Labor and Industry. Submitted June 14, 1938. (Docket No. 67, Calendar No. 40,117.) Decided October 5, 1938.

Mildred Dawe presented her claim against Norge Division of Borg-Warner Corporation, employer, and Travelers Insurance Company, insurer, for compensation for death of plaintiff's husband in defendant's employ. Award to plaintiff. Defendants appeal. Affirmed.

Ostrow Ostrow, for plaintiff.

Vandeveer, Vandeveer Haggerty, for defendants


This is an appeal in the nature of certiorari from an award to plaintiff as total dependent of her husband who died as a result of inhaling sulphur dioxide gas while in the employ of defendant company.

Plaintiff's husband was working at an operation known as finishing or lapping seals. The process was polishing and grinding pieces of metal from refrigerator units and there was no poisonous gas in connection with such work. Plaintiff's husband worked in a room where sulphur dioxide gas was present; he was taken sick the second day he worked in the room and died a few days later.

Defendant contends that the finding, by the department, of an accidental injury, arising out of and in the course of employment, was without evidence removing the case from the rule, at the time of injury, of a noncompensable occupational disease.

Leakage of the gas from defective refrigerator units, transported to the room where deceased was employed, was clearly established. The deceased was not working upon such units, but was employed in the same room where the injurious gas was present.

The result of inhaling the gas did not occasion a disease incident to his occupation. It was not a disease attending his occupation but a fatal attack from a different source and, therefore, fortuitous.

The evidence supported the finding of accidental injury arising out of and in the course of the employment.

The award is affirmed.

BUSHNELL, SHARPE, POTTER, CHANDLER, NORTH, and McALLISTER, JJ., concurred. BUTZEL, J., took no part in this decision.


Summaries of

Dawe v. Norge Division of Borg-Warner Corp.

Supreme Court of Michigan
Oct 5, 1938
281 N.W. 549 (Mich. 1938)
Case details for

Dawe v. Norge Division of Borg-Warner Corp.

Case Details

Full title:DAWE v. NORGE DIVISION OF BORG-WARNER CORP

Court:Supreme Court of Michigan

Date published: Oct 5, 1938

Citations

281 N.W. 549 (Mich. 1938)
281 N.W. 549

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" See, also, Dawe v. Norge Division of Borg-Warner Corp., 286 Mich. 90. The New York act is very similar to…