Hogan v. Edward Engineering Co.

Headnote

Hogan v. Edward Engineering Co., 186 App. Div. 921 , affirmed.

Appeal from an order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the third judicial department, entered November 25, 1918, affirming an award of the state industrial commission made under the Workmen’s Compensation Law. Claimant’s son was employed by defendant Edward Engineering Company as a passenger elevator

operator. Desiring to go to the basement of the building he opened the gate to a freight elevator, pulled the cable and the car coming up struck him on the head causing his death. This particular elevator was the only means by which to get from the ground floor to the basement except an emergency ladder leading from the sidewalk to the basement, but the regular way to reach the basement when the elevator was down was to ring the bell and wait for the chief engineer to bring the elevator up. Appellant contended that the accident did not arise out of, or in the course of, the employment of the deceased, but that by his own actions he exposed himself to a distinctly new and additional peril which was not in the contemplation of the employer when it entered into the contract of employment with him, and that he was not simply doing his work in a negligent or careless manner, but was entirely outside "of his employment.