A COMPENSATION CASE

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13909, 7 December 1910, Page 7

A COMPENSATION CASE

SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT,

An important judgment bearing upon the liability of employers for compensation was delivered by his Honour Mr Justice Sim yesterday morning. The action, Which was heard by the Court of Arbitration on November 24th, was one in which Herbert Ambrose Johnston (Mr Weston) claimed compensation from Ambrose Johnston (Mr Andrews). The plaintiff was a, boy, seventeen years of age, emplo3*ed I by the_defendant, his father, and on May 17th, while driving a cart belonging to his father, he was struck fn ihe eye by a pellet from a gun fired by a boy. • The Court believed that the shot was intentional, and not accidental, as was sworn by the boy. The question was whether the injury sustained by the plaintiff was caused : .y an accident arising out of, and in the course of, his employment by tile defendant. The Court held that 'lie risk of being injured by a shot fired by a mischievous boy could not be regarded as incidental to the occupation of a driver, since it was a risk common to all members of the community when travelling along a highway. The accident was not the result of any peculiar danger incidental to die employment, nor was it the result cf anything the plaintiff was doing in the course of his work. It, therefore, could not be said to have arisen out of his employment, and judgment must be for the defendant with costs. £7 7s