Murphy and Sandwith v Cooney

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Appeal.
• Judgment Date: 06 November 1913
• Court: Court of Appeal (Ireland)
• Date: 06 November 1913

Murphy and Sandwith

and

Cooney (3).

Appeal.

CASES

DETERMINED BY

THE KING'S BENCH DIVISION

OF

THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN IRELAND,

AND ON APPEAL THEREFROM IN

THE COURT OF APPEAL,

AND BY

THE COURT FOR CROWN CASES RESERVED.

1914.

Employer and workman — Compensation — Action arising out of and in the course of employment — Death resulting from accident when under the influence of drink — Mate of vessel — Fall from bridge of vessel after having been ordered below as being unfit for duty — Workmen's Compensation Act, 1906 (6 Edw. 7, c. 58), s. 1, sub-s. 1.

Held, on appeal, that there was no evidence that the accident arose out of the employment, and that the decision of the county court Judge should be reversed.

Appeal from the decision of the Recorder of Cork, sitting as arbitrator under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1906, awarding compensation on the application of Catherine Cooney on behalf of the dependents of James Cooney, deceased.

The deceased was employed by the appellants as first mate on board their S.S. “Wythburn,” and had been in that situation for three or four weeks, having previously been employed for upwards of a year in a like position on a sister ship belonging to the appellants. His average earnings were from 35s. to 38s. a week.

On the evening of the accident the deceased, heavily under the influence of drink, reached his vessel at Cork, at a time when the ladder and gangway had been pulled on board. The vessel was about to sail for Whitehaven, and had to delay her departure owing to his late arrival. He was helped on board, and immediately the vessel sailed. It was the duty of the deceased to come on the bridge and take the wheel when the vessel left port. After taking the wheel the deceased was navigating the vessel so dangerously that the captain took the wheel from him, and ordered him to go below as he was “not fit to be about the decks.” Deceased then staggered across to the entrance to the bridge. The descent to the deck from this entrance was by means of a narrow, almost upright, ladder, some six feet in height. Cooney, instead of immediately going below, as ordered by the captain, remained standing at the head of the ladder for about eight or ten minutes. Shortly afterwards a thud was heard, and the deceased was found at the bottom of the ladder, with a wound on his head; no one, however, actually saw him fall. The wound was not considered serious at the time, but shortly afterwards he became unconscious, and was taken to hospital upon arrival of the vessel at Whitehaven. He was, however, subsequently brought back to Cork and placed in...