Vernald R. Logsdon v. Northern Iron

Claimant-respondent Vernon R. Logsdon was injured on April 6, 1977. He verbally notified his employer immediately, and later filed a timely notice of injury and claim for workmen's compensation benefits. After the employer and surety denied his claim he applied for a hearing to the Industrial Commission, which entered its findings of fact and Conclusions of law on August 26, 1978, and ordered the employer and surety to pay benefits. The employer and surety then filed a motion for reconsideration, and after hearing, the Commission affirmed its earlier decision, entering replacement findings of fact and Conclusions of law. The Commission's decision resolved only the issue of the employer's and surety's duty to pay workmen's compensation benefits, leaving for later proceedings a determination of the actual amount of those benefits. Pursuant to I.A.R. 12, the Industrial Commission then certified that there was substantial basis for difference of opinion as to a controlling issue of law, and that an appeal to the Supreme Court of the question whether Logsdon's injuries arose out of and in the course of his employment would materially advance the orderly resolution of the litigation. The court entered an order certifying the Commission's order as appealable and employer and surety filed timely notice of appeal. The Industrial Commission's detailed findings indicate that on the date of his injury Logsdon had been employed as a truck driver for Northern Iron & Metals Company of Boise for about two weeks. He was instructed to deliver a load of scrap metal in Salt Lake City, using the company's truck and forty foot trailer. The employer specified a route to Salt Lake City and gave Logsdon directions to the scrap metal yard. He drove there without incident.