Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

Justice Jesse Carter’S Passionate Defense Of Workers’ Rights: Challenging The Majority’S “Legal Legerdemain”, Marci Seville

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In two 1953 decisions, Mercer-Fraser Company v. Industrial Accident Commission and Hawaiian Pineapple Company Ltd v. Industrial Accident Commission, the California Supreme Court considered the proper interpretation of Labor Code section 4553, a provision in the workers’ compensation system that allows for an additional monetary award when an employee is injured because of an employer’s “serious and willful misconduct.” The Court gave a restrictive reading to the Labor Code and annulled decisions of the California Industrial Accident Commission that had found serious and willful misconduct by the respective employers. In doing so, the Court departed from its earlier and more …