Rieger v. Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission

This appeal is from a judgment affirming an order of the State Industrial Accident Commission dismissing a claim for compensation, after the court granted a demurrer prayer withdrawing the case from the jury. The question here presented is whether there was legally sufficient evidence to show that the back injury sustained by the claimant was accidental, within the meaning of the Statute.

At the time of the injury the claimant was working as a pipe fitter in an underground vault at a dam site. Horizontal water pipes four feet in diameter entered the vault near the ceiling, which had to be…