Salmi v. Industrial Commission

STEVENS, Chief Judge.

This matter presents the dual question of the sufficiency of the evidence to support an Award which is not favorable to the petitioner, and the claim that the referee who conducted the formal hearing departed from his duty of impartiality.

When the services of referees were first utilized in conducting hearings, the referees were members of the legal staff of the Industrial Commission and generally there was no separate person who appeared as the attorney for the fund. Under these circumstances it was at times difficult for a referee to put aside his natural feeling of…