Commonwealth, Division of Forestry, Department of Conservation v. Farler

WADDILL, Commissioner.

The Commonwealth of Kentucky, Department of Conservation, has appealed from a circuit court judgment setting aside an order of the Workmen’s Compensation Board wherein it had denied compensation benefits to the widow of Ray Farler who was a part-time forest fire fighter for the department.

The crucial question presented is whether the board erred in holding certain testimony incompetent.

Farler, who was 55 years old, was called to help fight a fire near Jeff, Kentucky, on November 17, 1963. The only witness who testified to pertinent events on that day was Elmer Eldridge,…