MCDONNELL & MURPHY v. LUNDAY

MCDONNELL & MURPHY v. LUNDAY
1942 OK 423
132 P.2d 322
191 Okla. 611
Case Number: 30838
Decided: 12/15/1942
Supreme Court of Oklahoma

McDONNELL & MURPHY et al.
v.
LUNDAY et al.

Syllabus

¶0 1. UNITED STATES--STATES--Cession of jurisdiction with reservations by State Legislature to United States--Recession of jurisdiction to state by Congress.
Where an express cession of jurisdiction, with reservations, is made by the State Legislature in favor of the United States, Congress has power to relinquish or recede to the state the jurisdiction thus acquired, without abandoning the property or its legitimate use.
2. SAME-Act of Congress receding jurisdiction effective without acceptance by state.
Jurisdiction, with reservations, acquired from a state, although exclusive while it subsists, is to be regarded as a mere suspension of the state jurisdiction and, therefore, an act of Congress relinquishing such jurisdiction, or any part thereof, and receding it to the state, is effective for that purpose, without any acceptance or assent by the state.

Proceeding in the Supreme Court by McDonnell & Murphy et al. to review award of State Industrial Commission in favor of Kelley M. Lunday. Award sustained.

Looney, Watts, Fenton & Eberle and H. R. Palmer, all of Oklahoma City, for petitioners.
Chas. E. Bledsoe, of Lawton, for respondent.

DAVISON, J.

¶1 This is a proceeding to review an order of the State Industrial Commission awarding Kelley M. Lunday compensation for temporary total disability and permanent partial disability for an accidental injury which occurred on January 6, 1941, resulting in a partial loss of vision in both of his eyes.

¶2 At the time of the accidental injury the claimant was employed by McDonnell & Murphy, who were engaged in erecting certain structures on the Fort Sill Military Reservation.

¶3 McDonnell & Murphy and their insurance carrier, United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company, appear herein as petitioners seeking to vacate the award on the theory that the State Industrial Commission was without jurisdiction because the accidental injury was sustained on the Fort Sill Military Reservation.

¶4 In presenting the matter for review petitioners assemble their argument under two propositions. They say:

"Exclusive jurisdiction of the area comprising the United States Military Reservation of Fort Sill is in the United States of America, and the State Industrial Commission has no jurisdiction of accidental injuries occurring in that area.

"The jurisdiction of the federal government over the area comprising the Fort Sill Military Reservation is exclusive and cannot be delegated under article 1, section 8, clause 17, of the Constitution of the United States."

¶5 Both of these contentions were decided adversely to petitioners' position in the recent case of Ottinger Bros. and Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. v. Arthur W. Clark and State Industrial Commission, No. 30840, 191 Okla. 488, 131 P.2d 94. Our decision in that case governs the disposition of this cause, and the syllabus therein is adopted as the syllabus of this case.

¶6 The order and award of the Industrial Commission is approved.

¶7 WELCH, C. J., CORN, V. C. J., and OSBORN, GIBSON, HURST, and ARNOLD, JJ., concur. RILEY and BAYLESS, JJ., absent.