MATTER OF MANOLAKIS v. EDISON S.S. CORP.

Claimant employed as a chartering manager of a steamship corporation, the president of which was his brother-in-law, fell while descending a stairway in the latter's Summer home on Long Island in the late evening of Saturday, July 18, 1959, sustaining injuries which gave rise to his claim for compensation. In reversing the decision of the Referee, the board disbelieved "the testimony of the claimant and the employer that the claimant's presence at the summer home was of a business nature" and found "that the claimant was at the employer's summer home as a social guest and that the injury did not arise out of and in the course of employment." The question of credibility is strictly within the province of the board and it was not bound as a matter of law to accept the testimony of claimant and his employer. The rejection of this evidence denuded the record of proof connecting the accident with the employment. (Matter of Daus v. Gunderman & Sons, 283 N.Y. 459; Matter of Gordon v. Gordon & Hyman, 11 A.D.2d 833, motion for leave to appeal denied 8 N.Y.2d 710; Matter of Brenner v. Utilities Laundry, 14 A.D.2d 626.)

Decision of the Workmen's Compensation Board unanimously affirmed, without costs.