Top 10 Bizarre Workers’ Comp Cases for 2020
As if 2020 wasn’t bizarre enough . . .
For more than a dozen years, Thomas A. Robinson has published his list of the Top 10 Bizarre Workers’ Compensation Cases. Robinson observes:
As I have noted many times on this blog site and elsewhere, more than 30 years ago my mentor, Dr. Arthur Larson, and I began a quirky—though humorous—New Year’s tradition. On an evening in early January, he and I would assemble in his home on Learned Place, near Duke University’s campus here in Durham, North Carolina, pour ourselves a cocktail, sit down, and compare our respective lists of the previous year’s “bizarre” workers’ compensation cases. After Arthur’s death, the “list” languished for a few years but 16 years ago, I began to craft my own annual list—in memory of Arthur—sending it out to a few colleagues via snail mail. I launched this blog site in December 2011, and I migrated the annual list to it in January 2012.
The list has a decidedly national perspective. But this year the list includes two Texas cases, an IRS employee’s complaint about paperwork, three COVID-19 mask dispute cases, a flesh eating bacteria case, two cases involving dogs, one spider case, and one case where the injured employee gave his assailant a face full of mace.
Below, is Robinson’s summary of the first of two Texas cases.
Case #4: A Room With A View; But No Balcony (Texas)
The normal rule associated with traveling employees is that they ordinarily enjoy portal to portal protection. So, for an employee traveling to a foreign location, injuries sustained even during off-the-clock hours are usually held to be within the course and scope of the employment. An exception exists when there is a true deviation from the employment, however. That was at issue in a tragic case involving an employee, Riggs, who worked for 3M in Texas. He was sent to Singapore to assist with a new facility. Upon arrival during the morning hours there, he had breakfast and then spent most of the day napping in his room. That evening, Riggs spent some time first at a “cocktail” hour, then skipped supper. Riggs and a co-worker continued to imbibe, particularly after meeting a group of people from Louisiana. Still later, Riggs decided to return to the hotel, leaving his co-worker behind with the Cajuns. The co-worker subsequently testified that when he last saw Riggs, as the latter headed for the hotel, Riggs was “excessively intoxicated” and acting out of character. The next morning, Riggs’ lifeless body was found in a grassy area outside the hotel underneath the window of his sixth-floor hotel room. Riggs appeared to have left his room through the window to access a balcony that was not attached to his room. Riggs’ widow filed a claim for workers’ compensation death benefits. Following a contested hearing, the DWC Hearing Officer determined that the death did not arise out of and in the course of the employment. The appellate court affirmed. The deviation was too great. The deceased’s actions had nothing to do with his employment.
Riggs v. Old Republic Ins. Co., 2020 Tex. App. LEXIS 7975 (Oct. 1, 2020)
Flahive lawyers Jessica MacCarty, Colin Moore, and Robert Stokes tried the Riggs case and handled the appeal to the court of appeals on behalf of the carrier in this case.
Read the whole thing.
FOLIO
