Opinion ID: 2542866
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Did Johme's Injury Arise Out of and in The Course of Her Employment?

Text: Johme's injury is compensable in workers' compensation only if it arose out of and in the course of her employment pursuant to section 287.020.3(2). The express terms of the workers' compensation statutes as revised in 2005 instruct that section 287.020.3(2) must control any determination of whether Johme's injury shall be deemed to have arisen out of and in the course of her employment. See sec. 287.020.10 (expressly noting the legislature's intent to abrogate prior case law definitions applicable to workers' compensation, including case law interpretations for the definitions of arising out of and in the course of the employment). And the legislature has left no doubt that the provisions of section 287.020.3(2) are to be construed strictly. See sec. 287.800 (courts shall construe the provisions of [chapter 287] strictly). In Johme's case, there is no issue regarding whether her fall at her workplace was the prevailing factor in causing the injury for which she seeks workers' compensation. As such, a discussion of her case in the context of subsection 287.020.3(2)(a) is not required. Instead, the issue in this case is confined to the application of subsection 287.020.3(2)(b), which instructs that Johme's injury shall be deemed to arise out of and in the course of [her] employment only if ... it [did] not come from a hazard or risk unrelated to [her] employment to which [she] would have been equally exposed outside of and unrelated to [her] employment in [her] normal nonemployment life. See sec. 287.020.3(2)(b) (emphasis added); see Miller, 287 S.W.3d at 673 (Section 287.020.3(2)(b) states that an injury shall be deemed to arise out of employment only if `[i]t does not come from a hazard or risk unrelated to the employment to which workers would have been equally exposed outside of and unrelated to the employment in normal non-employment life.'). Section 287.020.10 expressly abrogated cases that permitted recovery of workers' compensation benefits for injuries caused by risks to which the employee would have been exposed equally outside of work. See Miller, 287 S.W.3d at 674 n. 2. [11]