Court Opinion

ID: 9481078
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:06:54.752234+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:04.711539
License: Public Domain

MANION, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
The majority opinion examines several scenarios of what might have occurred. As with any summary judgment appeal, however, we examine one question — is there any genuine issue as to any material fact that precludes summary judgment as a matter of law? In my view there may be one, and thus I am willing to concur in the remand.
Indiana law is clear that, with very limited exceptions, an employee is not within the scope of his employment while driving to and from work. The facts in this case present fewer “incidental benefits” than the facts of the Indiana Supreme Court case setting forth this general rule. See Biel, Inc. v. Kirsch, 240 Ind. 69, 161 N.E.2d 617 (1959). Unless we have some exceptional circumstance, a rural postal worker driving to work is on his own and not within the scope of his employment.1
In an attempt to circumvent this rule, the plaintiff alleges that Farringer’s postmaster required him and other carriers who drove their own car to conduct no personal business en route to and from work, to take the most direct route, not to carry any passengers, and to fasten their seatbelts. Although these are simply allegations, even if taken as true the majority opinion appropriately minimizes their consequence {ante p. 1212). These allegations are not sufficient to invoke the two narrow fact-bound exceptions to Biel as established by the Indiana Court of Appeals.
*1215In Gibbs v. Miller, 152 Ind.App. 326, 283 N.E.2d 592 (3d Dist.1972), .a salesman was in an accident while returning home for lunch from an appointment with a customer. He was not expected in the office that day. He had another appointment scheduled following lunch, and also planned to do some paperwork at home during lunch. He was being reimbursed for mileage from his home to the morning appointment and back. A jury found the employer liable, and the appeals court, although troubled by the paucity of evidence, refused to overturn the jury verdict as a matter of law.
In State v. Gibbs, 166 Ind.App. 387, 336 N.E.2d 703 (1st Dist.1975), a jury held the state liable for $100,000 following an accident involving an employee of the Indiana State Highway Commission. The employee’s job involved considerable driving, so the state furnished him with a car that was checked out to him at all times. He was allowed to drive it home after work and to lunch during the work day, but was not to use it for other personal business. Although he worked a 7:30 to 5:00 day, he considered himself on call 24 hours a day. He finished conducting tests at 5 p.m. on the night of the accident and drove to the office to speak with his supervisor. The supervisor wasn’t there, so after reading notes left on his desk the employee headed for several local restaurants where his supervisor sometimes went after work. He still could not find the supervisor, and eventually drove to another town to eat dinner. The injury occurred after dinner on his way home. Again, the appeals court refused to reverse the jury verdict despite its concern over the slight evidence of employer liability. The court emphasized that the employee was driving a state vehicle home from work so he could return directly to his job in the morning, and that he was on call 24 hours a day. Inexplicably, the Biel case was not even cited.2
Our case is factually different than either of those narrow exceptions to the general rule — there is virtually no evidence that Farringer was in the scope of his employment. Farringer was driving his own car to work, not the government’s. He was not providing any benefit to the government while en route; his job did not begin until he reached the post office to sort and pick up his mail for delivery. He was not, as in Gibbs v. Miller, going home for lunch and to do some paperwork in between business appointments, while receiving payment for mileage incurred on the trip.3 He was not, as in State v. Gibbs, properly driving a state-owned vehicle home from work following the day’s activities, while on call 24 hours a day. Rather, he was simply travelling to work. Until he is at work, Indiana does not impose his misdeeds on the employer.
This case is much closer to Biel. In Biel, a woman who served as president of a corporation was in the habit of driving a company car to and from work. Although the company paid for the oil and gas, taxes and upkeep on the vehicle, the Indiana Supreme Court held that Mrs. Biel was not within the scope of her employment when driving the company car to work. Even if we accept Farringer’s unsupported (and illogical) contentions that he was required to follow a certain route, to wear a seat belt, and to not take passengers on his way to work, this case is not factually close to the two state appellate court cases providing narrow exceptions to the rule set out by the Indiana Supreme Court.
The only pertinent question having some bearing on whether Farringer was in the scope of his employment centers on his termination, supposedly because of the accident. If he was terminated because of some policy regulating his travel to and from work, and if that policy is so encumbering that it puts him in the scope of *1216employment even while driving to work, a trial may be warranted to determine if those facts merit an exception under Indiana law. But if that policy is nothing more than a provision that drivers with poor driving records cannot remain as rural postal drivers, or something similarly general, summary judgment would be appropriate. Aside from that one possibility, I do not agree with this court that the “employer exerted substantial control over the employee’s commuting, as shown by the regulations discussed_” The opinion acknowledges those tests are not conclusive and that “we necessarily are speculating.” Indiana law is clear that “an employee on his way to work is normally not in the employment of the corporation.” Biel, 161 N.E.2d at 618. Unless Farringer was terminated for violating some specific driving policy covering rural postal drivers on their way to and from work, the normal rule should apply and summary judgment in favor of the government is entirely appropriate.

. As we recognized in Pace v. Southern Express Company, 409 F.2d 331, 333 (7th Cir.1969), Indiana law is "well settled" that an employee travelling to or from work is not within the scope of his employment. This rule has been applied in a variety of cases under a variety of factual circumstances. See e.g.: City of Crawfordsville v. Michael, 479 N.E.2d 102 (Ind.App. 1 Dist.1985); Parsley for Benefit of Clark v. Ford Motor, 462 N.E.2d 247 (Ind.App. 2 Dist.1984); Pace v. Couture, 150 Ind.App. 220, 276 N.E.2d 213 (1972); Marion Trucking Co. v. Byers, 121 Ind.App. 592, 97 N.E.2d 635 (1951); North Side Chevrolet, Inc. v. Clark, 107 Ind.App. 592, 25 N.E.2d 1011 (1940); Neyenhaus v. Daum, 102 Ind.App. 106, 1 N.E.2d 281 (1936); Haynes v. Stroh, 99 Ind.App. 595, 193 N.E. 721 (1935).

. State v. Gibbs was explicitly narrowed by a later court of appeals case. In City of Crawfordsville, supra, 479 N.E.2d at 104, the court held that "Gibbs is an exception to the well-settled rule" of Biel, and that, ‘‘[a]s such, we are hesitant to apply it beyond its specific facts.”

. In addition to salary and benefits Farringer did receive an allowance for mileage and maintenance. However, this allowance was based only on the miles covered by the mail carrier during delivery of his route, and not on the distance he travelled to and from work. See Supplemental Appendix of Appellee at 122.