Court Opinion

ID: 9609470
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:27:22.226376+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:50.716182
License: Public Domain

Judge COZORT
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
The majority has concluded that this matter must be remanded “for findings of fact on the question of whether decedent had a concurrent business purpose for travelling to Hound Ears on 27 June 1987.” I do not believe such remand is necessary, because I find the Industrial Commission has resolved the determinative issue presented.
Judicial review of appeals from the Industrial Commission is limited to two questions: (1) was there any competent evidence to support the Commission’s findings? and (2) do the findings of the Commission justify its legal conclusions and decision? McBride v. Peony Corp., 84 N.C. App. 221, 225, 352 S.E.2d 236, 239 (1987). The Commission’s findings of fact are conclusive on appeal, even if there is evidence which would support a contrary finding. Sanderson v. Northeast Construction Co., 77 N.C. App. 117, 121, 334 S.E.2d 392 (1985).
The evidence below obviously requires application of the “dual purpose rule,” which the majority acknowledges. What the majority fails to acknowledge is that the Commission resolved the factual issue presented under the dual purpose rule. In Humphrey v. Laundry, 251 N.C. 47, 110 S.E.2d 467 (1959), our Supreme Court said:
“The test in brief is this: If the work of the employee creates the necessity for travel, such is in the course of his employment, though he is serving at the same time some purpose of his own. * * * If however, the work has had no part in *523creating the necessity for travel, if the journey would have gone forward though the business errand had been dropped, and would have been canceled upon failure of the private purpose, though the business errand was undone, the travel was then personal, and personal the risk.”
Id. at 51, 110 S.E.2d at 470 (quoting Marks’ Dependents v. Gray, 251 N.Y. 90, 167 N.E. 181).
In Finding of Fact 18, Deputy Commissioner W. Joey Barnes found, in a finding adopted by the Full Commission:
18. There was no employment-related purpose which created the necessity for Mr. Murray’s trip on 27 June 1986. Mr. Murray was traveling to Hound Ears for a social and relaxing weekend with his wife. Mr. Murray’s work did not create the necessity for travel.
In their brief, plaintiffs have failed to challenge that crucial finding. Even if they had, there is evidence to support the finding. We are thus bound by that finding.
In his conclusions of law, Deputy Commissioner Barnes concluded, in a conclusion adopted by the Full Commission:
5. Assuming arguendo that the “dual purpose rule” is applicable to the present case, inasmuch as Mr. Murray’s trip would have been made despite the failure of any business purpose for the weekend in question and would have been dropped in the event of the failure of the private purpose, Mr. Murray’s trip was a personal trip and, therefore, Mr. Murray’s death as a result of the collision on 27 June 1986 is not compensable under the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Act. Id.; N.C.G.S. § 97-2(6).
Plaintiffs have not contested that conclusion of law, which controls the key issue in the case. We should not get sidetracked by the Full Commission’s confusing references to the decedent’s purpose in meeting his wife for dinner. We should disregard that language as surplusage, recognize that Deputy Commissioner Barnes resolved the dual purpose rule issue presented by the evidence, and affirm the Commission’s decision to adopt the Opinion and Award of Barnes. I see no useful purpose in remanding the matter for findings on an issue already resolved by the Commission. I vote to affirm.