Court Opinion

ID: 9662523
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 23:11:56.550799+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:40.300886
License: Public Domain

Wendell L. Griffen, Judge, concurring. Appellants asserted in their brief that the Arkansas Supreme Court recently rejected a list of factors contained in a previous opinion of this court, Matlock v. Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield, 74 Ark. App. 322, 49 S.W.3d 126 (2001). These factors constitute a summary of existing Arkansas case law to determine whether conduct falls within the meaning of “employment services,” as follows: (1) whether the accident occurs at a time, place, or under circumstances that facilitate or advance the employer’s interests; (2) whether the accident occurs when the employee is engaged in activity necessarily required in order to perform work; (3) whether the activity engaged in when the accident occurs is an expected part of the employment; (4) whether the activity constitutes an interruption or departure, known by or permitted by the employer, either temporally or spatially, from work activities; (5) whether the employee is compensated during the time that the activity occurs; and (6) whether the employer expects the worker to cease or return from permitted non-work activity in order to advance some employment objective. Matlock, supra. As the author of the Matlock opinion, I seize this opportunity to address the continuing viability of the Matlock factors, as the chance arises for the first time since the supreme court rulings in question. Thus, I concur to emphasize that while our supreme court may have declined to adopt these factors formally, the supreme court did not hold that these factors are wrong. Collins v. Excel Specialty Products, 347 Ark. 811, 818, 69 S.W.3d 14, 19 (2002); Piferv. Single Source Transp., 347 Ark. 851, 858, 69 S.W.3d 1, 5 (2002) (decided the same day as Collins). Quite to the contrary, the supreme court quotes language from Matlock that essentially traces the factors in question in support of the supreme court’s reasoning. See Collins, 347 Ark. at 818, 69 S.W.3d at 19; Pifer, 347 Ark. at 859, 69 S.W.3d at 5. Thus, the Matlock factors are viable and remain unchallenged, notwithstanding the fact that Collins stated that it overrules all prior decisions by this court to the extent that they are inconsistent with the Collins opinion.