Court Opinion

ID: 9851382
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:11:39.904833+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:54.776968
License: Public Domain

Judge MARTIN (Harry C.)
dissenting.
In my opinion, the conclusion by the Commission that Gerald Hoyle’s death did not arise out of and in the course of his employment was erroneous. The facts of this case are closely analogous to Hensley v. Carswell Action Committee, 296 N.C. 527, 251 S.E. *6842d 399 (1979), and Hartley v. Prison Department, 258 N.C. 287, 128 S.E. 2d 598 (1962). In Hartley, the claimant was injured when, in the performance of his duty to go to a guard tower outside a high wire fence, he elected to climb over the fence rather than take the route around by the gate. In Hensley, the employee drowned while attempting to wade across a reservoir to complete his work of cutting weeds. In the present case, the employee undertook to remove the brick in an effort to get his own work done, thereby furthering his employer’s business.
Larson states the question as follows:
It frequently happens that an employee will have his work stopped by some clogging, lack of oil, or disrepair of his machine. Quite commonly, also, there will be a company rule forbidding the operator to attempt to deal with the situation, and requiring him to wait until the specialists — whether oilers, electricians, or other repairmen — arrive on the scene. Sometimes the operator decides he can make the repair without the delay involved in calling the experts, and sometimes he gets hurt because he underestimated the expertness required or overestimated his own versatility. Now, the question is: has he departed from the course of his employment? He has attempted another person’s job in violation of instructions. Yet the fact remains that he is attempting to get his own work done, although in forbidden fashion. Cases presenting these facts have gone both ways, depending on whether attention was focused on the fact that the job belonged to another or the fact that ‘the action was a method of advancing the employer’s work. . . .
As a matter of compensation theory, it is quite permissible to treat the incidental invasion of another employee’s province as merely a forbidden route on the main journey to the ultimate objective, the performance of claimant’s work.
1A A. Larson, The Law of Workmen’s Compensation § 31.14(b) (1979).
Certainly, Hoyle’s death was an accident within the meaning of the Act. Harding v. Thomas & Howard Co., 256 N.C. 427, 124 S.E. 2d 109 (1962). Likewise, his death occurred in the course of his employment: he was on the job and moving brick from his sta*685tion so that he could continue stacking cull brick from the conveyor, his primary duty. The question remains whether his death arose out of his employment. His primary duty was to stack cull brick from the conveyor. Another employee was to remove the stacked brick by the use of a forklift truck so that Hoyle could continue his work. This fellow employee was engaged in other duties at a time when it was necessary to move the brick. Upon Hoyle’s request, the forklift operator gave Hoyle permission to use the forklift to remove the brick. Though it is true that Hoyle’s supervisor had told Hoyle on other occasions that he was not to operate the forklift, he and other employees had done so thereafter without incident. His actions were not for his own personal convenience or for the thrill of performing a hazardous feat, as in Teague v. Atlantic Co., 213 N.C. 546, 196 S.E. 875 (1938). Nor did Hoyle disobey a direct order by a supervisor then present as in Morrow v. Highway Commission, 214 N.C. 835, 199 S.E. 265 (1938). Morrow also involved the deceased’s attempting to perform an obviously dangerous act, swimming in the Catawba River.
As Justice Higgins concluded in Hartley, supra:
The essence of the story in this case may be told in few words: Usually the idea of a short cut is attractive. Sometimes it is dangerous. To follow the [defendant’s] contention would require us to hold that contributory negligence in this case is a complete defense. Our cases construing the Act hold to the contrary.
258 N.C. at 291, 128 S.E. 2d at 601.
I find that Hoyle’s actions in removing the brick for the benefit of his employer by operating the forklift, although in violation of his previous instructions, are not so extreme as to break the causal connection between his employment and his death. Hensley, supra. Hoyle’s death arose out of his employment. Accordingly, I vote to reverse the Commission’s decision.