Court Opinion

ID: 9736293
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 18:49:59.74564+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:27:05.545551
License: Public Domain

Proctor, J.
(dissenting). I cannot agree the employer, expressly or by implication, authorized White to drive the truck in a direction opposite the route to his destination. The extent of White’s express authority is clear: he had specific permission to travel to and from his home in Yardley, Pa., and the plant at Port Dix. Green lived along the way, and, upon his request, was given permission by the employer to ride to and from work with White. The employer also permitted the practice of its drivers’ giving rides to coemployees if the latter were going in the same direction as the drivers. This practice, however, cannot be construed to sanction major deviations or trips in opposite directions to accommodate coemployees.
The majority relies upon the employer’s conduct to expand White’s authorization to include the trip to Browns Mills. But there is not the slightest indication of any such authority in White. On the contrary, all factors indicate the employer intended to keep its vehicles traveling in a reasonably direct route between Port Dix and its drivers’ homes. The testimony of White and Green is specific that the only accommodations sanctioned or acquiesced in were that a driver could “pick up any employee who was going in the same direction.” It is true the employer did not expressly delineate White’s route of travel. But I cannot infer from this the employer authorized White to drive employees home re*599gardless of where they lived, particularly where their homes were in an opposite direction from the route to Yardley.
The decision of the majority cannot he rationalized by calling this trip a minor deviation. When the collision occurred on the trip toward Browns Mills, White had traveled four to five miles in a direction completely opposite to the one approved. The approved route (Fort Dix to Yardley) was about twenty miles. The trip to Browns Mills and the return to the regular route would add another eight to ten miles. It appears to me that this is enough of a digression to indicate an abandonment of employment. And this is not a situation where the employee has completed his side-trip and is moving back toward his business route when injured. See Larson, Workmen’s Compensation Laws § 19.33.
Much stress is laid upon the belief that White acted to further his employer’s business interests. After Lomax got into the truck, White agreed to take him to Browns Mills “because I don’t have anything in particular to do.” He then drove to a liquor store in Wrightstown where the group bought some whiskey and sat in the truck drinking for a forty-five minute period. This clearly was not in furtherance of the employer’s interest. White, Lomax and the Greens were enjoying each other’s company as friends. It seems to me that White, as a friend of Lomax and not as an agent of their employer, undertook the trip to Browns Mills. The majority interprets White’s transportation of Lomax to be beneficial to the employer, i. e., an employee was being driven home, thereby easing the rigors of his job situation and making him a more contented employee. But that interpretation does not square with the facts. White’s invitation to Lomax had only the faintest relation to the latter’s employment or contentment as an employee. Lomax had quit work at 2:00 p. u., as usual on a Saturday afternoon. White picked him up around 3:30 p. M.. After spending nearly an hour in the parked truck in front of the liquor store where the whiskey was bought, they set off for Lomax’s home in Browns Mills. When they were near *600Browns Mills the accident happened. In these circumstances, I cannot believe that White had the slightest notion he was furthering his employer’s interests in taking Lomax home. And assuming White’s act was of slight benefit to his employer, I cannot take the next step and conclude that every employee’s act off the work premises which might, or which the employee thought might, possibly benefit the latter arises out of and in the course of the employment. This is particularly so when these acts are unknown to the employer. Compensation is almost universally denied in such situations, absent clear custom or acquiescence. See Larson, supra, § 27.15.
The fact that Lomax had previously been driven home by his coemployee, Freddie Newberry, is of no significance. Lomax had worked for this employer for ten years. Newberry was the only one who had ever driven him home, and then only on two or three occasions when Lomax worked late at the plant. Moreover, there is no evidence that the employer was aware of these trips. But assuming Newberry had authority, such isolated accommodations when an employee is working late cannot be construed to establish a pattern for providing the employee with transportation when he leaves work at the regular quitting time, as in the present ease. The overtime work was in furtherance of the employer’s business. These rides may have been an essential inducement to accomplish the employer’s specific purpose. If White knew of these two or three rides, and there is no indication that he did, he must have known of the special circumstances surrounding them. If White did not know, these rides could not have influenced his action.
It is clear to me that White abandoned his work-connection when he undertook to drive Lomax home.
Green was an authorized passenger in the truck in the course of his employment until he became a party to White’s unauthorized act. Green was an active participant in the drinking party. Indeed, he bought the bottle. Despite the fact he knew Browns Mills was in an opposite direction from *601the route to Yardley, he acquiesced in taking Lomax home. Along with White, Green was engaged in enjoying Lomax’s friendship and doing him a favor. Like White, Green had abandoned his employment and should not be able to look to his employer for compensation. See Robinson v. Federal Telephone & Radio Corp., 44 N. J. Super. 294 (App. Div. 1957); Cole v. Borough of Keansburg, 17 N. J. Misc. 380 (C. P. 1939).
I would therefore reverse the judgment of the Appellate Division and affirm the judgment of the Burlington County Court. I am authorized to say that Justices Hall and Haneman join in this dissent.
Weintraub, C. J., and Francis, J., concurring in result.
For affirmance on opinion below — Chief Justice Weintraub, and Justices Jacobs, Francis and Schettino — 4.
For reversal — Justices Proctor, Hall and Haneman — 3.