Court Opinion

ID: 9598116
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:05:49.379375+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:31:59.472357
License: Public Domain

*30Judge MARTIN (Harry C.)
dissenting.
The majority concludes that claimant’s injury did not occur in the course of his employment. The majority concedes that claimant was on a special errand for his employer in the journey to and from the funeral home, and therefore the usual “come and go” rule is not applicable to this case. It is also conceded that the special errand of claimant in this case was “an integral part of the service performed.” The requirement that the injury arise out of the employment is thereby satisfied, there being a causal relation between the injury and the performance of a service of the employment, i.e., the special errand for the employer. Perry v. Bakeries Co., 262 N.C. 272, 136 S.E. 2d 643 (1964).
The decision of the Commission is upheld upon the simple determination that the special errand ended when claimant left the public street and was again physically upon his own property. This holding defeats the purpose of the special errand rule, which is to allow coverage of the employee from “portal to portal.” 1 A. Larson, The Law of Workmen’s Compensation § 16.10 (1978). I find the special errand did not end until claimant left the area of the risk created by the special errand. In any journey by automobile, two of its most dangerous aspects are entering the vehicle and exiting from it. I find Charak v. Leddy, 23 A.D. 2d 437, 261 N.Y.S. 2d 486 (1965), entirely distinguishable from this case. In Charak, claimant was still within her apartment building when she was injured. She had not entered into the area of risk arising out of her employment. She was injured while doing what any other resident of the building might have done. Our claimant, to the contrary, was exiting the car and returning to his doorway, still performing an integral part of the special errand for his employer.
Jurisdictions as diverse as California and New Hampshire have allowed recovery under analogous circumstances. In Heinz v. Concord U. Sch. Dist., 117 N.H. 214, 371 A. 2d 1161 (1977), claimant was a teacher. On his way home to change clothes in order to return to school to chaperone an authorized school dance, he was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was not obligated to chaperone the dance, but was expected to give fully of his services and participate to a reasonable extent in school activities. The New Hampshire court held the death arose out of and in the course of *31claimant’s employment. The chaperoning duties were in the nature of a special duty or errand and subjected claimant to special travel risks. The cause of the death could properly be considered a hazard of the employment.
Safeway Stores, Inc. v. Workers’ Comp. A. Bd., 104 Cal. App. 3d 528, 163 Cal. Rptr. 750 (1980), involved a special errand or mission case with facts closely resembling those in the case sub judice. In Safeway, claimant was required to work well beyond his ordinary hours to aid in the preparation of an inventory. He returned to his home about 5:30 a.m. and was injured when he was attacked by an unknown assailant as he got out of his car to enter his house. The employer argued that the injury did not arise out of or in the course of the employment. The California court held that claimant was on a special errand for his employer in his return home from the extended workday. Claimant’s entire duty was at the employer’s request and satisfied an important and out-of-the-ordinary business need. The journey home was an essential part of the special service claimant was called upon to perform for the benefit of his employer. Safeway further contended that the return journey was completed before the assault. The court concluded that the reasoning in Charak supported recovery for claimant, who had not entered the safety of his house, as the claimant in Charak had not left the safety and security of her apartment building when she was injured.
Claimant Powers was engaged in a “special errand” and had not entered the safety and security of his house when he was injured. He was still exposed to the risks arising out of his employment. Further, it is to be noted that his injury was the result of his being struck by the automobile he had just left and which he was required to use in order to perform the services for his employer. No outside element participated in causing the injury, as occurred in Safeway.
The majority’s rule, that a special errand ends when the employee is again physically present upon his property, does have the attribute of certainty. But, it is feared that certainty is achieved at the expense of justice. Many fact situations are conceivable where a claimant is still subject to risks from his employment after he is on his own property while on a special errand. It could be several miles from the beginning of his property to his *32house, for example. It is submitted that a “bright line” rule should not be adopted to determine when all special errands end, but rather, each should be determined upon its particular fact situation. See Berry v. Furniture Co., 232 N.C. 303, 60 S.E. 2d 97 (1950); Harden v. Furniture Co., 199 N.C. 733, 155 S.E. 728 (1930); Gallimore v. Marilyn’s Shoes, 30 N.C. App. 628, 228 S.E. 2d 39 (1976), rev’d on other grounds, 292 N.C. 399, 233 S.E. 2d 529 (1977).
When it is established that a claimant is on a special errand for his employer, the declared policy of the state requires a liberal construction in favor of the employee in determining whether the accident arises out of and in the course of the employment. Stevenson v. City of Durham, 281 N.C. 300, 188 S.E. 2d 281 (1972); Petty v. Transport, Inc., 276 N.C. 417, 173 S.E. 2d 321 (1970); Gallimore, supra. The narrow, restrictive rule adopted by the majority contravenes this policy.
The proper rule of law to apply to the discrete fact situations is not “did the accident occur on the claimant’s own premises.” Rather, an accident arises out of employment when it occurs in the course of the employment and the conditions or obligations of the employment put the claimant in the position or at the place where the accident occurs. Larson, supra, § 6.50. Claimant was struck by the car near his door because the obligations of his employment, the special errand, required him to be at that place when the accident occurred. Where the employment requires travel, the hazards of the route become the hazards of the employment. Hinkle v. Lexington, 239 N.C. 105, 79 S.E. 2d 220 (1953). Such is the case here. I vote to reverse the order of the Commission and remand for the determination of an appropriate award for claimant.