Court Opinion

ID: 9621825
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:07:54.192797+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:10.104266
License: Public Domain

STRUCKMEYER, Vice Chief Justice
(dissenting).
The majority unduly restrict the application of the Workmen’s Compensation Act of this State, primarily, I believe, because of the particular circumstances out of which the claimant, Whitington, re-injured his neck in the automobile accident of July 31, 1967.
It is settled beyond argument that an employee who is injured while traveling in the course of his employment has a compensable work-connected claim. Ortega v. Ed Horrell and Son, 89 Ariz. 370, 362 P.2d 744; Butler v. Industrial Commission, 50 Ariz. 516, 73 P.2d 703. And the weight of authority permits recovery where an injury is sustained in an accident while traveling for the purpose of visiting a doctor because of injuries incurred in the course of an industrial accident. Taylor v. Centex Construction Company, 191 Kan. 130, 379 P.2d 217; Bettasso v. Snow-Hill Coal Corporation, 135 Ind.App. 396, 189 N.E.2d 833; Goldberg v. 954 Marcy Corporation, 276 N.Y. 313, 12 N.E.2d 311; Immer and Company v. Brosnahan, 207 Va. 720, 152 S.E.2d 254. But for his employment, an employee would not incur the hazards of the travel. *570As was held in Taylor v. Centex Construction Company, supra:
“In making the trip to the doctor’s office, the hazards and risks of highway travel were incidents of his employment.” 379 P.2d at 224.
The majority draw a distinction between traveling for treatment by a doctor and traveling for medical consultation by a board of doctors convened by the Industrial Commission to determine the nature and extent of the disabilities suffered. Such a whimsical distinction cannot be less than arbitrary. In Arizona by law an employee must submit to medical examinations to be eligible for workmen’s compensation, A.R. S. § 23-1026. Here the fact is conceded that Whitington was making this trip from the mountains where he was on vacation solely for the purpose of attending the medical consultation. Had Whitington not suffered injuries while working, the subsequent travel would not have been necessary.
I am of the opinion that the second accident was constitutionally “ * * * a necessary risk or danger inherent in the nature * * * ” of employment.
I dissent.