Atkinson v. Florida Sugar Corp.

28 Fla. Supp. 135
CourtCircuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit of Florida, Palm Beach County
DecidedFebruary 27, 1967
DocketNo. 66-L-531
StatusPublished

This text of 28 Fla. Supp. 135 (Atkinson v. Florida Sugar Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Circuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit of Florida, Palm Beach County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Atkinson v. Florida Sugar Corp., 28 Fla. Supp. 135 (Fla. Super. Ct. 1967).

Opinion

JAMES R. KNOTT, Circuit Judge.

Final summary judgment: This cause came on before me on the motion for summary judgment filed by the defendant, Florida Sugar Corporation, in each of the above styled cases. The file in each case is identical, and counsel for the parties have stip[136]*136ulated that certain depositions filed could be considered by the court in each of the pending cases.

The defendant contends that the plaintiffs in each case, or the plaintiffs’ decedents in the death cases, were within the course or scope of their employment with the defendant, Florida Sugar Corporation, at the time of the accident described in the complaints out of which these actions arise. The defendant contends that because Florida Sugar Corporation has afforded workmen’s compensation benefits to the plaintiffs, under the Florida Workmen’s Compensation Act, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 440.04 (3) of said act, the plaintiffs are barred from maintaining these suits against the employer, by the provisions of chapter 440.11, Florida Statutes.

During the oral argument on these motions, counsel for the parties agreed that there was no genuine issue as to any material fact in connection with this issue, and that the question to be decided by the court is solely one of law. All of the workers injured or killed in the accident described in the complaints were Jamaican nationals, and were temporarily employed in the United States by the Florida Sugar Corporation as a part of the United States Government’s “offshore labor” program. Each of the workers had executed a labor contract before leaving Jamaica to come to Florida to work, and a copy of that labor contract is on file in each of the cases. By the terms of the contract, the workers were required to live in a labor camp maintained by the employer, and at the time of the accident each worker was in fact living in a labor camp operated and maintained by the defendant-employer, approximately fifteen miles northeast of Belle Glade. The labor camp was located in an agricultural area, and the nearest stores, shops and places of amusement are located in the city of Belle Glade. There was no public transportation available to these workers, except taxicabs, to transport the workers from the camp to town.

The workers were temporarily in Florida, working for the defendant-employer in the sugar fields during the harvesting season, but on the day that the accident happened the particular workers involved in these cases were not on duty. At the time of the accident, they were on their way from the labor camp to the city of Belle Glade in a “clinic bus” owned and operated by the defendant-employer.

There was no express contract between the workers and the employer as to the employer furnishing transportation from the labor camp to the town, but for many years it had been the [137]*137custom of the employer to furnish such transportation, by way of the “clinic bus.” Four of the workers, Samuel Williams, Robert Benjamin, Ewart Afflick and Solomon Henry, involved in the accident were on their way to town to visit the company doctor. The other workers were on their way to town to buy food, clothing or other necessaries not available for sale at the camp or which could be bought more cheaply in the town than at the company store.

The question to be decided by the court is whether under the peculiar circumstances of the employment of these particular workers they were within the “course or scope of their employment” at the time of the accident so as to bring them within the purview of the Florida Workmen’s Compensation Act, and therefore barred from bringing these suits against their common employer. The files affirmatively show that the employer had procured workmen’s compensation insurance through a policy of insurance with American Mutual Liability Insurance Company, and that the compensation insurance carrier has paid certain medical and funeral benefits on behalf of the plaintiffs, and has tendered compensation benefits to each of the plaintiffs.

Each of the workers was temporarily employed by the defendant in a foreign country (the United States), under an employment contract which required them to work for this particular employer and required them to live in quarters furnished by the employer in a relatively isolated area. Two of the workers, Solomon Henry and Ewart Afflick, were on their way to town to see the company doctor for treatment of work connected injuries, and there was a direct connection between the purpose of their trip and the employment. The Florida Workmen’s Compensation Act requires the employer to furnish or pay for transportation of an injured employee to and from a doctor for treatment.

The remaining workers were on their way to town to buy the necessities of life which were either not available at the company store maintained at the labor camp, or which necessities could be bought more cheaply in the stores in town, or to visit the company doctor for medical treatment for illnesses not directly caused by their work.

In Carr v. U. S. Sugar Corporation, 136 So. 2d 638, the Supreme Court of Florida held, under almost identical circumstances of employment, that a Jamaican laborer working for U. S. Sugar Corporation was entitled to workmen’s compensation benefits and was in the course and scope of his employment when [138]*138he fell and was injured while descending the steps of his barracks in a labor camp, while off duty and on his way to visit a friend for social purposes. While the case was decided under the so-called “bunkhouse rule”, the rationale of the case is that the injury arose out of and in the course of the claimant’s employment, because “the source of the injury was a risk distinctly associated with the conditions under which the claimant lived because of the requirement of remaining on the premises.” It is the view of the court in this case that the risk inherent to the trip to town in the employer’s “clinic bus” was a risk distinctly associated with the conditions under which the workers were required to live, under the terms of the labor contract.

Larson, Workmen’s Compensation Law, volume 1, section 1710, page 279, indicates that a vehicle owned and operated by the employer to transport workers to and from work should be considered as a portion of the employer’s premises. If the “clinic bus” in this case is in a sense an extension of the employer’s premises, then there is no distinction in principle between this case and the Carr case, supra.

Since the records show that the employer had furnished this type of transportation to its workers by virtue of longstanding custom and usage, cases such as Lee v. Florida Pine & Cypress, 157 So. 2d 513; Swartzer v. Food Fair Stores, 175 So. 2d 36; and Povia Bros. Farms v. Velez, 74 So. 2d 103, are applicable. The court has considered such cases as Heller Bros. Packing Co. v. Lewis, 20 So. 2d 387; General Development Corporation v. Kelley, 159 So. 2d 471; and Jacksonville Coach Company v. Love,

Related

O'Leary v. Brown-Pacific-Maxon, Inc.
340 U.S. 504 (Supreme Court, 1951)
Hastorf-Nettles, Inc. v. Pillsbury
203 F.2d 641 (Ninth Circuit, 1953)
Swartzer v. Food Fair Stores, Inc.
175 So. 2d 36 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1965)
Povia Bros. Farms v. Velez
74 So. 2d 103 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1954)
Jacksonville Coach Company v. Love
101 So. 2d 361 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1957)
Heller Bros. Packing Co. v. Kendricks
20 So. 2d 387 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1945)
Carr v. United States Sugar Corp.
136 So. 2d 638 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1962)
Lee v. Florida Pine & Cypress
157 So. 2d 513 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1963)
General Development Corp. v. Kelley
159 So. 2d 471 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1964)
Claim of Gabunas v. Pan American Airways, Inc.
279 A.D. 697 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1951)
Claim of Leonard v. Peoples Camp Corp.
9 A.D.2d 420 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1959)
Claim of Roher v. Cherry Grove Hotel & Restaurant
20 A.D.2d 593 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1963)
Claim of Dow v. Collins
22 A.D.2d 250 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1964)
Self v. Hanson
305 F.2d 699 (Ninth Circuit, 1962)

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Bluebook (online)
28 Fla. Supp. 135, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/atkinson-v-florida-sugar-corp-flacirct15pal-1967.