Bridges v. Reliable Chevrolet, Inc.

940 S.W.2d 51, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 359, 1997 WL 87578
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 4, 1997
DocketNo. 20835
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 940 S.W.2d 51 (Bridges v. Reliable Chevrolet, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bridges v. Reliable Chevrolet, Inc., 940 S.W.2d 51, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 359, 1997 WL 87578 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

PARRISH, Judge.

Reliable Chevrolet, Inc., (Reliable) and Legion Insurance Co. appeal an award of the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (the commission) awarding Alfred Bridges (claimant) total disability compensation as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. This court affirms.

Claimant had been employed by Reliable since 1981. On the date of his accident, January 3, 1995, he was fleet manager for Reliable. He had primary responsibility for making multi-unit sales. He also made some single-unit sales.

Claimant’s job required him to be away from Reliable’s business premises a substantial amount of time. His job included making sales calls, deliveries and service calls. He worked basically on his own. Claimant was not required to keep his supervisor informed about his day-to-day, hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute schedule.

Claimant was provided a company-owned car for his use. He did not own a personal vehicle. The automobile was provided under the terms of a written agreement. Its terms include, “The employee is required to drive a make of automobile sold by the employer, however the employee will be assigned a model of automobile, in the color, and with equipment as determined by the employer.” The agreement further states, “The automobile is for sale at all times and the employee must change automobiles at the employer’s convience [sic].” It explains, “The automobile is our showroom on wheels and the employee should strive for high visibility of the automobile to help advertise the employer’s product.”

Claimant was responsible for keeping the interior and exterior “clean and well groomed at all times.” He had to make the automobile available for sales demonstrations and other errands. He was responsible for changing oil and lubricating the automobile at 3,000 and 6,000 miles.

On January 3, 1995, at approximately 3:00 p.m., claimant was driving a Chevrolet Cáma-ro Z-28 provided by Reliable northbound on Highway 160 in Greene County, a four-lane highway, when a brown Cadillac pulled through an intersection into his path. Claimant braked, then swerved hard to the right to avoid hitting the Cadillac. There was mud and clay on the roadway from a construction site. The Camaro slid sideways and crossed a median into the southbound lanes of travel on Highway 160. It struck a truck then bounced into the ditch along the roadway.

An ambulance was called. Paramedics, assisted by a deputy sheriff, removed claimant from the automobile he was driving and transported him to an emergency room at Cox Medical Center in Springfield. He has been in a coma since the accident.

A blood analysis was performed at the hospital. The laboratory report states:

ALCOHOL (ETHANOL) ETHANOL 0.000% SPECIMEN TYPE

COLLECTION TIME 15.40 0.186 * PLASMA

01/03/95 0138824

A hospital admission report of Marc R. Wittmer, M.D., states:

IMPRESSION:
1. Motor vehicle accident with the following problems:
A. Closed head injury;
B. Lacerations of scalp, ear, and face, as noted.
2. Alcohol intoxication.

Claimant was not required to obtain approval to leave Reliable’s business premises during work hours. Reliable had a procedure for logging personnel in and out through the telephone switchboard operator when they left the premises. The switchboard operator testified that she logged [53]*53claimant out at 11:25 a.m. the morning of January 3,1995.

The only information concerning claimant’s whereabouts between the time he left Reliable and the time of the accident was provided by a Reliable employee who was identified in the hearing testimony as “Mr. Sharer.” An investigator testified that Mr. Sharer reported seeing claimant drive through the intersection of Glenstone and Primrose in Springfield shortly after noon the day of the accident.

Reliable and its insurer contend the commission erred in awarding claimant benefits; that “its finding that [claimant] sustained injuries as a result of an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment with Reliable Chevrolet was not supported by substantial evidence and/or was contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence” in three respects:

A. At the time of the accident at issue, [claimant] had a blood alcohol level of .186 percent and was intoxicated;
B. At the time of the accident and for an approximately three hour period immediately preceding it the only inference to be drawn from the evidence is that the [claimant] was not engaged in Reliable Chevrolet’s business; and
C. At the time of the accident at issue, [claimant] was not engaged in any activities of “mutual benefit” to Reliable Chevrolet.

This court’s review of the commission’s award is a two-step process. The record is examined, considering the evidence adduced together with all reasonable inferences that may be drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the findings and award, to determine if the findings and award are supported by substantial evidence. If so, the record is reviewed to determine if the findings and award, even though supported by some competent and substantial evidence, were nevertheless clearly contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence that was before the commission. See Davis v. Research Medical Center, 908 S.W.2d 557, 565 (Mo.App.1995).

In other words, the factual findings and resulting award of the Commission should be set aside on appeal if they are not supported by competent and substantial evidence or, even if supported by such evidence, if they are clearly contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Otherwise, the Commission’s award is to be affirmed.

Id.

Based on the hospital laboratory report and Dr. Wittmer’s hospital admission report, the commission found there was “a reasonable probability that claimant’s injuries were sustained in conjunction with the use of alcohol.” It found, however, that Reliable failed to prove claimant had actual knowledge of its “alcohol policy,” and that Reliable had not posted that policy in a conspicuous place as required by § 287.120.6C1).1

Reliable argues:

[T]he evidence clearly established that [claimant] was intoxicated at the time of the tragic accident, and he produced no evidence whatsoever regarding his activities in the approximately three hour period immediately preceding the accident. The only inference to be drawn from his level of intoxication at the time of the accident is that he was not engaged in Reliable Chevrolet’s business either in the period immediately preceding, or at the time of, the accident.

Reliable contends, therefore, that claimant failed to satisfy the requirement of § 287.120.1 that an injury, to be compensa-ble, must both arise out of and have been incurred in the course of employment.

The commission adopted the findings of the administrative law judge with regard to whether claimant was engaged in the pursuit of Reliable’s business at the time of the accident. Those findings state:

After carefully reviewing all of the evidence, I find that claimant sustained an accident that arose out of the course and scope of employment.

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Bluebook (online)
940 S.W.2d 51, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 359, 1997 WL 87578, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bridges-v-reliable-chevrolet-inc-moctapp-1997.