Heinz v. Concord Union School District

371 A.2d 1161, 117 N.H. 214, 1977 N.H. LEXIS 304
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedMarch 31, 1977
DocketNo. 7491
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 371 A.2d 1161 (Heinz v. Concord Union School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Heinz v. Concord Union School District, 371 A.2d 1161, 117 N.H. 214, 1977 N.H. LEXIS 304 (N.H. 1977).

Opinion

Bois, J.

This is an appeal from the affirmance by the superior court of a decision of the deputy commissioner of labor denying workmen’s compensation benefits to the plaintiffs who are dependents of the decedent, William Heinz. RSA ch. 281. The sole issue is whether Mr. Heinz’ death arose “out of and in the course of” his employment, and is thereby compensable. RSA 281:2 V (Supp. 1975). All questions of law were reserved and transferred by Keller, C.J.

The facts are essentially undisputed and may be summarized as follows. Mr. Heinz was a physics teacher under contract at Concord High School. He was not obligated to chaperone school dances but teachers were expected to give fully of their services and participate to a reasonable extent in school activities. After he and his wife had accepted the invitation of certain students to chaperone a dance at the end of the 1974 school year, the dance received school authorization. On the day of the dance, Mr. Heinz [217]*217left the school after the completion of classes at about 3 p.m., and proceeded first to a private after-school social gathering given by a teaching colleague. Except for a trip to his doctor, he remained at the party until early evening, and consumed several glasses of beer. According to the testimony of his fellow teachers, his drinking produced no outward signs of intoxication. At about 7:30 p.m., he left the party to return home (a. distance of five miles) in order to change clothes and pick up his wife, and then proceed the ten miles to the school. On his way home, the motorcycle which he was driving failed to negotiate a bend in the road; he was thrown from the vehicle and killed. There was evidence that at the time of the accident the road was wet from rain, and marked by holes, bumps, dips and scattered sand. The trial court gave no weight to the result of a blood test given the decedent (it was not shown that the needle used in the procedure was free from contamination), and ruled that intoxication had not been established. See RSA 281:15. It did find however that the accident was caused by the negligence of the decedent in the operation of his motorcycle.

Benefits were denied on the ground that death did not arise out of and in the course of the decedent’s employment. In reaching this conclusion, the court relied on the facts that death occurred “while Mr. Heinz was on his way home from a purely social gathering,” and that the risk of riding a motorcycle over a bumpy road was a risk “of which his employer had no knowledge.”

To be compensable under the workmen’s compensation law, the injury must arise “out of and in the course of employment.” RSA 281:2 V (Supp. 1975). The injury must result from “‘the conditions and obligations of the employment’ and not merely from the ‘bare existence of the employment.’ ” Labonte v. Nat’l Gypsum Co., 110 N.H. 314, 317, 269 A.2d 634, 636 (1970). Many jurisdictions have adopted a “coming and going” rule, to the effect that, for an employee having fixed hours and place of work, going to and from work is generally covered only on the employer’s premises. See 1 A. Larson, The Law of Workmen’s Compensation § 15.11, at 4-3 (1972). This court has noted that this “so-called rule has proved to be of doubtful utility and is riddled with various exceptions.” Brousseau v. Blackstone Mills, 100 N.H. 493, 494, 130 A.2d 543, 545 (1957); see Henderson v. Sherwood Motor Hotel, 105 N.H. 443, 445, 201 A.2d 891, 894 (1964); United States Fidelity & Guar. Co. v. Gagne, 103 N.H. 420, 174 A.2d 406 (1961). In this jurisdiction the question is simply whether the cause of the [218]*218injury can properly be considered a hazard of the employment. Id.; Brousseau v. Blackstone Mills supra; Manchester v. Huard, 113 N.H. 81, 301 A.2d 719 (1973).

We have recognized, with other jurisdictions, that the ordinary perils of travel between home and the place of employment are not properly considered as hazards of employment, and injuries arising therefrom are thus ordinarily noncompensable. Henderson v. Sherwood Motor Hotel, 105 N.H. 443, 201 A.2d 891 (1964); Kyle v. Greene High School, 208 Iowa 1037, 226 N.W. 71 (1929); 1 A. Larson, supra at § 15.11. A different conclusion is reached, however, “when a peril which arises out of the employment overtakes the employee when he is returning home after employment beyond the usual working hours, as the result of special duties which thus subject him to special travel risks.” Henderson v. Sherwood Motor Hotel, supra at 445, 201 A.2d at 894; see Kyle v. Greene High School supra; In re Papanastassiou’s Case, 362 Mass. 91, 284 N.E.2d 598 (1972); Jonas v. Lillyblad, 272 Minn. 299, 137 N.W.2d 370 (1965); Ricciardi v. Damar Products Co., 45 N.J. 54, 211 A.2d 347 (1965). The principle is the same when a peril which arises out of the employment overtakes an employee when he is traveling from home to his place of employment in order to perform a special duty.- See 1 A. Larson, supra at § 16.10.

Workmen’s compensation law has been found to grant coverage to a chemist undertaking a special evening trip in order to conduct further work on a chemical experiment begun during regular working hours, In re Papanastassiou’s Case supra; to a hotel maintenance man making a special evening trip to the hotel to turn up the furnace and boiler during wintry weather, Jonas v. Lillyblad supra; to an employee returning home from a company-sponsored picnic designed in part to further the company’s own interests, Ricciardi v. Damar Products Co. supra; and to a school janitor making a special evening trip to the school to aid preparations for a school basketball game, Kyle v. Greene High School supra.

As a result of employment, obligations may arise which require an employee to travel beyond the normal time and space limits of his employment. Travel under these obligations may be protected by what is known as the “special errand rule.” “When an employee . . . makes an off-premises journey which would normally not be covered under the usual coming and going rule, the journey may be brought within the course of employment by the [219]*219fact that the trouble and time of making the journey, or the special inconvenience, hazard, or urgency of making it in the particular circumstances, is itself sufficiently substantial to be viewed as an integral part of the service itself.” 1 A. Larson, supra at § 16.10, at 4-86 to 4-88.

The chaperoning duties in the instant case may properly be characterized as a special duty or errand, and subjected the decedent to special travel risks.

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Bluebook (online)
371 A.2d 1161, 117 N.H. 214, 1977 N.H. LEXIS 304, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/heinz-v-concord-union-school-district-nh-1977.