Iliaifar v. SAIF Corp.

981 P.2d 353, 160 Or. App. 116, 1999 Ore. App. LEXIS 652
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedApril 28, 1999
DocketWCB 96-05052; CA A98271
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 981 P.2d 353 (Iliaifar v. SAIF Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Iliaifar v. SAIF Corp., 981 P.2d 353, 160 Or. App. 116, 1999 Ore. App. LEXIS 652 (Or. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinions

[118]*118EDMONDS, P. J.

Claimant seeks review of a Workers’ Compensation Board (Board) order upholding insurer’s denial of his claim. We review for errors of law, ORS 656.298(7) and ORS 183.482(8), and remand.

Claimant sold used cars for employer. He injured his back at the car lot and was released from work by his physician. After several days and two telephone conversations with his supervisor, claimant complied with the supervisor’s request to deliver his physician’s authorization to be off work to employer. Claimant left his Beaverton residence in a car provided to him by his employer and headed to downtown Portland to the car lot where he worked. On his way, claimant stopped at his credit union, and, shortly after leaving its parking lot, he was injured in a car accident. It is the injury resulting from the car accident that is the basis of his claim.

Employer’s insurer denied the claim, contending that claimant was not injured in the course and scope of employment. Claimant requested a hearing before the hearings division, and the administrative law judge ruled in favor of claimant. On appeal, the Board ruled that claimant’s injury did not occur within the course and scope of his employment and made the following findings:

“Claimant, age 35 at the time of hearing, works as a car salesman for the employer. In connection with his employment, the employer furnished claimant with a ‘demonstrator’ vehicle, which he was to use primarily for transport to and from work.
“Claimant compensably injured his back at work on December 12, 1995. On Friday, December 22, 1995, claimant’s treating doctor released him from work for the following week. The next day, claimant telephoned his supervisor and reported that he was released from work. The supervisor requested a copy of the off-work authorization, which claimant understood he was to personally deliver to the employer. Claimant advised his supervisor that he would deliver the off-work slip as soon as he could.
“On December 28, 1995, claimant again spoke with his supervisor by telephone. The supervisor again requested [119]*119the off-work slip and claimant advised he would deliver it the next day. On the afternoon of December 29,1995, claimant left his home in Beaverton in his demonstrator car to deliver the off-work slip to his place of employment on Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in Portland. On his way to the employer’s premises, claimant stopped to do some banking at a downtown bank. After leaving the bank and while on his way to the employer’s premises, claimant’s vehicle was rear-ended. The rear-end collision resulted in claimant’s herniated disc at L4-5.”

The Board’s findings are supported by substantial evidence in the record.1 We take those findings and determine whether the Board drew the correct legal conclusions from them.

The Board determined that claimant’s injury did not occur “in the course of employment.” It explained:

“Here, we find it significant that claimant was not actually traveling to perform any ‘work’ on the day of his injury. Although he was going to the employer’s premises at the time of his injury, he had been released from work because of his prior back injury. Therefore, neither the ‘going and coming’ rule nor the ‘special errand’ exception are directly applicable.”

As to the “special errand” exception to the “going and coming” rule, it reasoned:

“Although the employer directed claimant to drop off a copy of his off-work slip, claimant’s actions were not in furtherance of the employer’s business (the sale of automobiles), nor was claimant acting on the employer’s behalf at the time of his injury. Claimant made the trip primarily for his own benefit, to secure his entitlement to continued temporary disability benefits in connection with his prior injury claim. In addition, although claimant used his demonstrator vehicle to make the delivery, the employer did not have any right to control the time, manner of travel, or route to [120]*120be taken on claimant’s trip. Indeed, the record establishes that, regardless of whether or not claimant was actually required to personally deliver the off-work slip, he made the delivery when it was convenient for him to do so. * * * Finally we find nothing about claimant’s mid-afternoon trip to the employer’s premises on December 29, 1995 which resulted in a substantially increased risk over his usual trips to and from work. Under these circumstances, we conclude the ‘special errand’ exception does not apply, even by analogy.” (Footnotes omitted.)

On review, claimant argues: (1) that his actions on the day of his injury were in furtherance of employer’s business; (2) that the personal delivery of the “off-work” authorization was an act in the course of his employment; (3) that employer had the right to control the time, manner of travel or route of claimant’s trip; and (4) that the “special errand” exception to the “coming and going” rule applies.

In Fred Meyer, Inc. v. Hayes, 325 Or 592, 596-97, 943 P2d 197 (1997), the Supreme Court summarized:

“For an injury to be compensable under the workers’ compensation law, it must ‘arise out of and occur ‘in the course of employment.’ ORS 656.005(7)(a). The ‘arise out of prong of the compensability test requires that a causal link exist between the worker’s injury and his or her employment. Krushwitz v. McDonald’s Restaurants, 323 Or 520, 525-26, 919 P2d 465 (1996); Norpac Foods, Inc. v. Gilmore, 318 Or 363, 366, 867 P2d 1373 (1994). The requirement that the injury occur ‘in the course of the employment concerns the time, place, and circumstances of the injury. Krushwitz, 323 Or at 526; Norpac, 318 Or at 366.
“This court views the two prongs as two parts of a single ‘work-connection’ inquiry, that is, whether the relationship between the injury and the employment is sufficient that the injury should be compensable. Krushwitz, 323 Or at 526; Norpac, 318 Or at 366. See ORS 656.012(1)(c) (Legislative Assembly finds that ‘those injuries that bear a sufficient relationship to employment * * * merit incorporation of their costs into the stream of commerce’). Both prongs of the work-connection test must be satisfied to some degree; neither is dispositive. Krushwitz, 323 Or at 531; Norpac, 318 Or at 366. The work-connection test may be satisfied if the factors supporting one prong of the statutory test are [121]*121minimal while the factors supporting the other prong are many. Krushwitz, 323 Or at 531 (citing Phil A. Livesley Co. v. Russ, 296 Or 25, 28, 672 P2d 337 (1983)). Both prongs serve as analytical tools for determining whether, in the light of the policy for which that determination is to be made, the causal connection between the injury and the employment is sufficient to warrant compensation. Andrews v. Tektronix, Inc., 323 Or 154, 161-62, 915 P2d 972 (1996).

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Iliaifar v. SAIF Corp.
981 P.2d 353 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1999)

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Bluebook (online)
981 P.2d 353, 160 Or. App. 116, 1999 Ore. App. LEXIS 652, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/iliaifar-v-saif-corp-orctapp-1999.