Jauregui v. Carolina Vegetables

436 S.E.2d 268, 112 N.C. App. 593, 1993 N.C. App. LEXIS 1199
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedNovember 16, 1993
DocketNo. 9210IC1173
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 436 S.E.2d 268 (Jauregui v. Carolina Vegetables) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jauregui v. Carolina Vegetables, 436 S.E.2d 268, 112 N.C. App. 593, 1993 N.C. App. LEXIS 1199 (N.C. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

WELLS, Judge.

As a result of plaintiff’s claim for compensation under the Workers’ Compensation Act, Chapter 97 of the North Carolina General Statutes, a hearing was held before Deputy Commissioner Scott M. Taylor. Following the hearing, Deputy Commissioner Taylor entered an opinion and award denying plaintiff’s claim.

Deputy Commissioner Taylor’s opinion and award recognized that plaintiff was injured by accident while employed by defendant Carolina Vegetables. The opinion and award contained the following:

Findings of Fact

1. On 21 June 1990, plaintiff was a 24-year-old man, who was employed by defendant-employer harvesting vegetables. Plaintiff’s duties with defendant-employer included picking cucumbers.
2. During the time that plaintiff was employed by defendant-employer, defendant-employer provided plaintiff with free housing in one of their migrant labor camps.
3. Plaintiff testified that on 21 June 1990, he picked cucumbers all day, and got off work at 6:00 p.m. Plaintiff then returned to the migrant labor camp. Plaintiff testified that after he showered, he walked down the steps outside the shower and slipped. When he slipped, plaintiff testified that he saw a little piece of soap. Plaintiff was wearing sandals when he slipped. [595]*595Plaintiff also testified that his weight came down on his left knee when he slipped. Plaintiff subsequently underwent arthroscopic surgery for a medial condylar defect and a medial meniscal tear.
4. The undersigned, however, does not accept plaintiff’s testimony as credible, based upon the inconsistencies in plaintiff’s testimony and the testimony given by other witnesses and through stipulations.
5. Following his duties with defendant-employer, even though defendant-employer provided on-sight housing, plaintiff was not required to be on the premises, nor was he continuously on call following the end of the workday. At the end of the workday, plaintiff could come and go as he pleased.
6. Plaintiff was free to take a shower or not take a shower any time that he wished following his working hours.
7. Showering was not part of plaintiff’s job duties.
8. Plaintiff did not deal in any way with the general public, and did not participate in any way with sales or promotions.
9. Since plaintiff’s testimony is not credible, however, plaintiff did not prove that any injury which he may have sustained on or about 21 June 1990 resulted from an interruption of his normal work routine likely to result in unexpected consequences.
★★★★★★★★★★
The foregoing findings of fact and conclusions of law engender the following additional
Conclusions of Law
1. On or about 21 June 1990, plaintiff did not sustain any injury as the result of an interruption of his normal work routine likely to result in unexpected consequences; therefore, any injury sustained by plaintiff on or about 21 June 1990 did not arise out of or in the course of plaintiff’s employment with defendant-employer. G.S. § 97-2(6).
2. Plaintiff’s claim is not, therefore, compensable under the provisions of the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Act.
[596]*596Based upon the foregoing findings of fact and conclusions of law, the undersigned enters the following
Order
1. Under the law, plaintiffs claim must be, and the same is hereby DENIED.

On appeal to the Full Commission, the 1 July 1992 opinion and award was entered with the following disposition:

The undersigned have reviewed the record with reference to the errors alleged and find no adequate ground to amend the award.
In view of the foregoing, the Full Commission ADOPTS as its own the Opinion and Award as filed.

In his first argument on appeal to this Court, plaintiff contends that the Commission failed to carry out its statutory duties pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-85 by not making its own findings of fact and conclusions to support its disposition of plaintiff’s claim. We agree. Despite the failure of the Commission to make its own findings and conclusions, for the reasons we shall state, we discern no prejudice to plaintiff.

In another argument, plaintiff contends that Deputy Commissioner Taylor’s opinion and award did not make findings of fact sufficient to resolve the issues presented by plaintiff’s evidence, particularly with respect to the conditions of plaintiff’s employment and the circumstances of his accidental injury. Again, we agree but discern no prejudice.

For the sake of resolving this aspect of plaintiff’s appeal, we shall treat plaintiff’s testimony as true. The record reveals that after hearing a radio advertisement by Carolina Vegetables, plaintiff left his home in Mexico and traveled to Brownsville, Texas, where he met an agent of Carolina Vegetables, Damian Cruz, who told him that Carolina Vegetables was seeking farm workers. Mr. Cruz said the job paid $8.85 per hour and Carolina Vegetables would provide housing. Plaintiff testified that he would not have accepted the job had housing not been provided. Mr. Cruz brought 32 farm workers, including plaintiff, to Carolina Vegetables’ labor camp located in Duplin County where plaintiff was employed by [597]*597Carolina Vegetables to hand-harvest crops. Showering facilities are provided by Carolina Vegetables, and employees are free to take showers as they wish. Plaintiff testified that on 21 June 1990 he picked cucumbers until 6:00 p.m. and returned to the labor camp to shower. Plaintiff testified that after he showered, as he walked down the steps outside the shower, he slipped on a little piece of soap.

This evidence raises the question of whether plaintiff’s injury arose out of his employment and occurred in the course of his employment as N.C. Gen Stat. § 97-2(6) requires. The words “out of” refer to the origin or cause of the accident, and the words “in the course of” refer to the time, place, and circumstances under which the accident occurred. Bass v. Mecklenburg County, 258 N.C. 226, 128 S.E.2d 570 (1962). The “course of employment” and “arising out of employment” tests should not be applied entirely independently; they are both parts of a single test to determine the connection between injury and employment. Watkins v. City of Wilmington, 290 N.C. 276, 225 S.E.2d 577 (1976).

A claimant is injured in the course of employment when the injury occurs during the period of employment at a place where an employee’s duties are calculated to take him, and under circumstances in which the employee is engaged in an activity which he is authorized to undertake and which is calculated to further, directly or indirectly, the employer’s business.

Powers v. Lady’s Funeral Home, 306 N.C. 728, 295 S.E.2d 473 (1982).

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Bluebook (online)
436 S.E.2d 268, 112 N.C. App. 593, 1993 N.C. App. LEXIS 1199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jauregui-v-carolina-vegetables-ncctapp-1993.