Mohammed Bouayad v. Normandy Insurance Company

Supreme Court of Florida·Decided July 9, 2026·No. SC2023-1576·Published

Opinion

Supreme Court of Florida

No. SC2023-1576

MOHAMMED BOUAYAD,

Petitioner,

vs.

NORMANDY INSURANCE COMPANY, et al., Respondents.

July 9, 2026

MUÑIZ, J.

An unknown assailant shot Mohammed Bouayad while he walked at midnight from an inside location to an unsecured outside location at his employer’s place of business. A judge of compensation claims (JCC) found Bouayad eligible for workers’ compensation benefits, relying in part on this Court’s decision in Strother v. Morrison Cafeteria, 383 So. 2d 623 (Fla. 1980). In that case, we upheld an award of workers’ compensation benefits to a cashier for injuries she sustained after being assaulted and robbed by men who followed her home from work, thinking she carried

cash deposits. See id. at 623-24, 628.

In the decision under review, Normandy Insurance Co. v.

Bouayad, 372 So. 3d 671 (Fla. 1st DCA 2023), the First District Court of Appeal held Bouayad’s injuries non-compensable, reasoning that they did not arise out of work performed by Bouayad, as required by Florida’s workers’ compensation law. Id. at 682; see § 440.09(1), Fla. Stat. (2018) (requiring compensation for accidental injury “arising out of work performed in the course and the scope of employment”). The district court also certified the following question as one of great public importance:

Notwithstanding Strother v. Morrison Cafeteria, 383 So.

2d 623 (Fla. 1980), when an act of a third-party tortfeasor is the sole cause of an injury to an employee who is in the course and scope of employment, can the tortfeasor’s act satisfy the occupational causation element, as defined by section 440.02(36), Florida Statutes [(2018)], necessary for compensability under the Worker’s Compensation Law?

Bouayad, 372 So. 3d at 683.

We believe that the First District’s decision, which departed from longstanding precedent governing the compensability of injuries sustained in workplace assaults, adopted an erroneous interpretation of the applicable statutory provisions. We also

believe that, as written, the certified question improperly incorporated a tort-based understanding of causation that is out of place in the workers’ compensation context. Therefore, we rephrase the certified question as follows:

When a third-party tortfeasor assaults an employee who is in the course and scope of employment, can the resulting injuries be compensable under the Workers’

Compensation Law?

Our answer to the rephrased certified question is yes, provided that the workers’ compensation claimant can meet his burden of establishing work-relatedness under the principles we explain in our decision today.

I

A

While wrapping up his workday as the general manager of a car rental business located on the premises of a hotel near Orlando International Airport, Bouayad was shot numerous times at close range by an assailant who emerged from a dimly lit area and who did not rob Bouayad. The unsolved crime, captured by a surveillance camera, took place around midnight on June 28, 2019, while Bouayad walked under a covered, outdoor walkway from the

hotel atrium (where his company’s kiosk desk was located) to an outside office near the pool. At the end of each shift, Bouayad carried rental agreements and cash (if any) from the kiosk to that office. On the night in question, he worked the late shift because he was training new hires after having recently fired three employees (two for theft, one for drug use). Bouayad otherwise would not have been working that shift.

Though gravely injured by the assailant, Bouayad made his way back to the hotel atrium, where he collapsed and expressed his belief that he had been shot by “Robert”—a reference to Robert Aponte, who, one day earlier, had threatened to kill Bouayad’s son. But Aponte was never charged in connection with the shooting of Bouayad. In fact, although “[t]he shooter’s face was not clearly visible on the video,” Bouayad, 372 So. 3d at 675, witnesses who knew Aponte—including Bouayad’s son—opined that Aponte was not the assailant seen on the video.

After surviving the attack, Bouayad petitioned for workers’

compensation benefits. The carrier, Respondent Normandy Insurance Company, responded that the “[e]ntire claim [was] denied” on the ground that “the incident did not arise out of

employment,” as required by chapter 440, Florida Statutes. In the prehearing stipulation, Normandy listed its “affirmative defense[]” as: “[A]ssault was an intentional and personal, non-work related event.” Post-hearing, Normandy’s more nuanced position was that Bouayad failed his burden of establishing “arising out of,” given that “both the identity of the shooter and the motive for the shooting are either (1) unknown; or (2) relate to a non-work related family dispute.” In Normandy’s view, the record thus supported only one of two conclusions: that the shooting was Aponte-related or had some other non-work connection.

B

At the final hearing, Bouayad of course attempted to establish that the shooting was “work related.” He did more than just present evidence suggesting that Aponte “was not the shooter.” Bouayad, 372 So. 3d at 675. Consistent with longstanding workers’ compensation precedent, Bouayad also introduced evidence regarding the risks and hazards of his employment, including the nature of his job duties, his work hours, and the location of the business (in a high-turnover hotel near the airport, where the crime rate was higher than near Bouayad’s residence).

Based on these and other factors, Bouayad’s experts concluded that he “faced an increased risk of becoming a crime victim when at work.” Id. One expert also testified that “the dimly lit area and the surrounding vegetation along the walkway between the kiosk and the office . . . contributed to Bouayad becoming a crime victim while at work.” Id. at 675-76.

Normandy in turn introduced testimony of its own experts.

The takeaways from that testimony were: “the shooting was a targeted attack” and “not a robbery”; the risk of violent crime was higher near Bouayad’s residence than near the hotel; “the lighting . . . was sufficient” along the walkway; and Bouayad “was not at an increased risk of crime at the hotel.” Id. at 676.

After a final merits hearing, the JCC eventually issued an amended order awarding benefits to Bouayad. In that order, the JCC framed the sole issue as whether Bouayad’s “injuries arose out of his employment.” The JCC then explained why this Court’s 1980 decision in Strother—an assault and robbery case in which the “arising out of” requirement was satisfied—remained “good law.”

The JCC next set forth his findings of fact and conclusions of law. Among other things, the JCC found that Bouayad “was

walking alone in an unsecured area” and that “the area from which the shooter emerged . . . was dark,” making Bouayad “more vulnerable to an unexpected attack.” The JCC accepted—as “consistent with the evidence”—the opinion of one of Bouayad’s experts that the work environment presented “enhanced risks of injury.” Accordingly, the JCC concluded that Bouayad’s “employment substantially contributed to the risk of an attack and to risks [to] which [he] would not normally be exposed.” In doing so, the JCC also noted specific risks of Bouayad’s job duties, including potential retaliation from fired employees.

But the JCC also accepted the opinion of one of Normandy’s experts, who opined that the attack was “targeted violence.” Based on that opinion (and the expert’s reasoning), as well as the time of day of the attack and the assailant’s hiding spot, the JCC inferred that the assailant knew Bouayad would be working the late shift and knew his end-of-shift walking route.

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