Moncus v. Billingsley Logging & American Ins. Co.

235 S.W.3d 877, 366 Ark. 383
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedMay 18, 2006
Docket05-1353
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 235 S.W.3d 877 (Moncus v. Billingsley Logging & American Ins. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moncus v. Billingsley Logging & American Ins. Co., 235 S.W.3d 877, 366 Ark. 383 (Ark. 2006).

Opinion

Betty C. Dickey, Justice.

The appellant, Tony Moncus, was killed in an automobile collision on August 19, 2003, while following his employer, the appellee, to a jobsite. Following a hearing, an administrative law judge determined that Moncus’s death was not compensable, because he was not performing employment services at the time of his death. The Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission (hereinafter the Commission) affirmed and fully adopted the decision of the administrative law judge. The Arkansas Court of Appeals then affirmed the decision of the Commission. We granted the appellant’s petition for review of that decision pursuant to Ark. Sup. Ct. R. l-2(e). We reverse the decision of the Commission.

Tony Moncus (Moncus) was a logger employed by Billingsley Logging, which is owned by Mitchell Billingsley (Billingsley). Moncus operated a wood cutting machine, and he was paid a fixed sum per ton of wood felled. The loggers would generally travel directly from their homes to the jobsite to begin work, due to their familiarity with the area in which the logging operations normally took place. However, on the day of the accident, logging was slated to begin on a tract of land, the whereabouts of which were known only to Billingsley. Billingsley therefore instructed the loggers to assemble at a central location so that they could then follow him to the jobsite. On this particular day, the loggers were required to meet at the prearranged location, because otherwise they would not be able to find the jobsite. Because the loggers were generally familiar with the location of any particular jobsite, this was an unusual situation, which occurred perhaps four or five times in a year. Although the other loggers would travel to the unknown site by following Billingsley in company vehicles, Billingsley had given Moncus permission to use his own truck, because Moncus needed to leave work early that day. After all the loggers had arrived that morning, the vehicles left the meeting place, following Billingsley in convoy fashion. Before arriving at the job site, Moncus was involved in the collision that caused his death.

Moncus’s representatives then filed a claim on his behalf for workers’-compensation benefits, which was denied by an administrative law judge. The full Commission affirmed that decision and the Commission’s decision was subsequently affirmed by the court of appeals. The appellant brings this appeal from the Commission’s decision.

Upon a petition for review, we consider a case as though it has been originally filed in this court. Edens v. Superior Marble & Glass, 346 Ark. 487, 58 S.W.3d 369 (2001); Estridge v. Waste Mgmt., 343 Ark. 276, 33 S.W.3d 167 (2000); White v. Georgia-Pacific Corp., 339 Ark. 474, 6 S.W.3d 98 (1999).

In appeals involving claims for workers’ compensation, our court views the evidence in a light most favorable to the Commission’s decision and affirms the decision if it is supported by substantial evidence. Hapney v. Rheem Mfg. Co., 341 Ark. 548, 26 S.W.3d 771 (2000); Burlington Indus. v. Pickett, 336 Ark. 515, 988 S.W.2d 3 (1999). Substantial evidence is evidence that a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion. Williams v. Prostaff Temps., 336 Ark. 510, 988 S.W.2d 1 (1999). The issue is not whether the appellate court might have reached a different result from the Commission; if reasonable minds could reach the result found by the Commission, the appellate court must affirm the decision. Minnesota Mining & Mfg. v. Baker, 337 Ark. 94, 989 S.W.2d 151 (1999). Where the Commission denies a claim because of the claimant’s failure to meet his burden of proof, the substantial evidence standard of review requires that we affirm the Commission’s decision if its opinion displays a substantial basis for the denial of relief. Davis v. Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc., 341 Ark. 751, 20 S.W.3d 326 (2000); Johnson v. American Pulpwood Co., 38 Ark. App. 6, 826 S.W.2d 827 (1992).

A compensable injury is “an accidental injury .. . arising out of and in the course of employment.” Ark. Code Ann. § 11 — 9— 102(4)(A)(i) (Repl. 2002). A compensable injury does not include injuries suffered at a time when employment services were not being performed. Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-102(4) (B) (iii). An employee is performing employment services when she is doing something that is generally required by her employer. Pifer v. Single Source Transp., 347 Ark 851, 69 S.W.3d 1 (2002). We use the same test to determine whether an employee was acting in the course of employment as we do when determining whether the employee was performing employment services. Id. The test is whether the injury occurred “within the time and space boundaries of employment, when the employee was carrying out the employer’s purpose or advancing the employer’s interest either directly or indirectly.” White, 339 Ark. at 478, 6 S.W.3d at 100.

An employee traveling to and from the workplace is generally said not to be acting within the course of employment. Olsten Kimberly Quality Care v. Pettey, 328 Ark. 381, 944 S.W.2d 524 (1997). This “going and coming” rule ordinarily precludes recovery for an injury sustained while the employee is going to or coming from his place of employment. Id. The rationale behind this rule is that an employee is not within the course of employment while traveling to or from his job. Id. However, there are exceptions to this rule. Id. One such exception is where the employee must travel from jobsite to jobsite, whether or not he or she is paid for that travel time. Id. (quoting Arthur Larson, The Law of Workmen’s Compensation § 16.01 (1996)). The rationale behind this exception is that where the employee is required to travel from jobsite to jobsite, such travel is an integral part of the job itself. Id.

In Olsten Kimberly Quality Care v. Pettey, supra, we held that injuries sustained by a nurse while on her way to the home of a patient were compensable, even though she was not paid for the travel. There, we noted that the employee was not required to report to the employer’s office each day, but instead often went directly from her home to the home of a patient, where she began to work. In reaching our conclusion, we held that the travel was clearly for the benefit of the employer, whose business was to provide in-home nursing care. Additionally, we stated:

[t]he fact that appellee had yet to begin her nursing duties that day does not preclude our conclusion that she was nonetheless performing employment services at the time of the accident.

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Bluebook (online)
235 S.W.3d 877, 366 Ark. 383, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moncus-v-billingsley-logging-american-ins-co-ark-2006.