Roberts v. SAIF Corp.

136 P.3d 1105, 341 Or. 48, 2006 Ore. LEXIS 559
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJune 15, 2006
Docket02-07221; CA A122465; SC S52078
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 136 P.3d 1105 (Roberts v. SAIF Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Roberts v. SAIF Corp., 136 P.3d 1105, 341 Or. 48, 2006 Ore. LEXIS 559 (Or. 2006).

Opinions

[50]*50KISTLER, J.

A coworker backed a company pickup into claimant while claimant was riding a motorcycle at work. Claimant filed a workers’ compensation claim. Employer resisted the claim on the ground that a statutory exclusion for injuries incurred “while engaging in or performing *** any recreational or social activity] primarily for the worker’s personal pleasure” applied. See ORS 656.005(7)(b)(B) (stating exclusion).1 The Workers’ Compensation Board held that the exclusion applied, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. Roberts v. SAIF, 196 Or App 414, 102 P3d 752 (2004). We allowed claimant’s petition for review and now affirm the Court of Appeals decision.

Claimant worked as a salesperson for an automobile dealership. One day, a coworker brought his motorcycle to work. The general manager took a ride on the motorcycle before work. Later that day, another employee rode the motorcycle. During the day, while the salespeople were waiting for customers, claimant rode the motorcycle on the sales lot. As claimant was bringing the motorcycle back to park it in one of the service bays, another employee backed a company pickup into claimant, severely injuring him.

Claimant filed a workers’ compensation claim, which his employer denied. Claimant asked for a hearing. Before the hearing, the parties stipulated that riding motorcycles was not a function of claimant’s job. They also stipulated that riding the motorcycle “served no business purpose, and the employer gained no benefit from [claimant’s] riding of the motorcycle.”

After considering the evidence, the administrative law judge (ALJ) ruled that claimant’s injury arose out of and in the course of his work. See ORS 656.005(7)(a) (stating requirement for injury to be compensable). The ALJ reasoned that the injury “arose out of’ the work because the risk of being hit by a moving vehicle was inherent in claimant’s job. [51]*51He also concluded that the injury occurred “in the coruse of’ claimant’s work because employer required its sales people to remain on the premises even when customers were not present.

The ALJ determined that ORS 656.005(7)(b)(B), which sets out an exclusion relating to certain recreational and social activities, did not preclude claimant’s injury from being compensable. The ALJ reasoned that ORS 656.005(7)(b)(B) applies only when a worker’s injury results from a recreational or social activity. The ALJ found that claimant’s injury had not resulted from riding the motorcycle; rather, it had resulted from his coworker’s failure to watch where he was going while driving the company pickup. Because ORS 656.005(7)(b)(B) did not render the injury non-compensable, the ALJ directed employer to accept claimant’s workers’ compensation claim.

The board reversed, relying on ORS 656.005(7)(b)(B). The board reasoned that, under the plain wording of that statute, the exclusion is not limited to injuries that occur “as the result of’ engaging in recreational and social activities; it also applies to injuries that an employee incurs “while engaging in or performing” recreational or social activities. The board found that, in this case, claimant had been injured while he was engaged in a recreational activity — riding the motorcycle.

The board then turned to the question whether claimant had engaged in that activity “primarily for [his] personal pleasure.” On that point, the board noted that claimant had “testified * * * that he enjoyed riding motorcycles and that there was no work-related reason for him to be riding the motorcycle at the time of the accident.” The board found that, based on that evidence, claimant had been riding the motorcycle primarily for his own personal pleasure rather than for work-related reasons. The Court of Appeals affirmed the board’s order for essentially the same reasons. See Roberts, 196 Or App at 417-19 (following board’s reasoning).

On review, claimant argues that his “primary job (when not actively engaged in selling to a customer) was to be on the premises, available for customers.” He notes that, even though he rode the motorcycle for his own pleasure, [52]*52“doing so did not take [him] away from his primary work function of being available for a customer [coming onto the lot].” (Emphasis omitted.) Claimant contends that both the board and the Court of Appeals failed to consider the nature of his work in deciding whether riding the motorcycle was only an incidental departure from his primary work activity.

ORS 656.005(7)(a) provides, as a general rule, that an injury will be compensable only if it “aris[es] out of and in the course of employment.” ORS 656.005(7)(b)(B) states an additional limitation on compensable injuries. See Andrews v. Tektronix, Inc., 323 Or 154, 161 n 1, 915 P2d 972 (1996) (explaining relationship between ORS 656.005(7)(a) and ORS 656.005(7)(b)(B)). It provides that a “ ‘[c]ompensable injury' does not include * * * [an] [i]njury incurred while engaging in or performing, or as the result of engaging in or performing, any recreational or social activities primarily for the worker’s personal pleasure.” ORS 656.005(7)(b)(B).

Textually, ORS 656.005(7)(b)(B) raises three questions. The first is whether the worker was engaged in or performing a “recreational or social activit[y].” The second is whether the worker incurred the injury “while engaging in or performing, or as the result of engaging in or performing,” that activity. The final question is whether the worker engaged in or performed the activity “primarily for the worker’s personal pleasure.” If the answer to all those questions is “yes,” then the worker cannot recover.

Regarding those issues, there is little dispute that, in the context of this case, riding the motorcycle was a “recreational activity.”2 Similarly, even though claimant’s injury did not occur “as the result of’ engaging in a recreational activity, it did occur, as the board found, “while engaging in * * * [that] recreational activity.” The latter statutory phrase requires a temporal rather than a causal connection — a conclusion that follows both from the plain text of that phrase and from our obligation to give, if possible, each part of the [53]*53statute meaning. See Vsetecka v. Safeway Stores, Inc.,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Greenblatt v. Symantec Corp.
403 P.3d 439 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2017)
Sedgwick Claims Management Services v. Norwood
365 P.3d 671 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2015)
U.S. Bank v. Pohrman
354 P.3d 722 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2015)
Legacy Health Systems & Legacy Health System v. Noble
221 P.3d 180 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2009)
State v. Gaines
206 P.3d 1042 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2009)
Brown v. United Technologies Corp.
963 A.2d 1027 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2009)
Washington Group International v. Barela
180 P.3d 107 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2008)
State v. Rodriguez
175 P.3d 471 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2007)
State v. Rodriguez-Barrera
159 P.3d 1201 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2007)
Ware v. Hall
154 P.3d 118 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2007)
Roberts v. SAIF Corp.
136 P.3d 1105 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
136 P.3d 1105, 341 Or. 48, 2006 Ore. LEXIS 559, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roberts-v-saif-corp-or-2006.