United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Slaughter

836 S.W.2d 745, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 1992, 1992 WL 177008
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 29, 1992
DocketNo. 08-91-00368-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 836 S.W.2d 745 (United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Slaughter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Slaughter, 836 S.W.2d 745, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 1992, 1992 WL 177008 (Tex. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

OPINION

LARSEN, Justice.

This case involves the application of the personal convenience doctrine in a workers’ compensation death case. We agree with the trial court that the evidence established the worker was within the course and scope of his employment at the time of his injury, which ultimately led to his death. We further hold that any error in the admission of a statement made by the injured man to his son shortly after the accident was harmless, as other independent evidence fully supported the trial court’s judgment. We, therefore, affirm the judgment of the trial court awarding death benefits under the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act.

FACTS

A small oil field service company in Odessa, Basin Testers, Inc., employed R.B. Slaughter for approximately twelve years. His job duties, although never spelled out, were to serve as “go-for” or “jack-of-all-trades.” Some of R.B. Slaughter’s duties included finding, buying and inventorying parts; cleaning tools; cleaning around the building; delivering equipment to the oil field; answering the telephone after hours; locking the work area and office after the last employee came in for the night; and providing informal security around the area.

On March 3, 1987, as he was leaving around 5 p.m., Slaughter’s supervisor, George Lambert, saw Slaughter cleaning tools in a vat of kerosene-type liquid. Slaughter was waiting for the last tester out in the field, William Richardson, to return so he could lock the building. When Richardson returned at 6:30 p.m., he found R.B. Slaughter lying next to a shower that was provided by the company for the use of all employees. His body was lying outside the shower, his feet within and the water was running. Richardson immediately called an ambulance, which arrived within ten minutes. Mr. Slaughter was transported to an Odessa hospital.

Mr. Slaughter’s son, Larry Slaughter, testified over objection that his father had spoken with him at the emergency room following the fall. The son stated that his father told him he had been cleaning tools while waiting for Richardson to return. He splashed cleaning solvent on himself, and showered while waiting for Richardson. He heard the phone ring, stepped out of the shower to answer it, and could remember nothing else.

Mr. Slaughter suffered a broken neck and eventually died from his injuries. His widow brought a claim for death benefits under the Workers’ Compensation Act.

The only matter in controversy is whether Mr. Slaughter was in the course and scope of his employment at the time he fell in the shower. After a bench trial, the trial court found that he was on the job and awarded benefits under the Act.

EVIDENCE OF COURSE AND SCOPE

In Appellant’s Points of Error Nos. Four and Five, the insurance company argues that the res gestae statement of R.B. Slaughter was improperly admitted, and that without it there was no evidence, or insufficient evidence, establishing Mr. Slaughter was within the course and scope of employment at the time of his fall. We disagree, finding there is evidence of course and scope without considering the injured man’s statements.

In a bench trial, the judge’s findings of fact are reviewable for legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence to support them by the same standards applied in reviewing the legal or factual sufficiency of the evidence that support jury findings. Gill Savings Association v. Chair King, [747]*747Inc., 783 S.W.2d 674, 676-7 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1989), aff'd in part, mod’f in part, remanded in part, 797 S.W.2d 31 (Tex.1990); Aerospatiale Helicopter Corp. v. Universal Health Services, Inc., 778 S.W.2d 492, 497 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1989, writ denied), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 111 S.Ct. 149, 112 L.Ed.2d 115. In reviewing the factual sufficiency of fact findings, we examine all of the evidence, and sustain if there is sufficient evidence of probative force to support the finding. In re King’s Estate, 150 Tex. 662, 244 S.W.2d 660 (Tex.1951); Carrasco v. Goatcher, 623 S.W.2d 769 (Tex.App.—El Paso 1981, no writ). In reviewing their legal sufficiency, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the findings, and affirm if any evidence, more than a scintilla, supports the trial court’s conclusion.

The insurance company challenges the following findings of fact:

Ralph B. Slaughter received an injury on or about March 3, 1987, in the course of his employment with BASIN TESTERS, INC.
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The accidental injury received by Ralph B. Slaughter on March 3, 1987, in the course of his employment was a producing cause of his death on July 23, 1987.

PERSONAL CONVENIENCE DOCTRINE

Here, completely setting aside the challenged evidence regarding the statement Mr. Slaughter made to his son, there is still sufficient evidence to withstand both legal and factual sufficiency review.

The personal comfort or convenience doctrine allows for workers’ compensation recovery though an employee is not immediately engaged in tasks benefiting the employer at the time of his or her injury:

Employees who, within the time and space limits of their employment, engage in acts which minister to personal comfort do not thereby leave the course of employment, unless the extent of the departure is so great that an intent to abandon the job temporarily may be inferred, or unless, in some jurisdictions, the method chosen is so unusual and unreasonable that the conduct cannot be considered an incident of the employment. 1A Larson, Worker’s Compensation Law § 21.00 (1992).

The Texas Supreme Court, in Yeldell v. Holiday Hills Retirement and Nursing Center, Inc., 701 S.W.2d 243, 245 (Tex.1985), examined this doctrine in a case where an employee at her duty station had just finished a telephone call home to her daughter. The telephone cord twisted around a coffee urn, and it overturned, spilling hot coffee on the employee. In finding the woman entitled to benefits, the Court held:

An employee need not have been engaged in the discharge of any specific duty incident to his employment; rather an employee in the course of his employment may perform acts of a personal nature that a person might reasonably do for his health and comfort, such as quenching thirst or relieving hunger; such acts are considered incidental to the employee’s service and the injuries sustained while doing so arise in the course and scope of his employment and are thus compensable. Yeldell, 701 S.W.2d at 245.

This is the standard we apply in determining whether Mr. Slaughter was within the scope of his employment when he fell in the shower.

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Bluebook (online)
836 S.W.2d 745, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 1992, 1992 WL 177008, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-fidelity-guaranty-co-v-slaughter-texapp-1992.