City of Atlanta v. Spearman, A93A0457
| Decision Date | 28 June 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. A93A0457,A93A0457 |
| Citation | 434 S.E.2d 87,209 Ga.App. 644 |
| Parties | CITY OF ATLANTA v. SPEARMAN. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Michael V. Coleman, Jo A. Crowder, Charles G. Hicks, Atlanta, for appellant.
Dawkins, Serio & Swilley, Harrill L. Dawkins, Conyers, for appellee.
We granted the City of Atlanta's application for discretionary appeal to review the order of the superior court affirming the full board's adoption of the administrative law judge's award of workers' compensation benefits to Spearman.
The injury at issue occurred on December 3, 1990, as Spearman was on her way to work at City Hall. She parked her car in the Garden Room Parking Garage, about a block from City Hall. She fell and injured herself in the parking lot and filed a claim for workers' compensation benefits.
The parking garage in which Spearman fell is managed, operated, and controlled by the Georgia Building Authority, and the City is provided 100 spaces for its employees' use. There was evidence that the City deducted $20 a month from Spearman's paycheck for the space; the City then made a lump sum payment to the GBA for the spaces. This arrangement was for the GBA's convenience and replaced the previous system whereby each employee paid for his own parking.
The ALJ found that the City leased 100 spaces in the parking lot from the State for the use of its employees, that the City maintained control over the allocation of those parking spaces, and that the City furnished the lot for the use of its employees. The ALJ stated: "[t]he fact that the City of Atlanta did not own that facility is immaterial, as long as they maintained direction and control over the employee's use of the facility and furnished it for the use of their employees, as they did in this case." The ALJ also found that the employer's defense that it had no notice of the claim was without merit. Thus, relying on Knight-Ridder Newspaper Sales v. Desselle, 176 Ga.App. 174, 335 S.E.2d 458 (1985), the ALJ ruled that the injury arose out of and in the course of Spearman's employment and awarded benefits. The board adopted the findings of fact and conclusions of law of the ALJ and awarded benefits and the superior court affirmed.
1. In the City's first four enumerations of error, it argues that the superior court erred by misinterpreting the terms "maintain" and "control" in the context of a parking lot; in holding that Spearman's injuries occurred on premises of the City; and in finding that the City maintained and controlled the lot.
We agree. In Tate v. Bruno's, Inc., 200 Ga.App. 395, 408 S.E.2d 456(1) (1991), this court explained the parking lot exception to the general rule that an employee going and coming from work is not a compensable event for purposes of workers' compensation. Tate, supra, at 396-397, 408 S.E.2d 456.
"The rationale which has allowed compensation for injuries which occur in, or going to or coming from, parking lots which are owned, maintained or controlled by the employer does not extend so far as to allow coverage when workers' compensation benefits are claimed for an injury which occurred in a public parking lot which was neither owned, controlled, nor maintained by the employer." Tate, supra, at 397, 408 S.E.2d 456. Where the parking lot is neither owned, controlled, nor maintained by the employer, the lot is not part of the employer's premises and the rationale which allows recovery of workers' compensation benefits does not apply.
In Tate, the parking lot in which the employee fell was a shopping center public lot which was neither owned, directed, controlled nor maintained by the employer. Nevertheless, the employees were directed to park away from the store to allow customers the closer parking spaces. Despite this instruction, this court determined that the provisions of OCGA § 34-9-1 were not intended to afford compensation to employees injured in public parking lots and concluded that the superior court's denial of benefits was proper. Compare Peoples v. Emory University, 206 Ga.App. 213, 424 S.E.2d 874 (1992).
We conclude that the award of benefits here was improper. The ALJ mistakenly equated the City's control over the allocation of the parking spaces with control and direction over the parking lot itself. Although...
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