Evans v. Illinois Employers Ins. of Wausau, No. C-8893
| Court | Supreme Court of Texas |
| Writing for the Court | HIGHTOWER; MAUZY, J., dissents, joined by RAY; MAUZY; RAY |
| Citation | 790 S.W.2d 302 |
| Parties | Joyce K. EVANS, Individually and on Behalf of Amanda Jo Evans, a Minor, et al., Petitioners, v. ILLINOIS EMPLOYERS INSURANCE OF WAUSAU, Respondent. |
| Decision Date | 30 May 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. C-8893 |
Page 302
Evans, a Minor, et al., Petitioners,
v.
ILLINOIS EMPLOYERS INSURANCE OF WAUSAU, Respondent.
Page 303
Joe K. Crews, Dallas, for petitioners.
Jeff R. Boggess, Irving, Susan K. Laughead, San Antonio, for respondent.
HIGHTOWER, Justice.
This is a worker's compensation case. The issue presented to the court is whether Larry Brawdy and James Evans were on a special mission for their employer, Railroad Builders, on the morning of Monday, February 24, 1986, when the vehicle in which both were traveling was struck by a train. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Illinois Employer Insurance of Wausau, the worker's compensation carrier. The court of appeals affirmed, finding that Brawdy and Evans had not begun their workday at the time of the accident, were not on a special mission for their employer, and were not within the course and scope of employment as a matter of law. Agreeing with the decisions of both the trial court and the court of appeals, we affirm.
Railroad Builders was performing under a contract with the Army Corps of Engineers to relocate a county road and railroad tracks and build the necessary bridges. The job site was located six miles north of Tioga, Texas at an area known as Range Creek. A provision in the contract required all personnel working on the job to attend safety meetings held every Monday morning in a trailer located 1- 1/2 miles south of Tioga. Although they began working for Railroad Builders as carpenters on Monday, February 17, 1986, Evans and Brawdy did not attend that day's safety meeting.
On the Friday before the accident, Brawdy and Evans were instructed by their supervisor to attend the safety meeting at 7:30 am on the following Monday morning, at which time their pay began. With Evans as a passenger, Brawdy was driving directly to the meeting at approximately 7:20 a.m. when a collision with a train rendered him a quadraplegic and killed Evans.
Article 8309, section 1, of the Workers' Compensation Act (the Act) provides that an "injury sustained in the course of employment" shall include
all other injuries of every kind and character having to do with and originating in the work, business, trade or profession of the employer received by an employee while engaged in or about the furtherance of the affairs or business of his employer whether upon the employer's premises or elsewhere.
Page 304
TEX.REV.CIV.STAT.ANN. art. 8309, § 1 (Vernon 1967).
In general, injuries which occur while the employee is traveling to or from work are not compensable under the Act. Bissett v. T.E.I.A., 704 S.W.2d 335, 337 (Tex.App.--Corpus Christi 1986, writ ref'd n.r.e.). As this court stated in American General Insurance Co. v. Coleman, 157 Tex. 377, 303 S.W.2d 370 (1957), the reasoning behind this rule is that injury incurred in such travel does not arise out of that person's employment, but rather is suffered due to the dangers and risks to which all traveling persons are exposed. Id. at 374. An exception has been made for a "special mission" when an employee is "directed in his employment to proceed from one place to another place." TEX.REV.CIV.STAT.ANN. art. 8309, § 1b (Vernon 1967).
All of Railroad Builders employees were required to attend the regularly scheduled safety meetings as a part of their employment. Since attendance was, therefore, an integral part of the job, and not a special mission, travel to the safety meeting was simply travel to work.
Petitioners assert that the earlier starting time tends to prove (though not conclusively) that this was a special mission. A time change alone has...
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Garcia v. US, Civ. No. A-91-CA-903.
...not covered by the worker's compensation act because the two employees had not yet begun work. See Evans v. Illinois Employers Insur., 790 S.W.2d 302, 305 (Tex.1990). The court held that the employees journey fell "squarely within the "coming and going" rule." Id. In Evans the employer had ......
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Painter v. Amerimex Drilling I, Ltd., No. 08–14–00134–CV
...a whole. Smith v. Texas Employers' Ins. Assoc., 129 Tex. 573, 105 S.W.2d 192, 193 (1937) ; see also Evans v. III. Emp'rs Ins. of Wausau, 790 S.W.2d 302, 305 (Tex.1990) ("The risks to which employees are exposed while traveling to and from work are shared by society as a whole and do not ari......
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American Protection Ins. Co. v. Leordeanu, No. 03-06-00529-CV.
...but rather is suffered due to the dangers and risks to which all traveling persons are exposed. Evans v. Illinois Employers Ins., 790 S.W.2d 302, 304 (Tex.1990). Stated another way, the general rule is that travel to and from work, without some special instruction or "special mission" from ......
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David Mora, Tex. Sterling Constr. Co. v. Valdivia, No. 04-17-00565-CV
...of the work of employers.’ " Leordeanu , 330 S.W.3d at 242 (third alteration in original) (quoting Evans v. Ill. Emp'rs Ins. of Wausau , 790 S.W.2d 302, 305 (Tex. 1990) ); accord Seabright Ins. Co. , 465 S.W.3d at 642. "[A] distinction can be made if ‘the relationship between the travel and......
-
Garcia v. US, Civ. No. A-91-CA-903.
...not covered by the worker's compensation act because the two employees had not yet begun work. See Evans v. Illinois Employers Insur., 790 S.W.2d 302, 305 (Tex.1990). The court held that the employees journey fell "squarely within the "coming and going" rule." Id. In Evans the employer had ......
-
Painter v. Amerimex Drilling I, Ltd., No. 08–14–00134–CV
...a whole. Smith v. Texas Employers' Ins. Assoc., 129 Tex. 573, 105 S.W.2d 192, 193 (1937) ; see also Evans v. III. Emp'rs Ins. of Wausau, 790 S.W.2d 302, 305 (Tex.1990) ("The risks to which employees are exposed while traveling to and from work are shared by society as a whole and do not ari......
-
American Protection Ins. Co. v. Leordeanu, No. 03-06-00529-CV.
...but rather is suffered due to the dangers and risks to which all traveling persons are exposed. Evans v. Illinois Employers Ins., 790 S.W.2d 302, 304 (Tex.1990). Stated another way, the general rule is that travel to and from work, without some special instruction or "special mission" from ......
-
David Mora, Tex. Sterling Constr. Co. v. Valdivia, No. 04-17-00565-CV
...of the work of employers.’ " Leordeanu , 330 S.W.3d at 242 (third alteration in original) (quoting Evans v. Ill. Emp'rs Ins. of Wausau , 790 S.W.2d 302, 305 (Tex. 1990) ); accord Seabright Ins. Co. , 465 S.W.3d at 642. "[A] distinction can be made if ‘the relationship between the travel and......