Johnson v. Holdrege Medical Clinic

Decision Date05 January 1996
Docket NumberNo. S-94-1034,S-94-1034
PartiesGladys M. JOHNSON, Appellant, v. HOLDREGE MEDICAL CLINIC and Continental Insurance Co., Appellees.
CourtNebraska Supreme Court

Syllabus by the Court

1. Judgments: Appeal and Error. On questions of law, a reviewing court has an obligation to reach its own conclusions independent of those reached by the inferior courts.

2. Workers' Compensation. Neb.Rev.Stat. § 48-101 (Reissue 1993) compensates injury caused an employee by an accident arising out of and in the course of his or her employment.

3. Workers' Compensation: Words and Phrases. The phrase "arising out of," as used in Neb.Rev.Stat. § 48-101 (Reissue 1993), describes the accident and its origin, cause, and character, i.e., whether it resulted from the risks arising within the scope of the employee's job; the phrase "in the course of," as used in § 48-101, refers to the time, place, and circumstances surrounding the accident.

4. Workers' Compensation: Words and Phrases: Proof. The two phrases "arising out of" and "in the course of" in Neb.Rev.Stat. § 48-101 (Reissue 1993) are conjunctive; in order to recover, a claimant must establish by a preponderance of the evidence that both conditions exist.

5. Statutes: Judicial Construction: Legislature: Intent: Presumptions. Where a statute has been judicially construed and that construction has not evoked an amendment, it will be presumed that the Legislature has acquiesced in the court's determination of the Legislature's intent.

Dale A. Romatzke, of Ross, Schroeder, Brauer & Romatzke, Kearney, for appellant.

Jay C. Elliot, of Kay & Kay, North Platte, for appellees.

WHITE, C.J., and CAPORALE, FAHRNBRUCH, LANPHIER, WRIGHT, CONNOLLY and GERRARD, JJ.

CAPORALE, Justice.

The Nebraska Workers' Compensation Court dismissed the petition for benefits under the provisions of the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Act, Neb.Rev.Stat. §§ 48-101 through 48-1,117 (Reissue 1993 & Cum.Supp.1994), filed by the plaintiff-appellant employee, Gladys M. Johnson, against the defendant-appellee employer, Holdrege Medical Clinic, and its compensation insurance carrier, Continental Insurance Co. Claiming, in summary, that the compensation court erred in finding that the injury did not arise out of and in the course of employment, Johnson appealed to the Nebraska Court of Appeals, which affirmed the dismissal. Johnson v. Holdrege Med. Clinic, 3 Neb.App. 894, 534 N.W.2d 340 (1995). Johnson thereafter petitioned this court for further review. We now affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.

There is no factual dispute in this case; thus, the question presented, whether the injury arose out of and in the course of Johnson's employment with the clinic, is clearly one of law, in connection with which a reviewing court has an obligation to reach its own conclusions independent of those reached by the inferior courts. Stansbury v. HEP, Inc., 248 Neb. 706, 539 N.W.2d 28 (1995).

Johnson lives in Holdrege, Nebraska, and has been employed at the clinic for 25 years. Her regular working hours were from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; however, she often arrived at the clinic before 8 a.m. so that she "could get things straightened out and get ready to go for the day so I could keep caught up with the daily things we had to do." On those occasions when she arrived at work before 8 a.m., she was paid for her time.

At approximately 6:45 a.m. on November 5, 1991, Johnson left her home, which is located about 10 blocks from the clinic, to go to work. She drove directly to a city parking lot, which is located 75 to 100 feet from the back entrance of the clinic. Upon entering the lot, she exited her automobile and walked toward the clinic along her normal route, which took her through the Home Federal Savings & Loan parking lot to the alley leading to the clinic's back door. As she traversed the distance toward the clinic, Johnson slipped on some ice and fell in the savings and loan driveway at around 7 a.m. The point at which she fell was approximately 50 feet from the edge of the clinic.

The clinic is located in a business district; at the time of the accident, a 40-stall parking lot was maintained by the clinic as a part of its premises located across the alley directly behind, or east of, the clinic. Although employees at one time were allowed to park in this lot, for some time prior to Johnson's accident, the clinic had in place a written policy which, as a general matter, prohibited employees from parking there. The purpose of the policy was to free up parking spaces for medical staff, administrators, patients of the clinic, and tenants who leased apartments from the clinic. At about the same time as the clinic established its parking lot policy, a city map was posted which showed the available public parking. It showed four city parking lots, as well as various areas for street parking. The clinic did not require employees to park in a particular place. Rather, employees were free to park anywhere other than the clinic lot. On the streets adjacent to the west side, or front, of the clinic, parking is limited to 2 hours. Parking is not time limited east of the clinic.

Even prior to the clinic's restricted parking policy, the majority of its employees did not park in the clinic lot. Most of them realized that employee vehicles would fill the lot and leave little room for patients. The restricted policy was aimed at the few employees who parked in the lot and was designed to get them to park elsewhere.

Johnson testified that before the restricted parking policy was instituted, she parked in the clinic's lot. In response to the policy, she began parking in the city lot some 10 to 12 years ago. Johnson was aware that the city of Holdrege owned the lot in which she customarily parked and that the clinic did not require her to park in this particular lot. She was also aware that there were other parking areas available for her use.

Johnson also testified that prior to the day of the accident, there were occasions where she would walk to work from her home. On these occasions, she traveled the same route as she did on the day of the accident. Both before and after the accident, she sometimes parked her vehicle on a street located east of the city parking lot and would follow the same route as she usually did.

The clinic administrator testified that the city parking lot used by Johnson on the day of the accident was the "lot of choice" for clinic employees, since it is the closest one to the clinic. In addition, he testified that he was aware many different employees who park in that lot follow the same general route that Johnson customarily followed to reach the back entrance of the clinic. There was no clinic policy dictating the route an employee was to take from the city parking lot to the clinic entrance.

The act compensates injury caused an employee "by accident ... arising out of and in the course of his or her employment...." § 48-101. Accord, Mauser v. Douglas & Lomason Co., 192 Neb. 421, 222 N.W.2d 119 (1974); Hahl v. Heyne, 156 Neb. 599, 57 N.W.2d 137 (1953); Nelms v. Mahoney, 147 Neb. 626, 24 N.W.2d 558 (1946). The phrase "arising out of" describes the accident and its origin, cause, and character, i.e., whether it resulted from the risks arising within the scope of the employee's job. The phrase "in the course of" refers to the time, place, and circumstances surrounding the accident. The two phrases are conjunctive, and the claimant must establish by a preponderance of the evidence that both conditions exist. Union Packing Co. v. Klauschie, 210 Neb. 331, 314 N.W.2d 25 (1982).

In Acton v. Wymore School Dist. No. 114, 172 Neb. 609, 111 N.W.2d 368 (1961), we held that one who had a fixed place of employment and who, while on the way to work, was injured when she slipped and fell on city property at a point less than 2 feet from the employer's premises had not sustained an injury which arose in the course of her employment. See, also, McDonald v. Richardson County, 135 Neb. 150, 280 N.W. 456 (1938) (employee injured on driveway located on employer's premises while leaving employment sustained injury arising out of employment); Siedlik v. Swift & Co., 122 Neb. 99, 239 N.W. 466 (1931) (employee injured while stepping into hole on public street near employer's premises did not sustain injury arising out of employment).

Johnson recognizes our current "premises" rule, but invites us to reexamine and overrule it.

Obviously, when a bright-line rule is adopted, there will always be cases that are very close to each side of the line. But not only is such the nature of much of the law, flexible rules frequently produce equally arbitrary decisions. As pointed out in 1 Arthur Larson & Lex K. Larson, The Law of Workmen's Compensation § 15.12(b) at 4-12 to 4-15 (1995):

The perils that beset any jurisdiction which abandons the security of the premises rule are dramatically illustrated by the parallel stories that unfolded in Michigan and New Jersey, beginning in 1972, and coming full circle about eight years later in both states. Although both are again safely within the majority fold, the story is well worth retelling, together with the Treatise's persistent and emphatic warnings, for the benefit of any other states that are under pressure to poke supposedly harmless holes in the premises dike....

The Michigan case was Fischer v. Lincoln Tool & Die Co. [, 37 Mich.App. 198, 194 N.W.2d 476 (1971).] Claimant's employer provided no parking facilities for employees, and expected them to park in the public street. After doing so, claimant proceeded to his place of work, and slipped and fell on some ice on the public sidewalk adjoining the employer's property. The court held that, under such a situation, where the employer expected employees to park in the public street, the adjacent area should be considered part of the employer's premises and a finding below that the claimant was...

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