Lycoming Shoe Co. v. Woods
| Decision Date | 22 October 1971 |
| Citation | 472 S.W.2d 257 |
| Parties | LYCOMING SHOE COMPANY, Inc., Appellant, v. Doris WOODS and Kentucky Workmen's Compensation Board, Appellees. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
David O. Welch, Caldwell, VanAntwerp, Welch & Hughes, Ashland, for appellant.
Gary L. Littleton, Grayson, Howard H. Harcha, Jr., Portsmouth, Ohio, for appellees.
The issue posed on this appeal is whether the circuit court erred when it reversed a decision of the Workmen's Compensation Board that denied compensation benefits to the widow of an employee who was killed in an automobile accident. The board held that the employee's death did not 'arise out of and in the course of' his employment. The circuit court held that the undisputed facts established, as a matter of law, that the accident in which the employee was killed arose out of and in the course of his employment . The employer has appealed the circuit court's disposition to this court and asserts that we should reinstate the board's decision.
Williams Manufacturing Company, which is located in Portsmouth, Ohio, is a manufacturer of shoes. Forest Woods, the deceased employee, had been employed by Williams for thirty years when that company decided to locate a wholly owned subsidiary, Lycoming Shoe Company, in West Liberty, Kentucky. Williams transferred Woods to Lycoming in March, 1967. He decided to retain his home in Portsmouth. Each weekend Woods returned to his home and then travelled back to West Liberty, Kentucky, on Sunday afternoon so he could report for work at Lycoming on Monday morning. Until June, 1967, Woods was retained on the payroll of Williams; he was paid travel expenses and reimbursed for the costs of his meals and lodgings in West Liberty. After June, 1967, however, he was transferred to the payroll of Lycoming and all expense allowances for travel or for living expenses in West Liberty were terminated. Woods planned to move his family to West Liberty in the summer of 1968.
In early November, 1967, Woods made his usual weekend trip to Portsmouth to visit his family. Lewis Reinhardt, an employee of Williams who worked at Lycoming, used his car for these weekend trips. Reinhardt was on the payroll of Williams and received reimbursement for travel expense. Materials used by Lycoming were purchased by and delivered to Williams in Portmouth and then shipped by truck to Lycoming. Shortages of material sometimes developed when trucks were not available and individual employees would, in those instances, transport the material by car. Reinhardt, on some occasions, transported material between the Williams and the Lycoming plants.
Reinhardt and Woods arrived in Portsmouth early on Friday night. The next morning Woods went to the Williams plant and picked up some material for delivery to Lycoming. On Sunday afternoon, Reinhardt and Woods placed the material in Reinhardt's car and started back to West Liberty. Prior to reaching their destination, both men were killed in a traffic accident.
The circuit court found that the main purpose of Woods in returning...
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...Jackson to believe that playing industrial league basketball was required as an incident to his employment. See Lycoming Shoe Co. v. Woods, Ky., 472 S.W.2d 257, 258 (1971). Under these circumstances, we agree with a statement of the Court of Appeals of New York in a similar Personal activit......
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...Parkway and proceeded toward Mt. Sterling. The Workmen's Compensation Board relied upon this court's opinion in Lycoming Shoe Company v. Woods, Ky., 472 S.W.2d 257 (1971). Woods was an employee of Lycoming Shoe Company at West Liberty, Kentucky, but resided in Portsmouth, Ohio. It was his h......