Reinstein v. McGregor Land and Livestock Co.

• Court: Idaho Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: McDEVITT; BISTLINE and JOHNSON, JJ., and MICHAUD; SILAK
• Citation: Reinstein v. McGregor Land and Livestock Co., 879 P.2d 1089, 126 Idaho 156 (Idaho 1994)
• Decision Date: 17 August 1994
• Docket Number: No. 19995,19995
• Parties: Charlene REINSTEIN, mother of Erin N. Zolber, and Danielle L. Zolber, minor children of Lawrence Zolber, deceased, Claimants-Appellants, v. McGREGOR LAND AND LIVESTOCK, CO., employer, and State Insurance Fund, surety, Defendants-Respondents. Lewiston, October Term 1993

Page 1089

879 P.2d 1089

126 Idaho 156

Charlene REINSTEIN, mother of Erin N. Zolber, and Danielle L. Zolber, minor children of Lawrence Zolber, deceased, Claimants-Appellants, v. McGREGOR LAND AND LIVESTOCK, CO., employer, and State Insurance Fund, surety, Defendants-Respondents.

No. 19995.

Supreme Court of Idaho,

Lewiston, October Term 1993.

Aug. 17, 1994.

Aherin & Rice, P.A., Lewiston, for appellant. Anthony C. Anegon argued.

Randall, Blake & Cox, Lewiston, Wynne M. Blake and Jay P. Gaskill, argued for respondent.

McDEVITT, Chief Justice.

I FACTS AND PROCEDURE

Erin and Danielle Zolber (Claimants) are the two minor daughters of Lawrence P. Zolber (Zolber), who died in an automobile accident on November 1, 1990. They claim worker's compensation death benefits through their mother and guardian, Charlene Reinstein, who divorced Zolber in 1981.

On November 1, 1990, Zolber was employed full-time as an operations manager at the Tammany plant of the McGregor Land and Livestock Company (McGregor), located in Lewiston. McGregor's business includes the commercial manufacture, sale, and application of agricultural fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. As operations manager, Zolber was responsible for maintaining the machinery at the Tammany plant in running order and scheduling crews and machinery for jobs. Zolber's responsibilities also included operating McGregor's chemical spraying equipment on jobs contracted out of both the Tammany plant and McGregor's Prairie plant, which was located about fifty-five miles away, near the town of Nezperce. Zolber frequently traveled to the Prairie plant in order to process paper work related to spraying jobs contracted out of that plant. As part of his employment, Zolber was authorized to drive a four-wheel-drive truck belonging to McGregor.

On November 1, 1990, Zolber drove the company truck from the Tammany plant to the Prairie plant, arriving between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m. The manager of the Prairie plant was Richard Baker. Zolber and Baker had known each other for about ten years and were close friends. Upon arriving at the Prairie plant, Zolber spoke with Baker for a moment and then went in the office to meet with Cheryl Baker, Richard's wife, who was a secretary and bookkeeper at the plant. Zolber reviewed some paperwork with Cheryl Baker and discussed a billing problem pertaining to a spraying job which Zolber had performed for a customer of the Prairie plant. After discussing business for about ten minutes, Zolber and Cheryl Baker talked about personal matters for another fifteen or twenty minutes. Zolber then returned to his truck, where he was met by Richard Baker. Zolber and Baker then drove in their separate vehicles to Rosi's, a bar in Nezperce, about six or seven miles from the Prairie plant.

Zolber and Baker were at Rosi's between about 5:15 and 6:00 p.m., during which time they consumed some mixed drinks. While Zolber and Baker were returning to their trucks they noticed the pick-up trucks of "customers and friends" at the Clover Club, another bar, and they decided to stop there. While at the Clover Club, Zolber and Baker sat with these customers and friends and had more drinks. At about 8:30 p.m., Zolber and Baker left the Clover Club. Although Baker testified that he did not believe either he or Zolber was too intoxicated to drive, Baker stated that he asked Zolber if he felt he could make the fifty-five mile drive to Lewiston safely. Zolber responded that he could, and Zolber and Baker both departed for their homes, each in his own vehicle.

The next morning Zolber was found dead in the company truck, about two miles outside of Nezperce, on a road leading back to Lewiston. The officer who investigated the accident determined that as Zolber's truck had descended a gentle slope in the road, it swerved across, off and back onto the road three times before finally going off the road into a ditch. The impact threw Zolber's body forward and then down onto the floor. The coroner who performed the subsequent autopsy determined that Zolber's neck had been broken, causing his immediate death. The results of a blood alcohol test performed in conjunction with the autopsy indicated that Zolber had a blood alcohol level of .30 percent at the time of death. The investigating officer concluded that the accident which resulted in Zolber's death was caused by Zolber's intoxication.

A hearing was held before the Industrial Commission on October 15, 1991. Based on the evidence presented, the Commission determined that Zolber's trip to the Prairie plant from Lewiston was a business trip. However, the Commission determined that Zolber's detours to Rosi's and the Clover Club were personal activities which constituted such a deviation from his business purpose that the accident could not be considered to have arisen out of and in the course of his employment. Claimants appeal that ruling.

II ANALYSIS

We note initially that, although the Worker's Compensation Act is to be construed liberally in favor of Claimants, Hansen v. Estate of Harvey, 119 Idaho 333, 338, 806 P.2d 426, 431 (1991), the burden is on Claimants to show by a preponderance that the accident arose out of and in the course of employment. Basin Land Irr. Co. v. Hat Butte Canal Co., 114 Idaho 121, 124, 754 P.2d 434, 437 (1988).

Our task on appeal is to review whether the Industrial Commission properly applied the law to the facts of the case when it concluded that Zolber's fatal accident did not arise out of and in the course of his employment. Idaho Const. art. V, § 9; Morgan v. Columbia Helicopters, Inc., 118 Idaho 347, 350, 796 P.2d 1020, 1023 (1990). To the extent that this appeal involves questions of fact, we defer to the factual findings of the Commission, so long as they are supported by substantial competent evidence. Houser v. Southern Idaho Pipe & Steel, Inc., 103 Idaho 441, 443, 649 P.2d 1197, 1199 (1982). We review questions of law freely. Combs v. Kelly Logging, 115 Idaho 695, 697, 769 P.2d 572, 574 (1989); Paullas v. Andersen Excavating, 113 Idaho 156, 157-58, 742 P.2d 411, 412-13 (1987).

To determine whether Zolber's accident arose out of and in the course of his employment, the Commission necessarily had to determine the facts and circumstances of the case, and then apply the law of worker's compensation to those facts. Beebe v. Horton, 77 Idaho 388, 390, 293 P.2d 661, 662 (1956). Thus, the issue of whether Zolber's accident arose out of and in the course of his employment is a mixed question of law and fact. Compare Logsdon v. Northern Iron & Metals Co., 101 Idaho 74, 76, 608 P.2d 877 879 (1980) (Commission's decision whether injuries arose out of and in the course of employment was a conclusion of law flowing from its findings of fact) with Koester v. State, 124 Idaho 205, 208, 858 P.2d 744, 747 (1993) (whether injury arose out of and in the course of employment is question of fact where appellant challenged only factual findings underlying Commission's conclusion that injury did not occur within course of claimant's employment).

The Commission concluded that Zolber's trip to the Prairie plant was employment related. This conclusion is supported by the law and the evidence. The record shows that Zolber went to the Prairie plant to process paper work and discuss a billing problem with the plant's bookkeeper. Zolber drove a company vehicle on this trip. Travel may constitute a business trip, although done in part to serve the personal purposes of the employee. So long as the court finds that the service of the employer was at least a concurrent cause of the trip, it need not be a paramount cause of the trip. Parker v. Twin Falls County, 62 Idaho 291, 296-97, 111 P.2d 865, 866-67 (1941); In re Christie, 59 Idaho 58, 75-77, 81 P.2d 65, 72-73 (1938). This "concurrent cause" rule, also known as the "dual purpose" rule, Morgan, 118 Idaho at 349, 796 P.2d at 1022, has been described as follows:

The test in brief is this: If the work of the employee creates the necessity for travel, he is in the course of his employment, though he is serving at the same time some purpose of his own. If, however, the work has had no part in creating the necessity for travel, if the journey would have gone forward though the business errand had been dropped, and would have been canceled upon failure of the private purpose, though the business errand was undone, the travel is then personal, and personal the risk.

Christie, 59 Idaho at 75-76, 81 P.2d at 72 (citation omitted), quoted in Parker, 62 Idaho at 296, 111 P.2d at 866.

The Commission concluded that, although Zolber's trip to the Prairie plant was a business trip, his subsequent detours to Rosi's and the Clover Club were such deviations from the business purpose of the trip that they broke the causal chain leading to the accident, so that the accident could not be said to have arisen out of or in the course of Zolber's employment. The Commission found that Zolber's departures to the bars were not business related, but purely personal. The Commission further concluded that Zolber's personal departures broke the causal chain such that his subsequent accident could not be said to have arisen in the course of his employment.

This Court previously addressed this issue in Morgan v. Columbia Helicopters, 118 Idaho 347, 796 P.2d 1020 (1990). Morgan was a project manager for a logging company whose duties included arranging for repairs of the company's logging equipment. One of the company's pickup trucks had sustained damage and Morgan decided to obtain the services of David Stricker, a mechanic who lived in Crouch, to repair the truck. Morgan left his home near Sweet at about 8:00 p.m. on a Saturday night, driving his company truck. Morgan drove toward Crouch, although he had not previously arranged a meeting with Stricker. On the way, Morgan stopped at a bar, where he had two drinks. He left the bar around 8:30 p.m. and arrived in Crouch at about 9:00 p.m....