Spartan Food Systems & Subsidiaries v. Hopkins

• Citation: 13 Fla. L. Weekly 1221,525 So.2d 987
• Decision Date: 20 May 1988
• Docket Number: No. 87-564,87-564
• Parties: 13 Fla. L. Weekly 1221 SPARTAN FOOD SYSTEMS & SUBSIDIARIES and Seibels, Bruce Group, Appellants, v. Terry M. HOPKINS, Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Florida (US)

Page 987

525 So.2d 987

13 Fla. L. Weekly 1221

SPARTAN FOOD SYSTEMS & SUBSIDIARIES and Seibels, Bruce Group, Appellants, v. Terry M. HOPKINS, Appellee.

No. 87-564.

District Court of Appeal of Florida,

First District.

May 20, 1988.

David A. McCranie, of Karl, McConnaughhay, Roland & Maida, Tallahassee, for appellants.

Roderic G. Magie, of Arnold & Magie, Milton, for appellee.

WENTWORTH, Judge.

Employer/carrier seek review of a June 22, 1987 workers' compensation order by which claimant was found to have sustained a compensable injury and awarded temporary disability and medical benefits. Appellant contends the deputy erred in applying the special errand exception to the going and coming rule. We affirm.

Claimant sustained injuries when she was involved in a vehicular accident while traveling to work at a Hardee's restaurant owned by the employer in Pensacola. Claimant was assigned to this restaurant with a reporting time of 8 a.m., and on the day of the accident had received a telephone call from her supervisor asking her to stop at a Hardee's in Milton to obtain extra beverage cups which she could bring with her when she arrived at work. Claimant left home approximately 35 minutes earlier than usual, and the trip to Milton required claimant to deviate from her usual route to work. She traveled to Milton and obtained the cups as requested, thereafter returning to her normal route which she usually travels to work, when her vehicle was rear-ended while she was stopped in traffic on the interstate highway.

Claimant testified that her trip to Milton involved a total of approximately 10 miles and 20 minutes extra time. Claimant was not compensated for this trip and does not receive any mileage reimbursement. She stated that in the two years during which she has worked for the employer she has made approximately 15 unreimbursed trips for various errands, and that about three weeks before the date of her accident she had traveled to the Hardee's in Milton to obtain an extra coffee pot on the way to work.

The deputy commissioner entered an order finding that at the time of her injury claimant was on a special errand for her employer and covered under the workers' compensation law "from portal to portal." The deputy determined that claimant sustained a compensable injury and awarded temporary disability and medical benefits.

Where an employee is merely performing ordinary employment duties which are occasionally required, the special errand doctrine is not always applicable. See Susan Loverings Figure Saloon v. McRorie, 498 So.2d 1033 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986). Appellant argues that the special errand doctrine should not apply in the present case because claimant had previously, on one occasion, made a similar trip to benefit the employer. However, one prior instance does not negate the suddenness and irregularity of the task in the present case. Eady v. Medical Personnel Pool, 377 So.2d 693 (Fla.1979). Claimant testified that she was awakened by the employer's call, that she left her home earlier than usual to perform the task, and that the trip necessitated a deviation of approximately 10 miles from her usual route. Bruck v....