BECHTEL CONSTRUCTION COMPANY AND INDIANTOWN CO-GENERATION, L.P., APPELLANTS,
v.
SARAH B. LEHNING, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS SURVIVING SPOUSE AND PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF JOHN HENRY LEHNING, DECEASED HUSBAND, APPELLEE
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Bechtel Construction and Indiantown Co-Generation sought summary judgment in a wrongful death action, arguing workers' compensation immunity barred the claim. The court reversed and remanded with direction to enter summary judgment for the appellants, holding that the employee's death on a perimeter road within the employer's project site constituted a compensable workers' compensation claim, thereby immunizing the employer from tort liability.
The court held that the perimeter road fell within the premises exception to the coming and going rule, making the employee's death a compensable workers' compensation claim and therefore immunizing Bechtel from the wrongful death action. The court reversed the trial court's denial of summary judgment and directed entry of summary judgment for the appellants.
[1] An employer is immune from civil liability for an employee's death if the death is a compensable workers' compensation claim.
[2] An injury sustained by an employee while going to or coming from work is compensable under workers' compensation if it occurred on the employer's premises, even if outsid…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Critical to our decision is the uncontradicted deposition testimony of the representative of Bechtel that the place where the accident occurred was within the Bechtel project site; and that although it was outside the construction site fence, the area was still within Bechtel's control.”
Establishes the factual basis for applying the premises rule exception to the coming and going rule
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceJohn Henry Lehning, a security employee of Bechtel, was killed on September 15, 1994, when a swing gate pipe penetrated his vehicle's windshield on a …
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PER CURIAM.
Appellants unsuccessfully sought summary judgment upon the ground that workers’ compensation immunity was a bar to appel-lee’s underlying wrongful death action. Our having jurisdiction pursuant to Breakers Palm Beach, Inc. v. Gloger, 646 So. 2d 237 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994), we reverse and remand with direction to enter summary final judgment for appellants.
Appellee, as personal representative of her husband’s estate, filed a wrongful death action against appellants, alleging her husband died when a swing gate pipe penetrated the windshield of his vehicle on September 15, 1994. Appellee alleged that Bechtel and In-diantown were negligent in connection with their design, construction, installation, maintenance and securing of the gate.
Bechtel was constructing a power plant for Indiantown on property owned by Indian-town. The decedent, a security employee of Bechtel, was killed at the swing gate while heading home from work after his shift on a perimeter private road buflt by Bechtel outside of the construction site fence to facilitate construction of the power plant. While Bechtel had permitted Caulkins Fruit to use it to gain access to its groves, the road had not been turned over to the county.
' Critical to our decision is the uneon-tradicted deposition testimony of the representative of Bechtel that the place where the accident occurred was within the Bechtel project site; and that although it was outside the construction site fence, the area was still within Bechtel’s control. Appellee did not present the trial court with any counter-sworn testimony.
Effective January 1, 1994, the workers’ compensations laws were significantly revised. The amended statutes apply as this accident occurred in September 1994. Bechtel’s “immunity” is derived from section 440.11(1), Florida Statutes (1998), which provides that “[t]he liability of an employer prescribed in s. 440.10 shall be exclusive and in place of all other liability of such employer....” Bechtel persuasively relies upon Perez v. Publix Supermarkets, Inc., 673 So. 2d 938 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996), which, in turn, relies upon Vigliotti v. K-marb Corp., 680 So. 2d 466 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996), all of which cases were decided after the summary judgment hearing here. See also B.E.T. Plant Servs., Inc. v. Dyer, 678 So. 2d 841 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996).
The “coming and going rule” provides that injuries sustained by an employee going to or coming from work are not compensable; however, under the “premises rule” exception, an injury sustained by an employee with feed hours and place of work who is injured while going to or coming from work is in the course of employment for workers’ compensation purposes if it occurred on the employer’s premises. See Security Bureau v. Alvarez, 654 So. 2d 1024 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995). We conclude the perimeter road falls within the premises exception, under which the incident here is a compensable workers’ compensation claim, immunizing Bechtel from the present action.
GLICKSTEIN, WARNER and SHAHOOD, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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Tessan Swartz v. McDONALD'S Corp., 788 So. 2d 937 (Fla. 2001)…employment to be compensable. The “going and coming” rule provides that injuries sustained while traveling to or from work do not arise out of and in the course of employment and, therefore, are not com-pensable. See Bechtel Constr. Co. v. Lehning, 684 So. 2d 334 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996); George v. Woodville Lumber Co., 382 So. 2d 802, 803 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980); § 440.092(2), Fla. Stat. (1995). This rule governing compensability of workers’ compensation claims is codified in section 440.092(2), Florida Statutes (19…
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Gilbert v. Publix Supermarkets, Inc., 790 So. 2d 1057 (Fla. 2001)…and coming” rule, as codified in section 440.092(2), Florida Statutes (Supp.1994), provides that injuries sustained while going to or coming from work do not arise out of or in the course and scope of employment.1 See Bechtel Constr. Co. v. Lehning, 684 So. 2d 334 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996). There are several exceptions to the “going and coming” rule. In the present case, the parties dispute the applicability of the dual purpose exception. This Court first adopted the dual purpose exception to the “going and coming…
Authorities Cited
- The Breakers Palm Beach, Inc. v. Gloger, 646 So. 2d 237 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994)
- Vigliotti v. K-Mart Corp. & KM Admin. Serv., 680 So. 2d 466 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996)
- Sec. Bureau, Inc. v. Alvarez, 654 So. 2d 1024 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995)
- Perez v. Publix Supermarkets, Inc., 673 So. 2d 938 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996)
- B.E.T. Plant Servs., Inc. v. Dyer, 678 So. 2d 841 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996)