AE CLEVITE, INC. v. LABOR COM'N
996 P.2d 1072 (2000)
2000 Utah Ct. App. 035
AE CLEVITE, INC. and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, Petitioners,
v.
LABOR COMMISSION and Charles Tjas, Respondents.
No. 990218-CA.
Court of Appeals of Utah.
February 10, 2000.
Dori K. Petersen and Michael E. Dyer, Blackburn & Stoll, LC, Salt Lake City, for Petitioners.
Gary E. Atkin and K. Dawn Atkin, Atkin & Anderson, Salt Lake City, for Respondent Tjas.
Alan Hennebold, Salt Lake City, for Respondent Labor Commission.
Before Judges BILLINGS, DAVIS, and WILKINS.1
OPINIONWILKINS, Judge:
¶ 1 Petitioners Ae Clevite, Inc., and its insurance carrier, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, seek review from a final order of the Utah Labor Commission (Commission) entered on February 26, 1999, awarding Mr. Charles Tjas workers' compensation benefits from an injury occurring at his home. We affirm.
BACKGROUND¶ 2 Neither party disputes the facts of this case. In its ruling the Commission found that Mr. Tjas sustained a severe neck injury causing quadriplegia on January 13, 1997, while spreading salt on the driveway of his residence. When the injury occurred, Mr. Tjas was employed by Ae Clevite, an automotive supply company, as a district sales manager in Utah and several surrounding states. Because Ae Clevite did not have an office in Salt Lake City, it authorized Mr. Tjas to use his personal residence in Salt Lake City as a base of operations for his work. Ae Clevite provided Mr. Tjas with various office supplies, a car, and frequently delivered company correspondence and other materials to Mr. Tjas's home by U.S. mail or private
courier. Part of Mr. Tjas's duties included making sales calls and performing office work at home. ¶ 3 The night before the accident, several inches of snow fell on Mr. Tjas's steep driveway. The next morning, Mr. Tjas drove to several local sales calls but did not clear the snow. Although Mr. Tjas's son removed the snow later that morning, the driveway remained icy. After returning home in the mid-afternoon, Mr. Tjas spent nearly an hour loading his car with material for an upcoming sales trip and waited for a large package to be delivered in connection with the business trip. When Mr. Tjas observed the mailman approaching, he decided to spread salt on the driveway so the postman could make his delivery more safely. In doing so, however, Mr. Tjas slipped on the ice and fell, suffering a severe neck injury.
¶ 4 Mr. Tjas subsequently filed a claim for workers' compensation benefits with the Utah Labor Commission for his injuries. The Commission's Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) concluded that Mr. Tjas's injury arose out of and in the course of his employment and awarded benefits. The Labor Commission subsequently affirmed the ALJ's decision awarding Mr. Tjas compensation pursuant to section 34A-2-401 of the Utah Code. Ae Clevite and its insurance carrier filed this petition for judicial review.
1. Justice Wilkins heard the arguments in this case and participated in its resolution prior to his swearing-in as a member of the Utah Supreme Court.
2. This section provides: "The commission has the duty and the full power, jurisdiction, and authority to determine the facts and apply the law in this chapter or any other title or chapter it administers." Utah Code Ann. § 34A-1-301 (1997).
3. Utah Code Ann. § 34A-2-401(1) (1997) reads: Each employee ... who is injured ... by accident arising out of and in the course of the employee's employment, wherever such injury occurred, if the accident was not purposely self-inflicted, shall be paid compensation for loss sustained on account of the injury ... and such amount for medical, nurse, and hospital services and medicines ... as provided in this chapter.