Robert L. Janicki and Lance H. Locke Obtain Summary Judgment
Robert L. Janicki and Lance H. Locke obtain summary judgment for client in wrongful death action.
11/28/2007 11:26:03 AM

Robert L. Janicki and Lance H. Locke recently obtained summary judgment in a wrongful death action arising out of a single vehicle accident.  The plaintiff, the mother of the decedent, brought an action against the defendant driver of the vehicle in which the decedent was a passenger at the time of the accident.  At the time of the accident, the defendant and the decedent were returning home from an out-of-state business trip.  The defendant’s motion for summary judgment was brought pursuant to Utah Code Ann. § 34A-2-105 which provides that workers’ compensation shall be the exclusive remedy by employees or their heirs against an employer or against another employee acting in the course and scope of his employment.  In opposing the motion for summary judgment, the plaintiff argued that, in returning from the out-of-state business trip, the parties fell within the “coming and going” rule which states that employees who are merely commuting to and from work are not acting in the course and scope of their employment.  The Court rejected the plaintiff’s argument by finding that the commute home from the out-of-state business trip was part of a “special activity” which was undertaken for the benefit of the employer.  Because the parties were found to be acting in the course and scope of their employment at the time of the automobile accident, the Court ruled that the exclusive remedy provisions of the Utah Labor Code served to bar the plaintiff’s wrongful death lawsuit against the defendant.