{ "id": 8523761, "name": "DENISE PATTERSON, Widow and Guardian ad Litem of RICHARD WAYNE PATTERSON AND THOMAS EUGENE PATTERSON, JR., Minor Children; THOMAS E. PATTERSON, Deceased, Employee v. GASTON COUNTY, Employer; INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA, Carrier", "name_abbreviation": "Patterson v. Gaston County", "decision_date": "1983-06-07", "docket_number": "No. 8210IC626", "first_page": "544", "last_page": "547", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "62 N.C. App. 544" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "N.C. Ct. App.", "id": 14983, "name": "North Carolina Court of Appeals" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 5, "name_long": "North Carolina", "name": "N.C." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "293 S.E. 2d 196", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1982, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "202" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "306 N.C. 248", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8568137 ], "year": 1982, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "259" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/306/0248-01" ] }, { "cite": "128 S.E. 2d 598", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1962, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "258 N.C. 287", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8560408 ], "year": 1962, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/258/0287-01" ] }, { "cite": "23 S.E. 2d 834", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1942, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "836" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "222 N.C. 477", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8631016 ], "year": 1942, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "481" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/222/0477-01" ] }, { "cite": "155 S.E. 728", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.", "year": 1930, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "729-30" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "199 N.C. 733", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8614106 ], "year": 1930, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "735" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/199/0733-01" ] }, { "cite": "251 S.E. 2d 399", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "weight": 2, "year": 1979, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "296 N.C. 527", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8567944 ], "weight": 2, "year": 1979, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/296/0527-01" ] }, { "cite": "188 S.E. 2d 350", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1972, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "353" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "281 N.C. 234", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8574679 ], "year": 1972, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "238" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/281/0234-01" ] }, { "cite": "124 S.E. 2d 109", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1962, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "110-11" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "256 N.C. 427", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8573005 ], "year": 1962, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "428" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/256/0427-01" ] }, { "cite": "249 S.E. 2d 397", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1978, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "296 N.C. 88", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8564713 ], "year": 1978, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/296/0088-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 439, "char_count": 6539, "ocr_confidence": 0.811, "pagerank": { "raw": 2.191751321490714e-07, "percentile": 0.7738850797865049 }, "sha256": "3e6b69d9ed37b1c6d4898e6304e3cbe79aa11ccd1412fdc7c705e7fa71e555f1", "simhash": "1:01104baaec90e22f", "word_count": 1102 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T22:38:59.213578+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [ "Judges WELLS and Becton concur." ], "parties": [ "DENISE PATTERSON, Widow and Guardian ad Litem of RICHARD WAYNE PATTERSON AND THOMAS EUGENE PATTERSON, JR., Minor Children; THOMAS E. PATTERSON, Deceased, Employee v. GASTON COUNTY, Employer; INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA, Carrier" ], "opinions": [ { "text": "EAGLES, Judge.\nDefendants argue that the Full Commission erred in finding that Thomas E. Patterson sustained an injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment that caused his death.\nOur review of an award of the Industrial Commission is limited to whether there was any competent evidence before the Commission to support its findings and whether the conclusions reached are legally supported by the findings in the order. Perry v. Furniture Company, 296 N.C. 88, 249 S.E. 2d 397 (1978).\nThe basic issue before us is whether decedent\u2019s death was the result of (1) an accident, (2) arising out of and (3) in the course of employment. G.S. 97-2(6). As used under the Workers\u2019 Compensation Act an \u201caccident\u201d is \u201can unlooked for and untoward event which is not expected or designed by the injured employee.\u201d Harding v. Thomas & Howard Co., 256 N.C. 427, 428, 124 S.E. 2d 109, 110-11 (1962). There is no dispute concerning the accidental nature of Patterson\u2019s fall from the machine.\nThe phrase \u201cin the course of employment\u201d refers to \u201cthe time, place, and circumstances under which an accidental injury occurs. . . .\u201d Robbins v. Nicholson, 281 N.C. 234, 238, 188 S.E. 2d 350, 353 (1972). The accident occurred at the employer\u2019s work site at approximately 11:56 a.m. as decedent was traveling to a point for his 12:00 lunch break. Although decedent had completed his morning\u2019s work as a bulldozer operator, he was part of a three-person team which was required to take the same lunch hour and which had not ended its work at the time of the accident. Patterson\u2019s supervisor testified that decedent was still subject to performing requested duties in the landfill until 12:00 noon. We find that the Commission correctly concluded that the accident occurred in the course of Patterson\u2019s employment.\nAn injury is deemed to be \u201carising out of the employment\u201d when there is a causal connection between the employment and the injury. Hensley v. Caswell Action Committee, 296 N.C. 527, 251 S.E. 2d 399 (1979). This type of accident occurs when\nthere is apparent to the rational mind upon consideration of all the circumstances, a causal connection between the conditions under which the work is required to be performed and the resulting injury. . . . But it excludes an injury which cannot fairly be traced to the employment as a contributing proximate cause and which comes from a hazard to which the workmen would have been equally exposed apart from the employment. The causative danger must be peculiar to the work and not common to the neighborhood. It must be incidental to the character of the business and not independent of the relation of master and servant. It need not have been foreseen or expected, but after the event it must appear to have had its origin in a risk connected with the employment, and to have flowed from that source as a rational consequence.\nHarden v. Furniture Co., 199 N.C. 733, 735, 155 S.E. 728, 729-30 (1930).\nWe do not agree with defendants\u2019 argument that the causal connection between decedent\u2019s employment and injury was broken because he disobeyed his employer\u2019s directive not to ride on the dragpan. The evidence reveals that, although the employees, including decedent, had been warned orally not to ride on the dragpans, the rule was not strictly followed. Employees on occasion did the very act in which Patterson was engaged at the time of the accident, i.e., catch a ride on a dragpan in order to leave the work site.\nAlthough the act of the decedent may be deemed a negligent one, such negligence would not necessarily bar the award of compensation. The facts of this case are very similar to those in Archie v. Lumber Co., 222 N.C. 477, 481, 23 S.E. 2d 834, 836 (1942), where the Court stated that \u201c[we] do not think compensation should be denied his dependents because he made an error of judgment and attempted to use a more hazardous means of transportation, . . . nor because in so doing he violated a rule which was not always observed by the employees.\u201d See also Hensley v. Caswell Action Committee, 296 N.C. 527, 251 S.E. 2d 399 (1979); Hartley v. Prison Dept., 258 N.C. 287, 128 S.E. 2d 598 (1962). We find no evidence of \u201cthrill seeking which bears no conceivable relation to accomplishing the job for which the employee was hired\u201d or \u201cdisobedience of a direct and specific order by a then present superior\u201d which would break the causal connection between the employment and resulting injury. See, Hoyle v. Isenhour Brick and Tile Co., 306 N.C. 248, 259, 293 S.E. 2d 196, 202 (1982). Defendants acknowledge that the activity of riding on a dragpan was not the subject of a rule or regulation adopted by the employer and approved by the Commission which would justify a ten percent reduction in the award of compensation. See, G.S. 97-12.\nWe hold that the Industrial. Commission was correct in concluding that the decedent\u2019s injury did arise out of and in the course of his employment. The Opinion and Award is\nAffirmed.\nJudges WELLS and Becton concur.", "type": "majority", "author": "EAGLES, Judge." } ], "attorneys": [ "Gray & Stroud, by Charles D. Stroud, III, for plaintiff ap-pellees.", "Mullen, Holland & Cooper, P.A., by James Mullen, for defendant appellants." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "DENISE PATTERSON, Widow and Guardian ad Litem of RICHARD WAYNE PATTERSON AND THOMAS EUGENE PATTERSON, JR., Minor Children; THOMAS E. PATTERSON, Deceased, Employee v. GASTON COUNTY, Employer; INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA, Carrier\nNo. 8210IC626\n(Filed 7 June 1983)\nMaster and Servant \u00a7 55.4\u2014 accident while leaving employment site for lunch \u2014 arising out of and in course of employment\nWhere decedent worked as a bulldozer operator at a county landfill, where he caught a ride on a dragpan driven by a co-worker for the purpose of leaving the landfill pit for lunch, and where he fell off the dragpan and was killed when the machine ran over him, the Industrial Commission properly concluded that decedent\u2019s injury did arise out of and in the course of his employment.\nAPPEAL by defendants from Opinion and Award of the North Carolina Industrial Commission filed 19 April 1982. Heard in the Court of Appeals 21 April 1983.\nThomas Patterson was employed by Gaston County and worked as a bulldozer operator at the county landfills. On 18 September 1980 he caught a ride on a dragpan driven by a coworker for the purpose of leaving the landfill pit for lunch. Patterson fell off the dragpan and was killed when the machine ran over him. His widow thereafter filed a claim with the North Carolina Industrial Commission. From an award of the Commission, defendants appealed.\nGray & Stroud, by Charles D. Stroud, III, for plaintiff ap-pellees.\nMullen, Holland & Cooper, P.A., by James Mullen, for defendant appellants." }, "file_name": "0544-01", "first_page_order": 576, "last_page_order": 579 }