California: Correctional Officer’s Premises Liability Suit Might Be Barred by Bunkhouse Rule

In a premises liability suit brought against the state by a correctional officer, a California appellate court held it was error for a trial court to grant summary judgment to the state on the basis of the “premises line” exception to the going and coming rule. The officer fell on an allegedly defective concrete step while walking to work from an apartment he rented on the prison grounds. Under the premises line rule, the trial court found that since the officer was on the employer’s premises when he was injured, his civil action was barred. The appellate court held that the trial court was required to make a factual determination as to whether the officer was acting in the course of his employment under the bunkhouse rule when he fell. If so, the action would be barred. If not, the action could move forward.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of workers’ compensation.

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.

See Wright v. State of California, 2015 Cal. App. LEXIS 91 (Jan. 30, 2015) [2015 Cal. App. LEXIS 91 (Jan. 30, 2015)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, §§ 13.01, 24.03 [13.01, 24.03]

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

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