Ohio: Worker Barred From Recovery After Being Assaulted by Co-Worker’s Husband in Company Parking Lot

In a case with bizarre facts, a worker who alleged that he sustained injuries when he was physically assaulted by the husband of a co-worker and then intentionally struck by the husband’s vehicle as the worker tried to block the path of the assailant did not sustain injuries arising out of and in the course of the employment, held an Ohio appellate court. The worker had apparently arrived at the parking lot some ten minutes before check-in time. He could not easily proceed into the lot, however, because the vehicle path was blocked by a stopped vehicle driven by the husband of a co-worker. The husband had dropped off his wife but had not moved his auto. The worker drove around the stopped car and then proceeded to park, where he was accosted by the husband. The worker tried first to call 9-1-1 regarding the assault and then sought to prevent the husband from driving away by standing in front of the vehicle at the exit gate. He was struck by the vehicle, which was moving at perhaps 10 to 15 mph. The appellate court agreed that there was insufficient connection to the employment. The two men had never met, and the worker did not know or work directly with the wife.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Garner v. Bureau of Workers' Comp., 2018-Ohio-3398, 2018 Ohio App. LEXIS 3675 (Aug. 24, 2018)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 8.02.

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