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MOORE v. PRATT & WHITNEY AIRCRAFT12/22/1995
Warren Moore appeals from a decision of the Workers' Compensation Commission denying his petition for an award of compensation for an injury sustained while employed by Pratt & Whitney Aircraft on the ground that the injury did not arise out of his employment. Because we conclude that the Commission applied an incorrect legal standard for determining work-causation, we vacate the decision.
As recited in the decision, the Commission heard the following undisputed evidence: Moore, a wheelchair-bound paraplegic, has no sensation below the waist and is unable to predict bowel movements. Moore must plan his bowel movements for two hours after a meal. In the event of an unplanned, emergency bowel movement Moore has a thirty-second to one-minute warning to get to a toilet. As a further consequence of his lack of sensation below his waist, he must take precautions against the development of pressure sores which may become infected. The Pratt & Whitney plant in North Berwick had two restrooms, one located in the "personnel department" and one on the other side of the plant, the so-called "8100 restroom." Prior to February 6, 1989, Moore used the personnel department restroom because it was close to his work station and it was spacious enough to allow a parallel or perpendicular transfer from his wheelchair to the toilet seat. Handicapped-accessible restroom facilities
On February 6, 1989, while Moore was in the 8100 area, he sensed the need for an emergency, unplanned bowel movement and determined that he would not have sufficient time to reach the personnel department restroom and would be required to use the 8100 restroom. Although a sign on the 8100 restroom stated that it was handicapped accessible, it was not of sufficient size to permit Moore's wheelchair to be placed either parallel or perpendicular to the toilet. The lack of space required that Moore make a more dangerous "side-saddle" transfer. In effecting such a transfer, Moore slipped striking his buttocks against the toilet seat, resulting in the development of pressure sores that later became infected, totally incapacitating him from February to September 1989 and partially incapacitating him thereafter.
The Commission determined that although Moore's injury was sustained in the course of his employment it did not arise out of his employment, but was the result of his own personal emergency, and accordingly, denied the petition. The Appellate Division failed to resolve Moore's appeal before going out of existence on January 1, 1994. We granted Moore's petition for appellate review pursuant to 39-A M.R.S.A. ยง 322 (Supp. 1994-95).
An injury is compensable for purposes of the Comeau v. Maine Coastal Servs, 449 A.2d 362, 365 (Me. 1982). We have stated that "` n accident arises in the course of employment when it occurs within the period of employment at a place where the employee reasonably may be in the performance of his duties and while he is fulfilling those duties or engaged in something incidental thereto.'" Comeau, 449 A.2d at 365 (quoting Fournier's Case, 120 Me. 236, 240, 113 A. 270, 272 (1921)). The Commission properly determined that Moore's injury occurred "in the course of" his employment. The issue before us is whether his injury arose out of his employment. To satisfy the "arising out of" requirement "`there must be some causal connection between the conditions under which the employee worked and the injury which arose, or that the injury, in some proximate way, had its origin, its source, its cause in the employment.'" Morse v. Laverdiere's Super Drug Store, 645 A.2d 613, 614 (Me. 1994) (citations omitted). We accord deference to decisions of the Commission addressing whether an injury arose out
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