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Moncus v. Billingsley Logging12/7/2005
This is a workers' compensation case involving the "going-and-coming rule." Tony Moncus was killed in an automobile accident while on his way to work for appellee Billingsley Logging. The issue on appeal is whether he was performing employment services at the time he was killed. The ALJ found that Moncus was not performing employment services, and the Commission agreed. Moncus's representative ("Moncus") argues on appeal that this ruling is erroneous. We affirm.
Moncus worked as a log cutter for Billingsley Logging. On August 19, 2003, he was killed in a motor-vehicle accident while driving his personal truck to the site where he would be logging that day. Mitchell Billingsley, the owner of Billingsley Logging, testified that he tried to get Moncus to ride in a company truck but that Moncus insisted upon driving his personal truck to the job site because he wanted to leave the job site early for a personal errand. Billingsley told the whole logging crew to meet at a service station that was centrally located to everyone's house around 6:30 a.m. so that he could show them where they would be logging that day. Billingsley told the crew to follow him, and the caravan left the parking lot on their way to the new logging site with everyone riding in a company truck except for Moncus. According to Billingsley, the crew only met like this before work approximately four to five times a year because, most of the time, the crew knew how to get to the logging site where they would be working for the day. Moncus was killed in a head-on motor-vehicle accident before he ever arrived at the logging site. He was driving his own pickup truck and there were no tools or equipment in his truck that belonged to Billingsley Logging. Moncus was paid according to the number of tons of wood that he cut, so he was paid nothing on the day of his death because he had not yet cut any wood.
A claim was filed for workers' compensation benefits on behalf of Moncus. The administrative law judge (ALJ) held that Moncus did not sustain a compensable fatal injury because he was not performing an employment service at the time the accident occurred. The ALJ found that the preponderance of the evidence did not prove that Moncus's death was the result of any injury that was compensable under the Workers' Compensation Act. The Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission affirmed and adopted the decision of the ALJ.
In reviewing decisions from the Workers' Compensation Commission, we view the evidence and all reasonable inferences deducible therefrom in the light most favorable to the Commission's findings, and we affirm if substantial evidence supports the decision. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Brown, 82 Ark. App. 600, 120 S.W.3d 153 (2003). Substantial evidence exists if reasonable minds could reach the same conclusion. Id. The issue on appeal is not whether we might have reached a different result or whether the evidence would have supported a contrary finding. Id. If reasonable minds could reach the Commission's conclusion, we must affirm the Commission's decision. Id. We will not reverse the Commission's decision unless we are convinced that fair-minded persons with the same facts before them could not have reached the Commission's conclusions. Id.
Arkansas Code Annotated section 11-9-102(4)(A)(1) (Supp. 2003) defines compensable injury as "an accidental injury causing internal or external harm ... arising out of and in the course of employment ...." Employment services are performed when the employee does something that is generally required by his or her employer. Collins v. Excel Spec. Prods., 347 Ark. 811, 69 S.W.3d 14 (2002); Pifer v. Single Source Transp. 347 Ark. 851, 69 S.W.3d 1 (2002). We use
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