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Collie Concessions3/30/2005
We granted Collie Concessions's application for a discretionary appeal to review the order of the superior court reversing the Appellate Division of the State Board of Workers Compensation's adoption of the administrative law judge's ("ALJ") denial of benefits to Lillie Bruce. Based on the reasons set forth below, we reverse.
In the absence of legal error, the factual findings of the State Board of Workers' Compensation must be affirmed by the superior court and by the Court of Appeals when supported by any evidence in the administrative record. However, erroneous applications of law to undisputed facts, as well as decisions based on erroneous theories of law, are subject to the de novo standard of review.
The facts are undisputed, and our review is de novo. The injury occurred on April 10, 2002, when Bruce was on her way to work as a cashier for Collie Concessions at the Masters Golf Tournament. Collie Concessions had a contract with Augusta National Golf Club/Masters Tournament to provide food and beverage concession services for the Masters Golf Tournament. Bruce only worked for Collie Concessions during the week of the Masters and had done so annually since 1981.
On the day in question, Bruce rode to work with Mae and Rebecca Gilmer, with whom she had been riding for the previous 12 to 14 years. Gilmer parked in the yard of a house located on the corner of Cherry Lane and Berckman Road (the "Cherry Lane lot"). Collie Concessions had been allotted by the tournament director 25 passes for its employees to park in this lot. It gave them to its cashiers, managers, and assistant managers on a first come first serve basis. Collie Concessions did not own, maintain, or have control of the Cherry Lane lot. The lot was also utilized by persons unaffiliated with Collie Concessions.
Bruce was assigned to Concession Stand 5 and was required to enter the tournament grounds through Gate 7, which was located on Berckman Road. The Cherry Lane lot was located approximately 100 yards south of Gate 7. When Bruce reached the temporary pedestrian crosswalk that traversed Berckman Road and ended at Gate 7, she began to cross the street and was struck by a motor vehicle.
Bruce filed a claim for workers' compensation benefits against Collie Concessions. Bruce acknowledged the general rule that accidents which occur on the way to or from work are not compensable, but relied on the exception to this rule that the period of employment generally includes a reasonable time for ingress to and egress from the place of work while on the employer's premises. Therefore, Bruce maintained that her injuries were compensable because she was injured on her employer's premises during her ingress to her place of work. Collie Concessions opposed the claim, arguing that the general rule precluded Bruce's recovery. Further, Collie Concessions argued that the parking lot exception did not apply because it did not own, maintain, or control the Cherry Lane lot.
The ALJ agreed with Collie Concessions, concluding that Bruce's injury was not compensable because it occurred while she was going to work. Furthermore, the parking lot exception did not apply because the Cherry Lane lot was not a part of Collie Concessions's premises. The appellate division agreed. The superior court reversed. It did not rely on the parking lot exception but found instead that the temporary crosswalk was part of the employer's premises. It reasoned that the crosswalk should be treated no differently than other parts of the tournament grounds and that the tournament grounds were the "employer's premises" for purposes of workers' compensation coverage. In several related enumerations of error, Collie Concessi
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