Rapid City woman's workers' compensation case goes before the state's high court

By Joe Kafka

Associated Press Writer

PIERRE — Employees injured while reporting to job sites miles from home should not be allowed to recover workers' compensation benefits, the state Supreme Court was told Tuesday in a case that could set a legal precedent in South Dakota.

The lawsuit involves a Rapid City woman who was hospitalized for several weeks after crashing her car June 7, 1999, during a trek to a road-building site near Faith. Vanessa L. Mudlin was a flag person for Hills Materials Co. at the time.

The state Labor Department said Mudlin was on the job while driving and is entitled to workers' compensation benefits. After Circuit Judge Max Gors of Pierre agreed, Hills Materials took the issue to the Supreme Court.

Gregory Strommen, a lawyer for the construction company and its workers' compensation insurer, told the justices Tuesday that Mudlin cannot collect benefits because she was not injured on the job. She was heading for the site when the accident happened, he said.

"She wasn't doing anything particular to her employment," Strommen said. "Driving to work on a public highway in a private vehicle does not fit that definition."

Although Mudlin first drove to a Rapid City quarry where Hills Materials employees routinely met to car pool to construction sites, she did not start working then, he argued.

Chief Justice David Gilbertson did not seem convinced, noting that Hills Materials employees who drove to Faith were paid for a small part of their expenses. "Isn't showing up at the quarry kind of like reporting in?" he asked.

No, Strommen said. He said courts in other states have ruled that workers are not on the job while traveling unless reimbursed for substantial portions of their expenses. Strommen said that Mudlin's duties did not begin until she reached the road-building site 125 miles away from her home.

"She wasn't on a special mission," he said. "She was just going to work."

Mudlin's lawyer, William Jason Groves, said the home base for her job was the Rapid City quarry. Hills Materials employees are paid small sums for driving their own cars to work sites and also get paid to drive company vehicles to those locations, Groves said. Travel payments are in the company's best interests, he said.

"They want to assure that they have a skilled workforce at a remote job site," Groves said.

"If you're traveling to a remote work site, and the employer has a travel policy to get you there, you're in the course and scope of your employment," he said.

"There is no reason for Vanessa Mudlin to be headed in the direction of Faith ... except to go to the job site. She's serving the employer's purpose."

Strommen, the lawyer for Hills Materials, also argued that workers' compensation benefits are not owed Mudlin because of her own misconduct. She fell asleep while driving, a state trooper estimated that she was speeding and she was not wearing a seat belt, Strommen said.

If Mudlin has a legitimate workers' compensation claim for getting injured while driving to her job, she and others could further stretch that logic to anything they do to get ready for work, he said.

"If she fell in the shower, could she claim workers' compensation for that? Or if she fell out of bed the night before when she was resting up for work? Where do you draw the line?"

A written decision in the case will be issued later by the Supreme Court.