eBook details
- Title: Soldier Creek Coal Company and/or State
- Author : Supreme Court Of Utah
- Release Date : January 14, 1985
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 62 KB
Description
ZIMMERMAN, Justice: This is an appeal from an order of the Utah Industrial Commission reversing an administrative law Judge's denial of compensation benefits to Andrea E. Bailey, the surviving spouse of a worker who died in a single-car accident on his way to work. We conclude that Bailey's death did not arise out of or in the course of his employment, as required by section 35-1-45 of the Utah Workers' Compensation Act, and reverse the decision of the Industrial Commission. The order of the administrative law Judge is reinstated. Ricky Alan Bailey was employed by the Soldier Creek Coal Company at its mine seventeen miles from his home in Price, Utah. Utah Highway 381 is the only road leading to the mine. For the seven miles from its junction with the Price road, Utah 381 is a two-lane, hard-surfaced road. From the mine the road continues on to Myton. This portion is gravelled and serves a number of ranches. On the day of the accident, Bailey drove to work in his 1962 Chevrolet pickup. About a third of a mile from the mine property, his truck entered a right curve and left the road. Bailey was thrown from the vehicle and died at the scene of the accident. The evidence was that the door on the driver's side of the vehicle occasionally popped open on sharp turns. The investigating officer concluded that Bailey was negotiating a right curve when his door popped open, he lost control and was thrown from the vehicle. This explanation of the accident was not contested before the Commission.