Skidder operator gets in three-vehicle accident after leaving job site with coworkers
A panel of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board of California found that an employer failed to prove an injured employee’s intoxication during an accident and that such intoxication caused the accident.
The applicant in the case of Hufford vs. Howell’s Forest Harvesting; State Compensation Insurance Fund worked as a skidder operator for Howell’s Forest Harvesting. In 2008, he was involved in a three-vehicle accident after leaving his job site with several coworkers.
An accident report made by the responding officer of California Highway Patrol found that the applicant had been trapped behind the vehicle’s steering wheel and recommended charging him with a “driving under the influence” (DUI) felony. The applicant was charged but acquitted of the offense.
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The applicant claimed workers’ compensation for injuries to his bilateral lower extremities, internal system, and psyche and in the form of sleep disorder and sexual dysfunction.
The workers’ compensation administrative law judge refused to award compensation. The judge found that the applicant sustained no compensable injury arising out of and in the course of employment and had no entitlement to benefits because his intoxication was the injury’s proximate cause.
The panel of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board disagreed with the judge’s...
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