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Board of County Commissioners for Frederick County v. Vache5/14/1998
Frederick County Board of County Commissioners and Great American Insurance Company, appellants, appeal from an order entered in the Circuit Court for Frederick County. That order affirmed an award by the Maryland Workers' Compensation Commission (the Commission) of workers' compensation benefits to Bridget Vache, appellee, for injuries she sustained after slipping on an icy sidewalk upon returning to work from lunch on February 10, 1994. We hold that because the circumstances surrounding appellee's injuries do not fall within any exception to the going and coming rule, her injuries do not arise out of and in the course of her employment and, therefore, are not compensable under the Maryland Workers' Compensation Act. Accordingly, we shall reverse the trial court.
I. Facts
The facts in this case are not disputed. On February 10, 1994, appellee was employed by the Frederick County Board of Commissioners (employer). Parking privileges were not a part of her employment in that the employer did not provide appellee with a parking space. The employer leased office space from the Frederick County Board of Education (BOE) inside BOE's building. A lease between BOE and the employer, which was introduced as evidence, reflects that BOE agreed to maintain the area outside the building, including the removal of snow and ice.
On the day in question, snowy, icy, and slippery conditions existed throughout the region because of a severe snow storm. BOE closed its offices due to the inclement weather. Frederick County government offices, however, remained open.
On the morning of February 10, appellee parked in BOE's parking lot. Normally, she was not permitted to park there, but because BOE was closed, there were ample open spaces. Appellee left that lot during her lunch break to run some errands in her car and, upon her return, found the BOE lot full. Appellee drove around the area to find another space, but because the public streets were piled up with snow, no street parking was available. Consequently, appellee parked in the St. John's Catholic Church parking lot behind the BOE lot.
Appellee waited at the back door of the BOE building, which was locked and for which appellee had no key, for a few minutes to see if someone might open the door. The back door was the closest door into the building from the church's lot. No one opened the door, so appellee decided to walk around to the front entrance of the building. To get to the front entrance, appellee had to walk on the sidewalk along Church Alley. Appellee testified that she saw ice on the Church Alley sidewalk, but that there were no other walkways to the front of the building and she could not walk on the street because cars were traveling on it. Appellee fell on the icy sidewalk and sustained injuries.
Appellee subsequently filed a workers' compensation claim against appellants, which they contested. On March 27, 1995, the Commission issued an order finding "that [appellee] sustained an accidental injury arising out of and in the course of employment on February 10, 1994, and that the disability of [appellee] is the result of the aforesaid accidental injury." Appellants appealed this finding to the Circuit Court for Frederick County. That court affirmed the Commission's award on May 13, 1997. Appellants filed a timely notice of appeal to the Court of Special Appeals. On November 4, 1997, the parties filed a Joint Petition for Writ of Certiorari before the Court of Special Appeals heard arguments in the matter. We granted the petition on January 16, 1998 to address the scope of the proximity or "special hazard" exception to the going and coming rule.
Appellants present the following
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