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Manous3/31/2005
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Issue One: Positional Risk Doctrine
Manous first asserts that the Board erred when it applied the positional risk doctrine in this case because Indiana courts have applied that doctrine only in the context of an employee's unexplained slip and fall and because it would conflict with several established public policies of this State. The positional risk doctrine is a rule of general application, and, contrary to Manous' suggestion, the fact that its previous applications have not involved unexplained murders is not dispositive. See St. Mary's Med. Ctr., Inc. v. United Farm Bureau Family Life Ins. Co., 624 N.E.2d 939, 946 (Ind. Ct. App. 1993) (quoting Justice Holmes' statement that "the standards of the law are standards of general application"). We have not yet had occasion to consider the issue of whether the positional risk doctrine applies to cases involving murdered employees, and, as such, the question presented by Manous is a matter of first impression.
On appeal, the Board's conclusions of law are reviewed de novo. Bertoch v. NBD Corp., 813 N.E.2d 1159, 1160 (Ind. 2004). When interpreting the provisions of the Worker's Compensation Act, we construe the Act and resolve doubts in the application of terms in favor of the employee so as to effectuate the Act's humanitarian purpose to provide injured workers with an expeditious and adequate remedy. Waldridge, 714 N.E.2d at 785.
In Milledge, our supreme court adopted the positional risk doctrine and thereby shifted the burden of proof on the "arising out of employment" element to employers when the claimant has shown that his injury occurred in the course of employment and was the result of a neutral risk. 784 N.E.2d at 931, 933-34. There, the court held that unexplained accidents are classified as neutral risks and that "the positional risk doctrine is the appropriate analytical tool for resolving questions concerning injuries that result from neutral risks." Id. at 932, 933-34. The court explained the operation of that doctrine as follows:
Under [the positional risk] doctrine, an injury arises out of the employment if it would not have occurred but for the fact that the conditions and obligations of the employment placed claimant in the position where he was injured. This but for reasoning is the foundation of the positional risk doctrine, under which if the "in the course of" employment element is met, then there is a rebuttable presumption that the injury "arises out of" employment. . . . he burden is [then] on the employer to demonstrate that the injury was actually the result of a cause personal to the claimant.
Id. at 931 (quotations omitted) (emphasis in original).
Here, it is undisputed that Christos's murder cannot be explained. Thus, pursuant to Milledge, it is classified as a neutral risk, i.e., one that is neither personal to the claimant nor distinctly associated with the employment, and application of the positional risk doctrine is proper. See id. at 933-34. Still, Manous baldly asserts that the doctrine should not be applied when an employee is murdered because workplace murders differ from slip and fall injuries in that the latter are "more likely to be related to employment conditions than personal conditions." Brief of Appellant at 9. We cannot agree.
This case falls squarely within the holding of Milledge. The hallmark characteristic of a neutral risk is its inexplicable nature, and, in that regard, an unexplained murder is no less a neutral risk than is a more commonplace unexplained accident. In neither case can the cause of the injury be attributed to purely personal or purely employment conditions. And, pursuant to Milledge, which is binding pr
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