New Hampshire: Intoxication, Without Showing of Causation, Is Insufficient to Defeat Comp Claim

Reiterating an important point, that in order to defeat a workers’ compensation claim it is generally insufficient to show that the injured worker was intoxicated at the time of the injury–the employer/carrier must also prove a causal connection between the intoxication and the injury–the Supreme Court of New Hampshire recently remanded a workers’ compensation case to the state’s Compensation Appeals Board for a proper determination on the causation issue [Appeal of Phillips, 2013 N.H. LEXIS 88 (Aug. 21, 2013)]. The high court added that while it was not necessary for the employer to show that the intoxication was the sole cause of the injury, it did have the burden of proving a causal connection between the two.