Hospital Worker’s Injuries Exiting Elevator Cannot Support Tort Suit Against Louisiana Employer

Where a hospital worker, who had arrived at her employer’s facility one hour prior to the time she was supposed to clock in (which was her habit), sustained injuries as she exited a hospital elevator one-half hour prior to beginning her work day, it was appropriate for the trial court to find that her injuries arose out of and in the course of her employment, held a Louisiana appellate court in Edigo v. Otis Elevator Co., 19-229 (La.App. 3 Cir. 11/06/19). Accordingly, the worker could not maintain a tort action against the hospital on a theory of premises liability. Summary judgment in favor of the hospital was in order since a workers’ compensation claim was her sole remedy.

Background

Plaintiff was injured upon exiting an elevator at the Hospital at 8:30 a.m., thirty minutes before she began work at 9:00 a.m. She sued the Hospital and the elevator manufacturer. As related to the Hospital, she contended in relevant part that since her work day had not begun, her injuries did not arise out of and in the course of her employment. The trial court disagreed and granted the Hospital’s motion for summary judgment.

Appellate Court Decision

The appellate court noted that in an earlier case, Bosse v. Westinghouse Electric, Inc., 93-1898 (La.App. 4 Cir. 5/17/94), 637 So.2d 1157, writ denied, 94-1623 (La. 9/30/94), 642 So.2d 878, the facts were virtually identical. In Bosse, summary judgment was granted in favor of the City of New Orleans restricting the plaintiff’s remedy to workers’ compensation where the plaintiff Bosse was injured as he exited the seventh floor from an unlevel elevator en route to his job as a city inspector. Bosse was not yet on the clock; he was scheduled to begin work at 7:30 a.m., but exited the elevator at 6:45 a.m.

That General Public Used Elevator Not Significant

The Bosse court explained there was no importance in the fact that the general public used the elevator, as was also the fact in the instant case. Plaintiff, as a person who worked in the hospital, would be presumed to encounter the risk of the defective elevator at a much higher frequency than the general public.

If Parking Lots Are Covered, So Are Elevators

The court also stressed that an earlier decision had established that a parking lot at the employer’s facility qualified as part of the employer’s premises. If that rule applied to a parking lot, it most certainly applied to an elevator inside the employer’s building. An injury on the elevator could not subject the employer to tort liability.