The Utah Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a denial of benefits to a truck driver for blood clots he developed after making a three-day trip to California.

David Hickey worked as a long-haul driver for JBS Carriers. Over the course of three days, Mr. Hickey drove through several states, logging up to nine hours in one day, according to JBS Carriers v. Labor Commission, filed in Salt Lake City.

On the third day Mr. Hickey began experiencing swelling in his left leg and shortness of breath. He went to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis, which had caused pulmonary emboli. He spent 16 days in the hospital, and, when he was released, he was unable to work.

Mr. Hickey filed a workers compensation claim, asserting that the blood clots were caused by the second day of his trip. JBS disputed the claim, contending his injuries were the result of preexisting obesity, not his employment.

An administrative law judge appointed a medical panel and ultimately denied the claim, treating Mr. Hickey’s obesity as a preexisting condition. It applied the test from the 1986 case Allen v. Industrial Commission to determine whether Mr. Hickey‘s employment was the legal cause of his injuries.

The “Allen test” is used to distinguish between injuries resulting from a preexisting condition that only coincidentally occur while working and those that were precipitated by an employment activity that increased the risk normally faced by the worker in nonwork life.

The Labor Commission Appeals Board reversed, finding Mr. Hickey‘s long truck drive was an unusual activity when compared with nonwork life.

The Court of Appeals reversed, finding Mr. Hickey‘s work activities were not unusual or extraordinary under Allen, noting that the board had not found that Mr. Hickey was prevented from taking breaks and that no requirement of the job prevented him from stretching his inactive left leg.

On appeal, the Utah Supreme Court reversed, finding that “driving a commercial truck for approximately nine hours in one day with only one break, with a motionless left leg, is not equivalent to ordinary, everyday nonwork activities.”

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