Worker who crashed from choking while driving denied benefits

The Supreme Court of Missouri on Tuesday upheld a denial of benefits to a worker for his injuries from a single-vehicle accident after he choked on his breakfast, blacked out behind the wheel and crashed.

Working as a field service specialist for Dish Network Inc., Gary Boothe Jr. choked on a breakfast sandwich while driving his van to a morning appointment, blacked out, and collided with a pillar on the side of the road, suffering injuries, according to documents in Boothe v. Dish Network Inc., filed in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Mr. Boothe filed a workers compensation claim and an administrative law judge found he was entitled to benefits because the risk source of his accident was traveling on a rural highway on a strict timeline, which did not occur in nonemployment life.

On appeal, the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission reversed the award, finding Mr. Boothe’s injuries did not arise out of his employment, ruling that nothing about Boothe’s employment required him to eat breakfast while driving.

Affirming that ruling, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Boothe failed to show that his injury arose out of and in the course of employment because it resulted from a risk that was not caused by his job.

“Dish did not require him to eat breakfast after starting work for the day, and, as Boothe acknowledged, he could have had breakfast beforehand,” the court said. “Under these facts, no condition of Boothe’s employment required him to eat while driving or significantly contributed to the accident and injury.”

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