Patterson v. Southeastern Newspapers Inc.

Generally, an employer is not liable for injuries caused by its employees during their commute to or from work, but may be liable where an employee is on a special mission at the direction of the employer. Mariko Patterson’s husband was struck and killed by an employee of Southeastern Newspapers, Inc. while the employee was driving home after delivering newspapers as a substitute for the assigned carrier who was ill. The main issue in this case is should Southeastern be held liable for the employee’s negligence when the employee was called in outside of his regular hours to cover for a missing employee. Because there are facts supporting the conclusion that the employee was on a special mission for Southeastern, the trial court improperly granted summary judgment for the newspaper.1

Construed in favor of Patterson, the facts show that Joshua Bourgoin was a salaried, full-time employee of Southeastern at the time of the accident. His title was “relief district manager” and his regular duties included overseeing distribution points for newspaper delivery carriers in place of absent district managers. He oversaw distribution points on Monday and Tuesday mornings from either 2:30 or 4:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. He made sure carriers came to work and got their newspapers, he took care of complaints, and he covered for absent drivers. But he only delivered papers if one of the carriers did not show up. On Monday and Tuesday he also attended a meeting at the office from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. On Wednesday he attended a meeting beginning at 10:30 a.m. and had a “solicitation meeting” that involved soliciting sales in the afternoon.