The Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled a company is not liable for damages if their employee falls asleep and crashes into another motorist while driving home after a long day at work.
Miriam Rodriguez was traveling westbound on Central Avenue in Gary at 6:10 a.m. on Jan. 21, 2011, when her vehicle was struck head-on by Dana Faught, of Hobart, who had just finished an 11-hour overnight shift at U.S. Steel.
According to court records, Faught has no memory of the collision and assumes he fell asleep just before impact. Rodriguez sustained "severe, permanent injuries."
Rodriguez unsuccessfully sued U.S. Steel in Lake Superior Court alleging the company negligently caused a hazard to other motorists by allowing Faught to drive home following a workday the company knew, or should have known, would make him drowsy on his commute.
In a 3-0 decision, the appeals court agreed with Lake Superior Judge Calvin Hawkins that U.S. Steel was not responsible.
Judge Edward Najam Jr., writing for the appellate panel, rejected Rodriguez's claim that U.S. Steel overworked Faught in such a way that the company should be viewed similar to a bar knowingly sending a drunk driver out on the roads.
"Working hours do not necessarily affect a person in the same way that alcohol does. While significant consumption of alcohol, in itself, inevitably leads to impairment, many factors other than long working hours may contribute to fatigue," Najam said. "We cannot say that U.S. Steel either knew or should have known that Faught was fatigued such that he could endanger third-party motorists."
While the court agreed with Rodriguez that such an accident potentially is foreseeable, it found public policy considerations "strongly" weigh against requiring employers check each of their employees for fatigue at the end of the workday.
"It is not clear how an employer could monitor employee fatigue, much less how an employer could determine whether such fatigue was job-related or, for that matter, whether the fatigue is sufficient to intervene and attempt to prevent the employee from leaving the employer’s premises, even if the employer had the authority to do so," Najam said.
Rodriguez still can ask the Indiana Supreme Court to review the appellate court decision.
Source: .nwitimes.com
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