## Facts

- Orrin H. Bush, an attorney and law-firm partner, attended a trust and investment seminar in Grand Rapids as part of his professional activities.
- After the seminar and a short bank-hosted social period with drinks, Bush began the drive back toward Muskegon.
- Instead of going home, Bush engaged in extended personal socializing and drinking over roughly seven to eight hours at multiple establishments.
- Near 3:00 a.m., Bush left a restaurant to drive home through a high-crime area.
- Around 3:10 a.m., Bush was shot and killed in his car in an apparent attempted robbery; an autopsy showed a high blood-alcohol level.
- His widow sought workers’ compensation death benefits, alleging the death arose out of and in the course of employment because the trip originated in a work-related seminar and he was heading home when killed.

## Issues

1. Whether a fatal injury occurring after a prolonged, purely personal deviation from a work-related trip “arose out of and in the course of” employment under Michigan workers’ compensation law.
2. Whether resuming the route home after a deviation automatically restores the employment connection for purposes of compensability.

## Decision

- The Michigan Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals.
- The Court held the death did not arise out of and in the course of employment.
- The Court concluded the deviation was so extensive and involved risks unrelated to work that it broke the employment nexus and ended the business character of the trip.
- The workers’ compensation award was vacated and benefits were denied.

## Legal Principles

- Workers’ compensation coverage requires that an injury both arise out of and occur in the course of employment.
- In employment-related travel cases, a personal deviation may sever the employment connection depending on the deviation’s extent, nature, duration, and the risks encountered.
- Resumption of travel toward home or the business route does not automatically reestablish compensability when the deviation is substantial and introduces risks wholly unrelated to employment.
- Injuries attributable to hazards created by an employee’s personal choices, rather than risks generated by employment, may be outside the act even if the trip began with a work purpose.

## Conclusion

Because the decedent’s seven-to-eight-hour, alcohol-centered personal activities materially departed from any business purpose and introduced nonemployment risks culminating in the fatal event, the employment connection was severed and workers’ compensation benefits were not payable even though he had begun driving home when killed.


Bush v. Parmenter, Forsythe, Rude & Dethmers, 413 Mich. 444, 320 N.W.2d 858 (1982)