## Facts

- Raymond P. Gibberd was a salaried computer consultant employed by Control Data Corporation (CDC) at its World Distribution Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
- The facility was located in an inner-city neighborhood; CDC maintained a corporate policy of placing facilities in such areas.
- Gibberd often worked nights and weekends to perform maintenance when computer usage was low.
- CDC’s cafeteria operated only on the day shift; vending machines and a microwave were available at all times.
- On August 26, 1985, during an evening work shift, Gibberd left the CDC building after signing out, apparently to get a meal.
- He went to a Wendy’s restaurant about 0.7 miles from the facility, a location employees often used for meals.
- Around 8:30 p.m., while returning toward work on a public street some distance from the facility, Gibberd was shot and killed by an unknown assailant.
- The investigation found no personal connection between Gibberd and the assailant, no evidence of robbery, and no employment-related motive; authorities characterized the event as a random street assault.
- Over the preceding five years, reported crimes affecting CDC employees in the area were mostly minor thefts, with only two assaults reported.

## Issues

1. Whether an employee’s death from a random third-party street assault, occurring off the employer’s premises during an off-premises meal break while walking back toward work, “arose out of” employment under the Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Act.
2. Whether the death occurred “in the course of” employment given the time, place, and circumstances of the meal break and travel on public streets.

## Decision

- The Minnesota Supreme Court reversed the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals and reinstated the compensation judge’s denial of dependency and funeral benefits.
- The court held the death did not “arise out of” employment because there was no causal connection between the job and the random assault and no showing that employment increased the risk beyond that faced by the public.
- The court held the death did not occur “in the course of” employment because Gibberd was off premises on a personal errand (getting a meal), using public streets not directed or controlled by the employer.

## Legal Principles

- Workers’ compensation requires both that an injury “arise out of” employment (a causal connection between employment and injury) and occur “in the course of” employment (a sufficient connection in time, place, and circumstances).
- A random third-party assault on a public street is generally a public or neutral risk; it is not compensable absent evidence that employment created or materially increased the risk.
- Off-premises meal breaks and travel on public streets are typically outside the course of employment unless the employer requires the off-premises activity, directs the location or route, or otherwise exercises substantial control over the circumstances.

## Conclusion

Because Gibberd was killed by a random assailant on a public street while off premises during a voluntary off-premises meal break, and because his employment neither caused nor materially increased the risk of the assault or placed him under employer control at the time, his death was not compensable under Minnesota workers’ compensation law.


Gibberd v. Control Data Corp., 424 N.W.2d 776 (Minn. 1988)