## Facts

- Daryl Johnson was 16 years old and worked part-time as a dishwasher at a pizza shop owned and operated by Stratlaw, Inc.
- On the night of September 4–5, 1987, Daryl worked from about 5:00 p.m. until closing at 1:00 a.m., finished cleanup, and left after 2:00 a.m.
- Daryl’s father, Robert Wayne Johnson, also worked at the restaurant; father and son left at roughly the same time but drove home separately.
- While driving home (about 15 miles), Daryl was involved in a single-car crash and later died from his injuries.
- About ten minutes after the father arrived home, he went back out to look for Daryl and came upon the accident scene, where emergency personnel were extracting Daryl from the wreck.
- Daryl’s parents sued Stratlaw for (1) wrongful death and (2) negligent infliction of emotional distress, alleging Stratlaw negligently required Daryl to work after 2:00 a.m. and more than eight hours in violation of Labor Code section 1391 (restrictions on minors’ work hours).
- The parents alleged the late and extended shift caused Daryl to be tired, exhausted, or drowsy (or to fall asleep), leading to the crash during his drive home.
- Stratlaw moved for summary judgment, arguing the parents’ exclusive remedy was under the Workers’ Compensation Act; the trial court granted summary judgment, and the parents appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether Daryl’s fatal commuting accident, allegedly caused by work-created fatigue and the late hour, arose out of and in the course of employment so that workers’ compensation provided the exclusive remedy.
2. Whether the going-and-coming rule kept the accident outside the course of employment, or whether the special-risk exception applied because the job allegedly placed Daryl on the road late at night and in a fatigued condition.
3. If workers’ compensation applied, whether the parents’ wrongful-death and negligent-infliction-of-emotional-distress claims against the employer were barred by exclusivity.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal affirmed the summary judgment for Stratlaw.
- The court concluded the alleged circumstances of employment (an unusually long, late shift for a minor) created a special risk that brought the otherwise off-premises commuting accident within the course of employment for workers’ compensation purposes.
- Because the death was treated as compensable under workers’ compensation, the parents’ wrongful-death claim against the employer was barred by the exclusive-remedy provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act.
- The parents’ negligent infliction of emotional distress claim, based on their contemporaneous observation of rescue efforts at the crash scene, was also barred as derivative of a compensable employment-related injury.

## Legal Principles

- Workers’ compensation is generally the exclusive remedy for an employee injury that arises out of and in the course of employment, barring civil tort claims against the employer for the same injury.
- Under the going-and-coming rule, injuries during ordinary commuting are ordinarily outside the course of employment.
- The special-risk exception may bring a commuting injury within the course of employment when (1) the employee’s job placed the employee where the injury occurred (a “but for” connection), and (2) the job exposed the employee to a risk greater than that faced by the general public.
- A claimed statutory violation in setting work hours may function as part of the work-related condition creating the special risk, rather than removing the injury from workers’ compensation coverage.
- Emotional-distress claims by family members that stem from an employee’s compensable injury are generally barred when asserted against the employer because they depend on the same employment-related injury.

## Conclusion

Johnson v. Stratlaw, Inc. holds that when an employer’s work scheduling creates a heightened, work-related risk—here, requiring a minor to work an extended shift ending after 2:00 a.m., allegedly causing fatigue—a resulting fatal commuting accident may fall within the special-risk exception to the going-and-coming rule, making workers’ compensation the exclusive remedy and barring the parents’ wrongful-death and emotional-distress tort claims.


Johnson v. Stratlaw, Inc., 274 Cal. Rptr. 363 (1990)