## Facts

- Louis Katz worked as a dairyman’s chauffeur for A. Kadans & Co.
- On May 7, 1920, Katz was driving his employer’s car on Canal Street in New York City after making a delivery.
- An insane man, pursued by others and stabbing anyone nearby, stabbed Katz.
- Katz sought benefits under the New York Workmen’s Compensation Law.
- The State Industrial Commission awarded compensation; the Appellate Division affirmed.
- The employer and its insurer appealed, conceding the injury occurred in the course of employment but disputing that it “arose out of” the employment because the assault was random and unrelated to Katz personally.

## Issues

1. Whether a random stabbing by an insane stranger, occurring while an employee drives on a delivery route, is an injury “arising out of” employment under the Workmen’s Compensation Law as a compensable “street risk.”

## Decision

- The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the compensation award.
- The court held Katz’s injuries arose out of his employment because his work required him to travel on public streets, which exposed him to street perils, including rare and unexpected acts of violence.
- The assailant’s lack of connection to Katz did not defeat compensability because the relevant causal link was the employment-required presence in the street where the risk materialized.

## Legal Principles

- When an employee’s work requires travel or presence in public streets, the employment includes exposure to the risks of the streets, and injuries from those risks may “arise out of” the employment.
- “Street risks” include dangers incident to being in the street, including unusual and infrequent hazards such as violence by dangerous persons encountered in public ways.
- Not every injury occurring in a street is compensable as a street risk; the danger must result from the street as a place, and the employee must be there because of employment duties.
- The statutory “arising out of” requirement is satisfied when the employment places the worker in the location that creates the relevant exposure, even if the specific incident is unforeseen and not motivated by personal animus.

## Conclusion

Because Katz’s job duties required him to drive on city streets, his random stabbing by a violent madman was treated as a street risk incident to the employment and therefore compensable under the Workmen’s Compensation Law.


Katz v. A. Kadans & Co., 232 N.Y. 420, 134 N.E. 330 (N.Y. 1922)