Trial court grants summary judgment in Kansas wrongful death case applying "going and coming" rule

The District Court of Ford County, Kansas recently granted a Motion for Summary Judgment filed by the firm in a wrongful death case arising from the death of an oil field worker who was killed in a single vehicle accident that occurred when his co-worker, Daniel Meredith, allegedly lost control of the company vehicle that they occupied while returning to Garden City from an oil site in Oklahoma. After obtaining workers compensation benefits, the decedent's heirs sued Defendant Meredith for wrongful death. Defendant Meredith moved for summary judgment based on the exclusive remedy doctrine and companion fellow-servant immunity in Kansas, arguing that he is immune from liability because Plaintiffs' exclusive remedy is workers compensation as the death arose out of and in the course of the parties' employment. Plaintiffs contested Defendant Meredith's Motion for Summary Judgment on the basis of the "going and coming" rule - that the parties were on their way back to their employer's shop in Garden City and therefore no longer working at the time of the accident. The District Court of Ford County, Kansas agreed with Defendant that based on the uncontroverted facts, the parties were not merely "going and coming." Rather, they were still working in that they were in a company owned and insured vehicle, Defendant was being paid to drive, and the deceased still had supervisory duties at the time of the accident. Based on these facts, the Court determined that Defendant Meredith is immune from liability in this case because Plaintiffs' exclusive remedy is workers compensation.