McClure v. General Motors Corp. , 402 Mich. 392 ( 1978 )

Per Curiam.

Gary McClure died as a result of injuries he suffered when he was struck by an automobile while crossing the street from the plant where he was employed to the Fleetwood Inn during his 30-minute lunch break. The question in this worker’s compensation case is whether McClure’s death arose out of and in the course of his employment. We conclude that it did.

I

Testimony was received that plaintiff worked an 8-1/2 hour shift and was paid for 8 hours. The Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board found that he was not paid for the 30-minute lunch period. The total work force on that shift at the Fleetwood plant was estimated to be 1800 to 2500 persons, 50 to 100 of whom habitually crossed Fort Street during their lunch hour to eat at the Fleet-wood Inn, located some 75 yards away. The Fleet-wood Inn apparently depended on the workers for its business, since it closed during model changeover.

General Motors exerted no control over the lunch period and the employees were allowed to eat at the Fleetwood Inn. However, as required by its agreement with the United Auto Workers, General Motors had on its premises a cafeteria seating 500 persons and lunch wagons that included some hot sandwiches.

During McClure’s 30-minute lunch period, on April 14, 1973, McClure and three coworkers left the plant gates on West End Avenue, and went north to Fort Street where there was a traffic light, but did not cross. Instead, they proceeded on the south side of Fort Street about 100 yards to a point across from the Fleetwood Inn. Although there was no cross-walk there, McClure attempted to run across Fort Street. He was struck by an automobile in the traffic lane on the Fleetwood Inn side of Fort Street, approximately 50 to 75 yards from the factory. He died from his injuries on November 8, 1973, never having left the hospital.

The administrative law judge awarded benefits on September 19, 1974, but the appeal board reversed on October 13, 1976, and the Court of Appeals denied leave to appeal on March 25, 1977.

II

Defendant argues that the appeal board was correct because plaintiffs uncompensated, off-premises trip to the Fleetwood Inn was required neither directly by his employment nor indirectly because of inadequate facilities for lunch at the plant.

We do not find decisive the fact that General Motors maintained a cafeteria and lunch wagons. McClure and his coworkers apparently felt that the Fleetwood Inn had something to offer that the cafeteria and the lunch wagons did not.

In Howard v Detroit, 377 Mich 102; 139 NW2d 677 (1966), an employee bus driver had a morning run and an afternoon run with from 45 minutes to 5 hours in between on different days. While food was available at the terminal, Howard normally went home and was going home the day he was injured. In concluding that the bus driver was entitled to worker’s compensation benefits, the Howard Court specifically observed that no incident of his employment required him to leave the terminal during the five-hour interval or required, if he did choose to leave, that he travel by automobile. But "it was”, said Justice O’Hara speaking for this Court, "a circumstance of his employment that placed plaintiff in this case where he was when he was accidentally injured”. 377 Mich 110.¹

Here, too, "it was a circumstance of his employment that placed plaintiff in this case where he was when he was accidentally injured”. It was as an incident of the employment relationship that McClure found himself in the trafile lane on the Fleetwood Inn side of Fort Street approximately 50 to 75 yards from the factory during his lunch break on April 14, 1973.²

On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal is considered and, pursuant to GCR 1963, 853.2(4), in lieu of granting leave to appeal, we remand the case to the Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Kavanagh, C.J., and Williams, Levin, Fitzgerald, and Blair Moody, Jr., JJ., concurred.

1 See, also, Thomas v Certified Refrigeration, Inc, 392 Mich 623, 631-632; 221 NW2d 378 (1974), and Burchett v Delton-Kellogg School, 378 Mich 231, 234; 144 NW2d 337 (1966).

2 Recognizing that McClure’s injury and death arose out of and in the course of his employment does not require abandonment of the general rule that injuries sustained while going to or coming from work do not arise out of and in the course of one’s employment, except as modified by MCLA 418.301(2); MSA 17.237(301)(2).