Darco Transportation v Elmer Dulen - Case Study Example

The paper "Darco Transportation v. Elmer Dulen" is a perfect example of a case study on law.
Issue: Is Dulen entitled to receive workers’ compensation after engaging in sex with his co-driver while driving a tractor-trailer rig across the railroad?

Rule Statement: Workers Compensation law is the applicable rule of law in this case. An employee can seek compensation for injuries related to work provided that: (1) the injuries were sustained in the course of duty, and (2) the injuries arise from the employees’ employment (Mallor et al., 2013).

Analysis: Workers’ Compensation law, for an employee to be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits the employee must have suffered his or her injuries while in the course of duty and the injuries must have occurred out of the employee’s employment. In the case, Dulen was an employee of Darco Transportation and suffered injuries from an accident while in the course of duty, ferrying goods San Francisco. Dulen involved in the accident after malfunctioning the railroad’s signal arm, leading to the track smashing by train, which killed Dulen’s co-driver. Clearly, the injuries suffered by Dulen were work-related. Even though Dulen was found to engage in the negligent acts by having sex with his co-driver while on the road, he was maintaining his driver seat, thus did not abandon his work or responsibility at the time of the accident. The injury of the complainant was clearly tied to his employment and originated from risk intrinsic to the nature of his work or employment. Therefore, despite the fact that Dulen was engaging in inappropriate behavior during the time of the accident, he was executing his mandated role as a driver and the cause of his injuries can be tied to the failure of the railroad protective arms.
Conclusion: Dulen’s injuries were on-the-job injuries, thus he deserved workers’ compensation. The court ruled in Dulen’s favor because the injuries were established to be work-related. Read More