B & B Cash Grocery Stores v. Wortman

John Wortman (plaintiff) worked for B & B Cash Grocery Stores (B & B) on the ground-maintenance crew, cleaning and mowing the grounds of the stores and B & B’s owners. Because the work was hot and dirty and B & B did not provide shower facilities, the ground crew frequently took swimming breaks between sites. The crew would often swim at public facilities as well as in the swimming pools of B & B’s owners. The crew worked better if they swam between jobs. On June 15, 1982, a very hot day, Wortman and two coworkers, who had not taken an afternoon break, were traveling between stores when they stopped at the home of a coworker’s parents to swim in the Alafia River. The home was about a mile and a half from their direct route, and Wortman and the coworkers were on the clock. Wortman dove headfirst into the river. Despite the lack of obvious danger, Wortman struck a rock, breaking his neck and causing him to become quadriplegic. Wortman filed a claim for workers’ compensation. The deputy found Wortman’s injuries were compensable because the swimming was an insubstantial deviation caused by Wortman’s need to wash off between jobs. B & B appealed, arguing that an injury sustained swimming in the river did not arise out of and occur within the course of Wortman’s employment and even if it did, diving headfirst into the river was horseplay that constituted an abandonment of Wortman’s employment.