Kindel v. Ferco Rental, Inc.

Donald Kindel (plaintiff) worked for Ferco Rental, Incorporated (Ferco) (defendant) doing construction. James Graham, Kindel’s supervisor drove Kindel to and from Kindel’s home in Salina, Kansas, to a construction job site in Sabetha, Kansas, in a company truck because the site was remote. Company vehicles were to be used strictly for going to and from job sites and obtaining food and fuel, not personal matters of any kind or stopping at bars to consume alcohol. One day, Graham and Kindel passed a former coworker who invited the two men to join him at Outer Limits, a striptease bar. When they completed work for that day, Graham and Kindel drove back toward Salina. They stopped at Outer Limits for four hours and got drunk. Outer Limits was less than one quarter of a mile off their route home. Graham and Kindel left Outer Limits and continued on their way to Salina. Graham and Kindel crashed in the company truck while Graham was driving. Kindel was partially ejected and died. No evidence suggested that Kindel’s intoxication contributed to his death. Kindel had not violated any laws in the events leading to his death. Kindel’s spouse and children (plaintiffs) filed a workers’-compensation claim against Ferco for death benefits. The administrative law judge (ALJ) denied the claim, finding that Kindel’s deviation was so substantial that the injury did not occur in the course of employment. The Workers Compensation Board (the board) reversed the ALJ’s decision. Ferco appealed.