Goldberg Segalla partner Ian J. Fuller obtained a favorable pretrial recommendation in an Illinois workers’ compensation matter after successfully arguing that an employee’s post-shift injury occurred during an ordinary commute and did not arise out of or in the course of employment.

The claim stemmed from an April 2026 accident involving a driver employed by our insured. As part of his job duties, the claimant was instructed to leave his work vehicle in a designated parking lot at the end of his shift. The parking lot, however, was not owned, operated, or maintained by the employer. After clocking out for the evening, the claimant walked through the lot and proceeded toward a public bus stop located on a public street. While crossing a fire road that served as an access road to the area, he was struck by a vehicle operated by a third party who was not affiliated with the employer.

The central issue in the case was compensability. Specifically, the parties disputed whether an injury occurring after the claimant had completed his workday, left the employer’s premises, and begun traveling home could be said to arise out of and in the course of employment. Ian structured the defense around Illinois’ long-standing “going-and-coming” rule, arguing that the claimant was a fixed-site employee engaged in an ordinary commute at the time of the accident. The defense further emphasized that the incident occurred on property the employer neither owned nor controlled and that the risk of being struck by a third-party vehicle was a neutral risk shared by members of the general public using the same roadway.

At the pretrial, the assigned Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission arbitrator agreed with Ian’s analysis. Following argument, the arbitrator indicated that based on the facts presented, she would likely find the accident non-compensable.

As Ian noted, disputes involving injuries that occur near a workplace often turn on questions of control, location, and whether the employee has truly left the course of employment. Here, the fact that the claimant had clocked out, exited the employer’s work area, and was traveling toward public transportation on a road not owned or maintained by the employer proved critical.

Since the pretrial, the petitioner has voluntarily dismissed the case.