Using GPS tracking information, cell phone call data, and other evidence to show that a man killed in an accident while driving home from work in a company truck wasn’t within the “course and scope” of the employment when he was killed, Goldberg Segalla partner Gregory S. Horner successfully defended the man’s employer against a death claim brought by his widow.

In its March 2019 decision upholding the North Carolina Industrial Commission’s denial of the workers’ compensation claim, the state Court of Appeals cited a lack of evidence for the plaintiff’s argument that driving the truck fell within the contractual-duty or traveling-salesman exceptions to the “going-and-coming” rule.  Instead, the use of the truck was permissive and gratuitous, the court found.  In addition, GPS tracking and cell phone call data Greg introduced showed that the man wasn’t working at the time of his fatal accident.

Greg’s successful defense of this employer is a testament to his extensive experience handling workers’ compensation cases. The leader of Goldberg Segalla’s workers’ compensation practice in North Carolina, he primarily represents self-insured retention employers and government entities, and he routinely counsels his clients and provides them with effective strategies to reduce or eliminate their exposure.

Greg’s mission and that of all the other attorneys in Goldberg Segalla’s Workers’ Compensation Practice Group is to achieve significant and sustainable reductions to the overall expense of each client’s workers’ compensation program. Our commitment to this mission — and our success in efficient file handling as well as long-range strategic risk-management — has earned us a national reputation for exceeding our clients’ expectations and driving positive change in the practice of workers’ compensation law.