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The Anachronistic “Sole Cause” Defense of Intoxication and Unlawful Use of Controlled Dangerous Substances in New Jersey Workers’ Compensation

By on March 23, 2018 in NJ Workers' Comp, Other with 0 Comments

At least once a week this practitioner gets a call from an employer or adjuster asking whether New Jersey has a defense to accidents where the employee is found to be heavily intoxicated or under the influence of illegal substances.   The response is always the same: yes, there is technically a defense, but unfortunately the way the statute is written, it is almost impossible for an employer to prevail.

New Jersey is one of a few states in which the employer must prove that intoxication or the use of controlled dangerous substances is the sole cause of the injury.  It is not enough for an employer to prove that intoxication is the main cause or a substantial cause:  it must be the sole proximate cause.  If any other factor is involved, the employer loses.  In most states employers win if they can prove intoxication was a substantial or contributing cause.   How weak is the New Jersey defense? There is really only one published case in the last 50 years in which an employer has won on the intoxication defense in New Jersey!

If the employee can show that some other factor besides intoxication contributed in some way to the injury – like bad weather, a slippery floor, exhaustion from working too hard – the employer’s defense fails.  Frankly, it is almost impossible to exclude all other causes.  That point was driven home by the  New Jersey Supreme Court in Tlumac v. High Bridge Stone, 187 N.J. 567 (2006).  At the end of the opinion the Supreme Court expressed its own frustration with the regrettable language contained in the New Jersey statute.

In Tlumac the employee’s wife admitted that her husband usually drank 10 beers every weekend.  On the day of the accident, petitioner arose at 2:15 a.m. to begin his drive.  He drove 30 miles south on Route 31 with 77,000 pounds of Belgian block in his truck and then blacked out.  His tractor-trailer traveled 180 feet off the road, jumped the curb and traveled 66 feet on the shoulder, hit the guardrail and rubbed against it for 247 feet, struck a parked truck and then struck a utility pole.  The officer on the scene noticed an odor of alcohol, and petitioner admitted to drinking the night before.  An expert for the employer extrapolated that petitioner’s blood alcohol level was between .10 and .18 at the time of the accident, well above the legal limit.

The employer denied the claim based on intoxication being the sole cause of the accident.  The Judge of Compensation, Appellate Division and the Supreme Court all ruled against the employer and in favor of the petitioner on compensability because the employer could not prove the sole cause defense.  Other factors may have played a role in the accident, such as petitioner’s exhaustion from working too many hours in the days prior to the accident. He had worked over 200 hours in the prior two week period of time.  He also testified to exhaustion from repairing the roof of his home the night before the accident.   Justice Wallace, who wrote the decision, conceded that the New Jersey statute “may no longer comport with current policies at deterring the dangers of drinking and driving.  Nevertheless, any change in that interpretation must come from the Legislature.”

Twelve years after the Tlumac decision, nothing has been done by the Legislature to address the situation that Justice Coleman addressed, namely deterring the dangers of drinking and driving.  As hard as it is for employers to win on an intoxication defense, it is even harder for employers to win when illegal drugs are found in the employee’s system because it is scientifically impossible for an employer to pinpoint exactly when the illegal substances were used.  Many drugs, like marijuana, remain in the system for days, if not weeks.

One must wonder what the social policy was that the Legislature was trying to promote many decades ago when the sole cause language was written into law.  A cynic might conclude that the purpose was to sanction the practice of employees coming to work somewhat inebriated.  The truth is that intoxicated employees not only risk injury to themselves but may also imperil the lives of others.  Yet as of 2018 heavily intoxicated employees who are injured at work or those under the influence of illegal substances remain eligible for workers’ compensation, even if the use of alcohol or drugs was the major cause of the accident.  The reason is that the major cause is not the same as the sole cause.

A change in the law to “substantial cause” instead of “sole cause” would benefit all New Jersey residents and would send the correct message that employees must keep alcohol and illegal substances out of the workplace.   The present statute was written at a time when the two martini lunch was perhaps considered socially appropriate.  But those days should be long gone.

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About the Author

About the Author:

John H. Geaney, Esq. is a Shareholder and Co-Chair of Capehart Scatchard's Workers' Compensation Group. Mr. Geaney began an email newsletter entitled “Currents in Workers’ Compensation, ADA and FMLA” in 2001 in order to keep clients and readers informed on leading developments in these three areas of law. Since that time he has written over 500 newsletter updates.

Mr. Geaney is the author of Geaney’s New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Manual for Practitioners, Adjusters & Employers. The Manual is distributed by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education (NJICLE). He also authored an ADA and FMLA Manual also distributed by NJICLE. If you are interested in purchasing “Geaney’s New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Manual for Practitioners, Adjusters & Employers,” please contact NJICLE at 732-214-8500 or visit their website at www.njicle.com.

Mr. Geaney represents employers in the defense of workers’ compensation, ADA and FMLA matters. He is a Fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers of the American Bar Association. He is one of two firm representatives to the National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network.

A graduate of Holy Cross College summa cum laude, Mr. Geaney obtained his law degree from Boston College Law School.

Mr. Geaney was selected to the “New Jersey Super Lawyer” list (2005-2017, 2021 in the area of Workers’ Compensation). Only 5% of attorneys are selected to “Super Lawyers” through a peer nominated process based on independent research and peer evaluation. The Super Lawyers list is issued by Thomson Reuters. For a description of the “Super Lawyers” selection methodology, please visit https://www.superlawyers.com/about/selection_process.html

For the years 2022-2024 Mr. Geaney was selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® list in the practice area of Workers’ Compensation Law - Employers. The attorneys on this list are selected based upon the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area. A complete description of The Best Lawyers in America® methodology can be viewed via their website at https://www.bestlawyers.com/methodology.

*No aspect of this advertisement has been submitted to or approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Capehart Scatchard is a full service law firm with offices in Mt. Laurel and Hamilton, New Jersey. The firm represents employers and businesses in a wide variety of areas, including workers’ compensation, civil litigation, labor, environmental, business, estates and governmental affairs.

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