Facts
An employee for Warner Bros. attended a three-day out-of-town business conference, approved by his employer. He left the conference early. On his way home, he drove by the office without stopping and took his normal route home, until he was involved in a motor-vehicle collision that caused injuries to Jeewarat. Jeewarat filed a personal injury action against the employee and Warner Bros. Warner Bros filed motion for summary judgment on the grounds the employee was commuting from work to home when the accident occurred, and therefore under the “going and coming rule,” the employee was not acting in the scope and course of his employment. The trial court granted the motion. Jeewarat appeals on the grounds the business conference attended by the employee was a special errand that had not concluded and therefore the “going and coming” rule does not apply to preclude liability against Warner Bros.
Holding
Reversed. An employee’s attendance at an out-of-town business conference may be considered a special errand. The special errand is concluded when the employee returns home or deviates from the errand for personal reasons. Thus, because Warner Bros. failed to show the employee had deviated from the special errand for personal reasons at the time of the accident, summary judgment was improperly granted.