LOIS on “Going and Coming” Defense

In a case involving a major national retailer, LOIS was successful in having a claim disallowed by the trial judge on 5/2/19 after cross-examination of the claimant. This was despite the defense IME conceding causal relationship. The claimant was employed by a retail store in a mall and alleged a fall in the mall parking lot close to an entrance to the mall. LOIS was able to show that the accident was not compensable as claimant fell in a mall parking lot and there were no special hazards that the general public was not also exposed to. While the claimant attempted to argue that she parked in close proximity to her employer’s location and was walking to an employee entrance, LOIS obtained favorable testimony that the claimant was not directed by the employer as to where she must park her vehicle and conceded the employee entrance was inside the mall and she had not yet entered the mall’s entrance which was also used by the general public. This win was a direct result of LOIS’s aggressive cross-examination that brought to light the key facts necessary to support disallowance of the claim.