Was Truck Driver ‘Found Dead’ in Cab ‘In Course Of’ Employment?

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A traveling employee who is injured while working is generally considered to be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. But what happens when the employee dies during? A case involving a trucker who was sent on an errand to fetch an abandoned truck and never came back addresses that question.

The driver’s supervisor sent him to recover the truck in Meridian, Mississippi, on Dec. 16, 2019. When the driver arrived in Meridien, he started feeling unwell. He told his supervisor he had the flu. The supervisor said that, per company policy, he could not continue working and insisted on sending an Uber and getting him to a hotel or doctor. But the driver refused and stayed in the truck.

For the next several days, the driver repeatedly refused to leave the truck. He had to stay and make money for his family, he said. During that time period, the truck never moved. Also, the driver didn’t undertake any activities for the company, such as keeping a log book or taking the online training he was supposed to take.

On Dec. 26, the driver was found dead in the cab of the truck. It was suspected that he had a heart attack on Dec. 25.

The driver’s estate sought workers’ compensation benefits, which the workers’ compensation commission denied. The estate challenged that decision in court.

An injury, the court said, is only compensable if it occurs in the course and scope of employment. Generally speaking, a traveling employee is within the course of his employment continuously while travelling for his employer. He steps outside of the course of employment, however, if he deviates from or abandons his employer’s business to engage in personal activities.

Under the “found dead” rule, an employee who is found dead in the course of employment is presumed to have suffered an injury that arose out of and in the course of employment.

Did the “found dead” presumption apply?

A. No. The driver’s supervisor told him to stop working and he wasn’t doing anything for his employer’s benefit when he died.

B. Yes. At the time of his death, he was traveling on business at the behest of his employer, which had sent him to get the abandoned truck.

If you selected A, you agreed with the court in Morsi v. J.B. Hunt, Corp., No. 2024-WC-00399-COA (Miss. Ct. App. 06/24/25), which held that the driver, at the time of his death, had deviated from his job to engage in personal activities.

The court pointed out that the supervisor repeatedly told the driver over the course of several days to stop working and that he would send an Uber to get him, but the driver refused, citing his need to earn money for his family.

Further, while the driver was in the truck, the truck did not move. Nor did the driver participate in any ancillary duties. Thus, he wasn’t doing anything to benefit his employer. The driver, though found deceased in the truck, was not injured in the course of employment, as he had clearly deviated from his employment.

Therefore, the “found dead” presumption did not apply. The court affirmed the commission’s denial of benefits to the driver’s estate.

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