A Little Béarnaise, a Proud Mama……and a Delaware Decision on Course & Scope

Aug 10

For those who don’t know it, Sweet Caroline is now working in litigation support for a few of my friends at Doroshow Pasquale, including Tara Bustard. No shrinking violet herself, Caroline couldn’t have a better role model for the proposition of “girl power.” This particular case has prompted quite a chuckle from those working on it.

It’s his name. Phil A. Minion. Get it? Apparently he likes to answer the phone or otherwise identify himself pronouncing it “Filet Mignon.” I guess his Mama and Daddy had a sense of humor . . . and were obligate carnivores. And yeah, we both thought that was pretty funny.

From there we got into the real “meat” of the case, if you will . . . and the fact that I defended (and lost) a very similar case to Jonathan O’Neill a couple of years ago. See Charles James v. Diamond State Warehousing, IAB Hr’g No. 1377939 (Sept. 25, 2013). Issue is whether a workplace stabbing by a co-worker was in course and scope. In my case the Board ruled that it was . . . and whoops, they did it again here. Only in this case it wasn’t a knife — it was box cutters.

The case is Phil A. Minion v. Felton Mills & Atlas Van Lines, IAB Nos.1421868 & 1418086 (Aug. 4, 2015). Eric Boyle authored a well-reasoned decision that discusses personally motivated assaults via-a-vis those which appear to be fueled by little more than workplace proximity, a short fuse, and a need for anger management counseling . . .oh, and a pair of box cutters.