High court denies benefits for judicial assistant who fell in sinkhole

The Delaware Supreme Court Monday upheld a denial of benefits to a court employee who fell into a sinkhole as she arrived for work.

Kim Browning was working as a judicial assistant at the Delaware Superior Court in Kent County in 2018 when she fell into the sinkhole after parking her car, according to documents in Browning v. State.

Ms. Browning filed a workers compensation claim for her injuries, which prompted the Industrial Accident Board to determine whether she was acting in the course and scope of her employment when she fell and whether the injury occurred on her employer’s premises.

Although the street is owned by the state — her employer — the board found that it was not part of the state’s premises, as the city of Dover exercises authority over parking on the street. Since Ms. Browning had not yet crossed the threshold of the courthouse when she fell, the board found she was injured while traveling to work and was not in the course and scope of her employment.

The Superior Court upheld the board’s decision, as did the Delaware Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court noted there is a “gray area where the risks of street travel merge with the risks attendant with employment,” and it found that substantial evidence supported the board’s conclusion that Ms. Browning was going to work but was not yet on her employer’s premises when she fell and, furthermore, was not instructed where to park.  

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