Phelps v. Positive Action Tool Co.

The prevailing view, absent express statutory provision to the contrary, is that voluntary intoxication at the time of a worker’s injury is ordinarily not a bar to workers’ compensation benefits. See 1A Larson, Law of Workmen’s Compensation (1985), Section 34.00. Since Ohio, like a number of its sister states, had not yet enacted a special statute concerning intoxication, the issue herein is whether by reaching an advanced stage of intoxication, the worker has abandoned his employment to an extent whereby it can be concluded that the injury did not arise in the course of employment, but…