Williams v. MARTCO Partnership

DECUIR, Judge.

The issues presented by this appeal are whether the workers’ compensation judge properly applied the defenses of “intoxication” and “failure to use a safety device” in denying benefits to the claimant.

FACTS

The claimant, Ramon Williams, is an admitted perpetrator of unemployment insurance fraud and felon convicted of possession of cocaine. On March 22, 1997, he was an employee of the defendant, MART-CO Partnership. On that day, Williams was injured when a log he was lifting over a safety rail and onto a conveyor broke loose from the lifting winch and struck him in the hip.

Williams…