MMR Constructors, Inc. v. Taylor, [Ms. CL-2024-0979, Oct. 24, 2025] __ So. 3d __ (Ala. Civ. App. 2025). The court (Moore, P.J.; Edwards, Hanson, and Fridy, JJ., concur; Bowden, J., dissents, with opinion) affirms the Mobile Circuit Court’s judgment that Darrell Wayne Taylor (“the employee”) suffered a compensable injury “caused by an accident arising out of and in the course of his or her employment ....” Ala. Code 1975, § 25-5-51.
The employee was driving a buggy at a construction project in Calvert when he passed out due to a severe coughing spell causing him to lose control of the buggy resulting in his head striking a metal box. The trial court found the employee’s loss of consciousness was “brought on by an idiopathic condition, meaning a condition peculiar to the employee, a preexisting physical weakness or disease.” Ms. *11. Consequently, the trial court applied the ‘increased-risk test.’” Ibid.
The court rejects the employer’s argument that the trial court incorrectly applied the increased-risk test and notes that “the trial court found that the risk of injury to the employee following his loss of consciousness was multiplied by the fact that he was operating a motor vehicle when he passed out. As the courts of other states have concluded, when an employee blacks out due to an idiopathic condition while operating a motor vehicle, the risk of injury is greater than if the employee was not so employed.” Ms. *26, citing Marshall v. Bob Kimmel Trucking, 109 Or. App. 101, 104, 817 P.2d 1346, 1347 (1991).
The court affirms, noting “[t]he employer acknowledges that, when the employee slumped over after losing consciousness, his head hung outside of the buggy and that, after the buggy swerved, his head was exposed to the structures lining the roadway because the cab of the buggy was not enclosed. Applying Alabama law to those undisputed facts, we conclude, as did the trial court, that the employment conditions affirmatively contributed to the risk that the employee would receive the injuries he ultimately sustained in the accident.” Ms. *27.
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