In Roberts v Parker Banks Chevrolet Olds, Inc., 58 S.W.3d 66 (Mo.App. E.D. 2001), employees were prohibited from parking on employer’s car dealership premises or on the street in front of the dealership. The most convenient parking place was City Lot No. 11 over which employer had no incident of control, including ownership, leasing, or reservation of space. The case was compensable, the fall would not have occurred if claimant had not been going to work on the usual, impliedly approved, permitted, acceptable route to work! (This seems to defy the rule that going to and coming from work is not compensable for this type of employee.) The Court relied on the philosophy of Wells v T.J. Brown below.
In Wells v T.J. Brown, 33 S.W.3d 190 (Mo.banc. 2000). Accident found arising out of employment under extended premises doctrine when claimant slipped and fell on a parking lot not owned, controlled or maintained by employer but so situated, designed and used by employer so as it make it part of the employer’s operations.
In Thomas v Hollister, Inc., 17 S.W.3d 124 (Mo.App. W.D. 1999), the claimant sustained an injury on the parking lot of the employer. As he was getting out of his truck, his foot slipped on the running board and he fell and hit his head and his ribs. The Court held that the injuries were incurred on the employer’s premises, along the accepted route to work. Therefore, the injuries arose out of and in the course of the employment.