WORKER WHO SMOKED CRACK LOSES BENEFIT CASE

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday reversed a state Court of
Appeals decision that granted benefits to a construction worker who
smoked crack cocaine the night before he was injured while working on
a house.

The high court said more evidence was needed to prove that the Saline
County man's drug use played no part in the accident.

On June 5, 1997, Vernon Woodall of near Benton was helping his
supervisor build a roof on a house in the Otter Creek subdivision off
Highway 5 in Pulaski County when the scaffolding they were standing on
collapsed.

Woodall, a carpenter with Hunnicutt Construction of Little Rock, fell
to the ground and fractured both his heels. His supervisor was not
injured.

Woodall, 37 at the time of the accident, was treated at an emergency
room, where a urine sample was taken. It came back positive for cocaine.

During a Workers' Compensation Commission hearing Dec. 16, 1997,
Woodall admitted he had smoked crack cocaine about 6 p.m. the night
before the accident. The accident occurred about noon the next day.

Testimony during the hearing also revealed that Woodall's supervisor
had nailed down only one side of the scaffolding before the men walked
on it. And the supervisor told Woodall that the scaffolding was sturdy
enough to walk on.

The Workers' Compensation Committee, which denied Woodall benefits,
said that he failed to prove by a preponderance of evidence that the
accident and injury did not result from cocaine use.

The commission said Woodall's "actions of climbing up on the
scaffolding which was not nailed down on his end was a sheer disregard
for his own personal safety which strongly suggests impairment from
drug use."

The Court of Appeals overturned the commission's ruling. The court
said Woodall's supervisor was not under the influence of drugs when he
walked along the scaffolding so the commission should not have
factored the drug use into why Woodall decided to walk on the
scaffolding.

"The bottom line is that [Woodall] was on a rickety scaffolding and
had drugs present in his bloodstream. He fell and was injured," Chief
Justice W.H. "Dub" Arnold wrote in the Supreme Court opinion.

"The only question we need address is whether the accident could have
happened because of the use of illegal drugs. The answer is, of
course, that it could have happened just the way commission found,"
Arnold said.