There's Always Two Sides To Every Story – Obtaining Information From Concurrent Criminal Proceedings

A subsegment of workers compensation claims are death claims resulting from criminal actions against an employee resulting in his or her alleged death in the course of employment.  As with general death claims, the initial threshold requirement and analysis is that the accident must occur in the course of and arise out of the claimant's employment in order to be compensable.  When the accident arises out of purely personal reasons, it is not compensable.  O.C.G.A. § 34-9-1(4)("'Injury' and 'personal injury' shall not include injury caused by the willful act of a third person directed against an employee for reasons personal to such employee").  On the other hand, the fact that the injury is the result of the criminal assault of a third person does not prevent the injury from being accidental within the meaning of Act. Hartford Accident & Indem. Co. v. Cox, 101 Ga. App. 789, 115 S.E.2d 452 (1960).