Also known as: accidentally
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An occurrence or result that takes place without intention or expectation on the part of the actor.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Bernard Bailey faced an aggressor who threatened him with a knife. Bailey swung a stick intending only to knock the weapon away. The blow unexpectedly fractured the aggressor's skull. Because Bailey neither intended nor realized the likelihood of serious harm, the court treated the outcome as immaterial to the privilege analysis.
Brian Bailey worked as a warehouse loader for Blackwood Technologies. While stacking crates, a sudden equipment failure caused a pallet to fall and strike him fatally. His widow sought death benefits under the statute covering injury or death by accident arising out of employment.
The phrase requires that the injury or death occur without the employee's intention or expectation. It emphasizes the unexpected nature of the event rather than any deliberate act by the worker.
No. The term focuses on the lack of intent, not on whether the employee could have avoided the risk. Coverage remains available even if the employee was negligent or failed to anticipate the harm.
The Restatement provides that harm neither intended nor likely to occur does not defeat the privilege even if serious injury results. The actor's intent and reasonable expectations control the analysis.
…in a holistic system, to a personalized assessment of the advantages and disadvantages that every applicant might have received by accident of birth plus all that has happened to them since. It ensures a full accounting of everything that bears on the individual’s resilience and likelihood of enhancing the UNC campus. It also…