Jose Juan Hernandez Navarro — ADJ18656111

Jose Juan Hernandez Navarro, an experienced farm laborer, was found dead in a field on defendant's premises during working hours after apparently being run over by a tractor. Autopsy performed nine days after death revealed a BAC of 0.219, and the QME (Dr. Allems) opined that alcohol intoxication was the proximate cause of the fatal accident. The WCJ found the injury AOE/COE and held defendant failed to prove intoxication was a proximate or substantial cause of death. The WCAB denied reconsideration, agreeing that defendant did not carry its burden of proving the intoxication defense because the factual record was riddled with unsupported assumptions, including that decedent operated the tractor, 'somehow' fell off it into its path, and became intoxicated in an unverified manner. The Board distinguished Smith v. WCAB, where extensive eyewitness testimony and clear accident details supported an inference of intoxication-caused injury, whereas here the record was largely speculative.