(CN) - A newspaper publisher does not have to pay damages after a man died in an accident with one of its delivery people, an Arizona appeals court ruled.
Stephanie Sebastian was driving home from her Phoenix Newspapers delivery route when she collided with bicyclist Wesley Carnes. The 49-year-old man died from his injuries.
Carnes' widow, Letiticia, filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of herself and the couple's two adult children against the Gannett subsidiary, which publishes The Arizona Republic.
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled in the newspaper's favor based on the "coming-and-going" rule, since Sebastian had delivered her last newspaper of the day 15 minutes before the accident.
The Arizona Court of Appeals upheld the judgment Thursday.
"Sebastian was not in the scope of her employment with PNI at the time of the accident," Judge John Gemmill wrote for the court.
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