by KPMLAW | Sep 12, 2016 | KPMBlog, News, Uncategorized
Written by Claire Carr, Esq. Recently, the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled that activity taking place over 30-45 minutes constituted an identifiable incident occurring at a reasonably definite time. To prove an “injury by accident” under the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Act, a claimant must show (1) an identifiable incident; (2) that occurs at some reasonably definite time; (3) an obvious sudden mechanical or structural change in the body; and (4) a causal connection between the incident and the bodily change.” Hoffman v. Carter, 50 Va. App. 199, 212, 648 S.E.2d 318, 325 (2007). The Court of Appeals addressed this definition in Van Buren v. August County, Record No. 1975-15-3 (July 19, 2016). Robert Van Buren was a firefighter who responded to a call to aid a 400 lb. man who fell in the shower and broke his leg. Van Buren and another rescue worker used a sheet to make a sling and lifted the man out of the shower, lowered him to the floor, then onto a flat stretcher. They dragged the stretcher down the hall, hoisted him up onto a wheeled stretcher, pushed it down a hill and finally lifted the stretcher up into an ambulance. The events lasted 30-45 minutes. At no point during the actual events did the claimant feel any pain. He first noticed pain in his arm after he closed the ambulance doors. He suggested the delay was due to the adrenaline rush during the rescue. Four days later he reported pain in his shoulder, citing a 2 week history of pain which had become worse after lifting patients all day at work. He...
