COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Judges Fitzpatrick, Annunziata and Senior Judge Duff 

Argued at Alexandria, Virginia 

UNITED AIRLINES, INC. 

 MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY 

v. Record No. 2081-95-4 JUDGE JOHANNA L. FITZPATRICK 

 OCTOBER 1, 1996 

MAUREEN COGBURN 

 FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION 

 M. Lynn McHale (Siciliano, Ellis, Dyer & 

Boccarosse, on brief), for appellant. 

 Christopher Paul Schewe (Cake, Rhoades & 

Schewe, P.C., on brief), for appellee. 

 United Airlines, Inc. (employer) appeals the commission's 

decision awarding benefits to Maureen Cogburn (claimant) for her 

carpal tunnel syndrome. Employer argues that the commission 

erred in: (1) relying upon flawed medical opinions; and (2) 

finding that claimant proved that her carpal tunnel syndrome was 

caused by her employment. Based on the Virginia Supreme Court's 

decision in Stenrich Group v. Jemmott, 251 Va. 186, 467 S.E.2d 

795 (1996), we reverse the commission's award of benefits. 

 Claimant began working for employer as an airline 

reservationist on July 24, 1989. As part of her employment, 

claimant worked on a keyboard for eight to ten hours a day. In 

1991, claimant began to notice problems with her hands and 

 

 *Pursuant to Code § 17-116.010 this opinion is not 

designated for publication. 
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wrists. Claimant's problems became more severe, and beginning in 

June 1993, she experienced numbness, tingling, and a loss of 

control over the keys on her keyboard. She began treatment with 

Dr. Jimmy Chow in October 1993. He diagnosed her with carpal 

tunnel syndrome, identified it as an occupational disease, and 

linked her condition to the repetitive motions she made in the 

course of her employment. Dr. James R. Malcolm, an independent 

medical examiner, disagreed with Dr. Chow's diagnosis that the 

cause of claimant's condition was work-related and found that her 

symptoms could not be directly linked to her employment. 

 In an opinion dated August 22, 1995, the commission 

acknowledged the contrary medical opinions of the physicians, but 

relied upon Dr. Chow's findings and concluded that claimant had 

presented clear and convincing evidence that her carpal tunnel 

syndrome was caused by her employment. The commission awarded 

claimant temporary disability benefits of $282 per week beginning 

December 24, 1993 and continuing. 

 The Virginia Supreme Court's recent decision, Stenrich 

Group, 251 Va. 186, 467 S.E.2d 795, controls the issue of 

coverage under workers' compensation for carpal tunnel syndrome. 

 In that case, the Court found that "the evidence conclusively 

establishe[d] that [claimants] Jemmott and Martin suffer from 

carpal tunnel syndrome . . . which all parties agree [was] 

gradually incurred." Id. at 192, 467 S.E.2d at 798. Those 

claimants, like the claimant in the instant case, argued that 
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their carpal tunnel syndrome was a compensable occupational 

disease. The Supreme Court responded as follows: 

 [J]ust because a doctor opines that a 

particular impairment is a disease does not 

necessarily make it so. . . . [W]hether a 

claimant suffers from a disease within the 

contemplation of the [Workers' Compensation] 

Act is a mixed question of law and fact, and 

whether a proper definition has been used to 

test the authenticity of a doctor's opinion 

is a strictly legal question. 

Id. at 198, 467 S.E.2d at 801. The Supreme Court held that 

"impairment[s] resulting from cumulative trauma caused by 

repetitive motion . . . must be classified as an injury, not a 

disease." Id. at 198, 467 S.E.2d at 802. The Supreme Court 

concluded that "job-related impairments resulting from cumulative 

trauma caused by repetitive motion, however labelled or however 

defined, are, as a matter of law, not compensable under the 

present provisions of the [Workers' Compensation] Act." Id. at 

199, 467 S.E.2d at 802. 

 Thus, under Stenrich Group, carpal tunnel syndrome is not 

compensable under workers' compensation either as an occupational 

disease or as an injury because "gradually incurred injuries are 

not compensable." Id. at 194, 467 S.E.2d at 789. Claimant 

suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome, and the commission erred in 

awarding her benefits. 

 Accordingly, the decision of the commission is reversed. 

Because we reverse the commission's award of benefits, the issue 

of whether the commission erred in relying on certain medical 
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opinions is moot. 

 Reversed.