COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Judges Baker, Bray and Fitzpatrick 

Argued at Alexandria, Virginia 

WILLIAM FRANKLIN FLANAGAN 

v. Record No. 2316-94-4 MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY 

 JUDGE JOHANNA L. FITZPATRICK 

NORTHWEST AIRLINES AND AMERICAN MAY 2, 1995 

 MOTORISTS INSURANCE COMPANY 

 

 FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION 

 Kathleen G. Walsh (Ashcraft & Gerel, on brief), for 

appellant. 

 Michael L. Zimmerman (Brault, Palmer, Grove, Zimmerman, 

White & Mims, on brief), for appellees. 

 

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

designated for publication. 

 William Franklin Flanagan (claimant) appeals the 

commission's decision denying his application for temporary total 

disability benefits. He argues that the commission erred in 

finding that he did not sustain an injury by accident resulting 

from an identifiable incident. We affirm the commission. 

 On August 19, 1993, claimant was performing his job of 

loading and unloading baggage and freight for Northwest Airlines 

(employer). For a fifteen to twenty minute period, claimant 

worked on his knees in an aircraft cargo hold with freight 

weighing 300 pounds. When claimant climbed down from the plane, 

he felt discomfort and noticed swelling in his right knee. 

 Claimant sought medical treatment on August 30, 1993, from 

Dr. Robert Dart and told Dr. Dart that his knee had been swelling 

for the last three weeks. Dr. Dart's records indicate that there 
 2 

was no "specific history of injury to the right knee." Claimant 

underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn medial meniscus 

in his right knee on September 21, 1993. 

 In a May 20, 1994 letter, Dr. Dart notified claimant's 

counsel that: "I am unable to state that his torn meniscus was 

related to the injury you describe. However, if the facts are as 

you have stated, such an injury to the meniscus could have 

occurred." The commission found that claimant failed to prove an 

injury by accident because the evidence failed to establish a 

specific, identifiable incident that caused his injury. 

 On appeal, "we review the evidence in the light most 

favorable to the prevailing party." R.G. Moore Bldg. Corp. v. 

Mullins, 10 Va. App. 211, 212, 390 S.E.2d 788, 788 (1990). "An 

injury by accident requires an 'identifiable incident, or a 

sudden precipitating event . . . bounded with rigid temporal 

precision [resulting in a] sudden mechanical or structural change 

in the body.'" Richard E. Brown, Inc. v. Caporaletti, 12 Va. 

App. 242, 243, 402 S.E.2d 709, 710 (1991) (quoting Morris v. 

Morris, 238 Va. 578, 589, 385 S.E.2d 858, 865 (1989)). The 

identifiable incident must occur "within a 'reasonably definite 

time.'" Id. at 244, 402 S.E.2d at 710 (quoting Morris, 238 Va. 

at 589, 385 S.E.2d at 864). 

 The evidence in the record does not establish an injury by 

accident. Claimant alleges the injury occurred on August 19, 

1993, either as he was kneeling in the cargo hold or after he 
 3 

straightened up from the kneeling position. However, on August 

30, 1993, claimant told Dr. Dart that he had experienced swelling 

in his knee for the past three weeks. Claimant failed to prove 

that his knee injury resulted from an identifiable incident. 

Additionally, claimant's situation is distinguishable from that 

of Caporaletti, in that the claimant in that case suffered a 

sudden injury when he straightened after installing a furnace in 

a bent position over a period of five minutes. 12 Va. App. at 

244, 402 S.E.2d at 710. However, in this case, Dr. Dart was 

unable to relate claimant's injury to the identifiable incident 

alleged by claimant. 

 Accordingly, the decision of the commission is affirmed. 

 Affirmed.