COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Judges Elder, Bray and Senior Judge Overton 

JESSE L. ANDERSON, JR. 

 MEMORANDUM OPINION*

v. Record No. 0772-02-2 PER CURIAM 

 JULY 30, 2002 

DANA BRAKE PARTS, INC. AND 

 HARTFORD ACCIDENT & INDEMNITY COMPANY 

 FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION 

 (Jesse L. Anderson, Jr., pro se, on brief). 

 (S. Vernon Priddy III; Sands Anderson Marks & 

Miller, on brief), for appellees. 

 Jesse L. Anderson (claimant) contends the Workers' 

Compensation Commission erred in finding that Dana Brake Parts, 

Inc. (employer) terminated claimant for just cause and, 

therefore, he was not entitled to an award of temporary total 

disability benefits from June 18, 1999 and continuing. Upon 

reviewing the record and the parties' briefs, we conclude that 

this appeal is without merit. Accordingly, we summarily affirm 

the commission's decision. Rule 5A:27.1 

 

* Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, this opinion is not 

designated for publication. 

1

 Because we summarily affirm the commission's decision, we 

will not address employer's motion to dismiss claimant's appeal. 

In addition, we will not address the commission's ruling that 

claimant failed to prove he was entitled to an award of 

permanent partial disability benefits for scarring. Claimant 

did not make any argument or cite to any authorities with 
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 On appeal, we view the evidence in the light most favorable 

to the prevailing party below. R.G. Moore Bldg. Corp. v. 

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

Factual findings made by the commission will be upheld on appeal 

if supported by credible evidence. See James v. Capitol Steel

Constr. Co., 8 Va. App. 512, 515, 382 S.E.2d 487, 488 (1989). 

 "Under the Act, an employee who is properly terminated from 

selective employment procured by the employer for cause 

consisting of willful misconduct forfeits his or her entitlement 

to future temporary partial disability benefits." Potomac 

Edison Company v. Cash, 18 Va. App. 629, 631, 446 S.E.2d 155, 

157 (1994). A claimant's return to total disability after a 

termination for cause does not bar an award of temporary total 

disability benefits, where the return to total disability was 

unrelated to the misconduct. Id. at 633-34, 446 S.E.2d at 157. 

 In denying benefits to claimant and in ruling that employer 

proved it terminated claimant for just cause, the commission 

found as follows: 

 As a result of the June 18, 1999, 

altercation with a co-worker, the claimant 

was suspended from employment. The credible 

evidence demonstrates that he was 

subsequently terminated for cause as a 

result of striking a co-worker and because 

of his falsification of incentive records. 

Accordingly, the claimant is not entitled to 

any additional temporary partial disability 

benefits beyond July 14, 1999, as the Deputy 

 

respect to that issue. See Buchanan v. Buchanan, 14 Va. App. 

53, 56, 415 S.E.2d 237, 239 (1992). 
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Commissioner properly found that he was 

terminated for just cause. As stipulated by 

the parties, he had returned to his 

pre-injury work effective May 24, 1999. 

Accordingly, the claimant is not entitled to 

any compensation benefits for the period of 

June 18 through July 13, 1999, as any wage 

loss during this period was attributable to 

his misconduct and not the occupational 

injury. 

 The hearing testimony of Lisa Green, employer's facility 

health and safety supervisor, and William James Goranson, 

employer's human resource manager, and the deposition testimony 

of Frank Sanford, employer's production manager, provide ample 

credible evidence to support the commission's findings that 

claimant struck a co-worker and falsified incentive reports. 

Their testimony supports the commission's conclusions that 

claimant missed time from work between June 18, 1999 and his 

termination on July 14, 1999 due to his suspension pending an 

investigation of his misconduct and that employer terminated 

claimant on July 14, 1999 for just cause due to his willful 

misconduct. As fact finder, the commission was entitled to 

accept the testimony of employer's witnesses and to reject 

claimant's testimony to the contrary. It is well settled that 

credibility determinations are within the fact finder's 

exclusive purview. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Pierce, 5 Va. 

App. 374, 381, 363 S.E.2d 433, 437 (1987). "The fact that there 

is contrary evidence in the record is of no consequence if there 

is credible evidence to support the commission's decision." 
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Wagner Enters., Inc. v. Brooks, 12 Va. App. 890, 894, 407 S.E.2d 

32, 35 (1991). 

 For these reasons, we affirm the commission's decision. 

Affirmed.