COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Judges Elder, Bray and Fitzpatrick 

Argued at Richmond, Virginia 

VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY 

 MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY 

v. Record No. 1746-95-2 JUDGE LARRY G. ELDER 

 APRIL 2, 1996 

ALMEANER GILLIAM 

 FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION 

 A. Ann Berkebile, Assistant Attorney General 

(James S. Gilmore, III, Attorney General; 

Catherine C. Hammond, Deputy Attorney 

General; Gregory E. Lucyk, Senior Assistant 

Attorney General, on brief), for appellant. 

 (John H. Maclin, IV, on brief), for appellee. 

 Virginia State University (employer) appeals the Workers' 

Compensation Commission's (commission) award of benefits to 

Almeaner Gilliam (claimant). Employer asserts that the 

commission erred in finding that claimant sustained a compensable 

injury by accident "arising out of" her employment. Agreeing 

with employer, we reverse the commission's decision. 

 The record reveals that on October 4, 1993, following a 

meeting at which employer told claimant that she would be 

transferred to another department, claimant became very upset and 

began to cry. After attempting to compose herself in the rest 

room, claimant approached a flight of stairs, intending to 

 

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

designated for publication. 
 -2- 

descend to the ground floor of the building to meet with her 

supervisor. When claimant reached the top of the stairs, she 

began to feel "kind of funny," became "dizzy," lost 

consciousness, and fell down the flight of stairs, which 

contained seventeen to twenty steps. 

 Claimant received immediate medical care, followed by 

ongoing treatment from various physicians. Dr. David A. Layman 

opined that claimant suffered a syncopal spell, which caused her 

to fall down the steps. Dr. Layman diagnosed claimant as 

suffering from a concussion and contusion of the head, neck, 

thoracic and lumbar sprains, as well as accelerated hypertension. 

 At the deputy commissioner's hearing on January 17, 1995, 

claimant conceded that nothing was structurally wrong with the 

stairs and that no foreign objects on the stairs caused her fall. 

 Claimant also conceded that she suffered previous black out 

episodes in the past. Medical records indicated that claimant 

had a long-standing history of dizziness, black outs, 

hyperventilation, anxiety attacks, and hypertension. Evidence 

also showed claimant suffered from high blood pressure and 

anemia. 

 The deputy commissioner found that claimant's fall 

constituted a compensable injury by accident. The full 

commission affirmed and modified the deputy commissioner's 

decision, awarding temporary total disability benefits from 

October 4, 1993 to November 29, 1993, along with medical care 
 -3- 

costs. Employer appeals to this Court. 

 "A claimant has the burden of proving by a preponderance of 

the evidence, and not by mere conjecture or speculation, than an 

injury was the result of an accident which arose out of and in 

the course of the employment." Winegar v. International 

Telephone & Telegraph, 1 Va. App. 260, 261, 337 S.E.2d 760, 760 

(1985). Furthermore, "the causative danger must be peculiar to 

the work and not common to the neighborhood. It must be 

incidental to the character of the business and not independent 

of the relation of master and servant." Richmond Memorial Hosp. 

v. Crane, 222 Va. 283, 285, 278 S.E.2d 877, 879 (1981). 

 Upon reviewing the record, we hold that claimant did not 

sustain a compensable injury by accident arising out of her 

employment. Claimant's fall resulted from an idiopathic 

condition. "When an employee's injuries result from an 

idiopathic condition and no other factors intervene or operate to 

cause or contribute to the injuries sustained as a result of the 

idiopathic condition, no award shall be made." Virginia Dept. of 

Transp. v. Mosebrook, 13 Va. App. 536, 538, 413 S.E.2d 350, 

351-52 (1992). In other words, "'the effects of [an idiopathic] 

fall are compensable if the employment places the employee in a 

position increasing the dangerous effects of such a fall, such as 

on a height, near machinery or sharp corners, or in a moving 

vehicle.'" Southland Corp. v. Parson, 1 Va. App. 281, 284-85, 

338 S.E.2d 162, 164 (1985)(citation omitted). There is no 
 -4- 

evidence that claimant's duties for her employer required use of 

stairs. 

 For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the commission's 

decision. 

Reversed.