COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Judges Koontz,* Elder and Fitzpatrick 

Argued at Salem, Virginia 

FOOD LION, INC. 

v. Record No. 1957-94-3 MEMORANDUM OPINION** BY 

 JUDGE JOHANNA L. FITZPATRICK 

KENNETH J. GARDNER SEPTEMBER 12, 1995 

 

 FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION 

 William F. Karn (Richard A. Hobson; Williams & Pierce, on 

brief), for appellant. 

 A. Thomas Lane, Jr., for appellee. 

 

 *Justice Koontz participated in the hearing and decision of 

this case prior to his investiture as a Justice of the Supreme 

Court of Virginia. 

 **Pursuant to Code § 17.116.010 this opinion is not 

designated for publication. 

 The Workers' Compensation Commission awarded Kenneth J. 

Gardner (claimant) benefits based upon a determination that he 

had an occupational disease, carpal tunnel syndrome. The sole 

issue on appeal is whether claimant's condition is a compensable 

occupational disease or a noncompensable cumulative trauma injury 

resulting from repetitive motion. Finding no error, we affirm 

the commission. 

 The facts in this case are not in dispute. On April 2, 

1990, claimant began working for employer as a stocker. His job 

duties included stocking the store's shelves with merchandise. 

In August 1993, claimant experienced some numbness and pain in 

his hands. 

 On November 4, 1993, claimant sought treatment from Dr. Ken 
 2 

L. Moles, who noted that claimant's "Tinel's and Phalan's sign[s] 

are positive" and told claimant that his condition was bilateral 

carpal tunnel syndrome caused by his employment. Dr. Moles 

referred claimant to Dr. Jean M. Marine, who performed release 

surgeries on claimant's hands in December 1993. In an April 4, 

1994 letter, Dr. Moles stated that "[c]arpal tunnel syndrome is 

considered to be an industrial illness. It can be brought about 

by a repetitive motion and strain across the wrist joint." Dr. 

Marine in an April 6, 1994 letter also noted that "[c]arpal 

tunnel syndrome can be related to occupations requiring 

repet[i]tive heavy lifting or repet[i]tive stressful maneuvers to 

the hands/wrists." 

 The full commission found that claimant's carpal tunnel 

syndrome was an occupational disease and not a cumulative trauma 

injury resulting from repetitive motion: "Dr. Moles wrote in a 

letter of April 4, 199[4], that carpal tunnel syndrome is an 

'industrial illness.' We find that the term 'illness' is 

synonymous with the word 'disease.' Therefore, the claimant has 

sustained a disease." 

 In Merillat Indus., Inc. v. Parks, 246 Va. 429, 436 S.E.2d 

600 (1993), the Supreme Court of Virginia held that the Workers' 

Compensation Act "requires that the condition for which 

compensation is sought as an occupational disease must first 

qualify as a disease." Id. at 432, 436 S.E.2d at 601. In 

Merillat, the claimant suffered a rotator cuff tear, and "all the 
 3 

testifying physicians except one described the rotator cuff tear 

as an injury," not as a disease. Id. at 433, 436 S.E.2d at 602. 

 "Upon appellate review, the findings of fact made by the 

Workers' Compensation Commission will be upheld when supported by 

credible evidence." Commonwealth, Dep't of State Police v. Haga, 

18 Va. App. 162, 166, 442 S.E.2d 424, 426 (1994). In the instant 

case, sufficient credible evidence supports the commission's 

finding that claimant's condition was a compensable occupational 

disease. Dr. Moles described claimant's carpal tunnel syndrome 

as an "industrial illness," and neither Dr. Moles nor Dr. Marine 

characterized his condition as an injury. Merillat does not 

preclude compensation for an illness or disease resulting from 

repetitive motion in employment, but merely disallows 

compensation when the repetitive motion or cumulative trauma 

results in an injury. Thus, the mere fact that claimant's 

condition resulted from repetitive motion in his employment is 

not dispositive. Indeed, claimant's situation is similar to that 

in Piedmont Mfg. Co. v. East, 17 Va. App. 499, 438 S.E.2d 769 

(1993), in which this Court approved the award of benefits to a 

claimant who suffered from de Quervain's disease. 

 Accordingly, the commission's decision is affirmed. 

 Affirmed. 
 4 

Koontz, J., dissenting. 

 For the reasons more fully stated in my dissent in Perdue 

Farms, Inc. v. McCutchan, ___ Va. App. ___, ___, ___ S.E.2d ___, 

___ (1995) (Koontz, J., dissenting), I respectfully dissent.