COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Judges Benton, Coleman and Willis 

CURTIS S. SMITH 

v. Record No. 0864-97-2 MEMORANDUM OPINION*

 PER CURIAM 

CITY OF EMPORIA AND AUGUST 22, 1997 

 VIRGINIA MUNICIPAL GROUP 

 SELF-INSURANCE ASSOCIATION 

FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION 

 (Stephen D. Bloom; Townsend and Bloom Law 

Offices, on briefs), for appellant. 

 (P. Dawn Bishop; Sands, Anderson, Marks & 

Miller, on brief), for appellees. 

 Curtis S. Smith appeals from a decision of the Workers' 

Compensation Commission denying his application for an award of 

compensation benefits. Smith contends that the commission erred 

in finding that he failed to prove (1) that he sustained an 

injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his 

employment on December 21, 1994 and/or January 3, 1995; and (2) 

that his injuries and disability were causally related to a 

compensable injury by accident. Finding no error, we affirm the 

commission's decision. 

 "In order to carry [the] burden of proving an 'injury by 

accident,' a claimant must prove that the cause of [the] injury 

was an identifiable incident or sudden precipitating event and 

that it resulted in an obvious sudden mechanical or structural 

 

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

designated for publication. 
 2 

change in the body." Morris v. Morris, 238 Va. 578, 589, 385 

S.E.2d 858, 865 (1989). Unless we can say as a matter of law 

that Smith's evidence sustained his burden of proof, the 

commission's findings are binding and conclusive upon us. See

Tomko v. Michael's Plastering Co., 210 Va. 697, 699, 173 S.E.2d 

833, 835 (1970). Furthermore, on appeal, we view the evidence in 

the light most favorable to the prevailing party below. See R.G. 

Moore Bldg. Corp. v. Mullins, 10 Va. App. 211, 212, 390 S.E.2d 

788, 788 (1990). 

 At the hearing before the deputy commissioner, Smith 

testified that he experienced pain in his right arm and tingling 

in his fingers when he picked up a piece of concrete at work on 

December 21, 1994. Smith continued to work for the employer 

after this incident. Smith testified that on January 3, 1995, 

while working on a trash truck, he picked up a trash can and felt 

a sharp pain down the right side of his hand. 

 However, Smith gave a recorded statement on May 9, 1995 to 

Cat Cunningham, a claims adjuster. In that statement, Smith did 

not mention a December 21, 1994 incident nor did he mention 

lifting concrete as a cause of his injury. Rather, Smith stated 

that in January 1995, while lifting and dumping trash cans at 

work over the course of the entire day, his wrist began to hurt. 

 Smith could not pinpoint a specific incident that caused his 

pain. 

 The medical records reveal that Smith sought medical 
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treatment from Dr. John Holland, Jr. on January 3, 1995. Smith 

gave Dr. Holland a history of "exacerbation of pain of the right 

arm upon lifting garbage cans at work."1

 On April 4, 1995, Smith 

saw Dr. Douglas A. Wayne for an electrodiagnostic consultation. 

Dr. Wayne noted that Smith reported the puncture wound to his 

hand in July 1994. Dr. Wayne noted that Smith "has had some 

chronic problems with his hands ever since the . . . [July 1994] 

injury." Smith also treated with Dr. William Bowers, a hand 

surgeon. On April 26, 1995, Dr. Bowers noted that Smith may have 

sustained a new injury in January 1995 when "he was lifting some 

concrete . . . and throwing around garbage cans." Dr. Bowers 

diagnosed a triangular fibrocartilage tear ("TFC tear") in 

Smith's right wrist, for which Smith eventually underwent 

surgery. 

 The deputy commissioner found that Smith did not "suffer[] 

an injury by accident on January 3, 1995 while lifting a 

particular trash can. Instead, . . . [Smith] experienced pain in 

his wrist as a result of the course of work in which he was 

engaged on January 3, 1995." On review, the commission found 

that "the evidence presented fails to establish that [Smith] 

suffered an injury by accident on January 3, 1995, arising out of 

an identifiable incident or sudden precipitating event." 

 1It was undisputed that Smith suffered a prior injury to his 

right hand in July 1994 when a screwdriver punctured his hand. 

However, both Drs. Holland and Bowers opined that Smith's 

condition was unrelated to the puncture wound. 
 4 

 Based upon Smith's failure to report a history of a specific 

identifiable incident or sudden precipitating event occurring on 

either December 21, 1994 or January 3, 1995 in his recorded 

statement or to his physicians, the commission was entitled to 

reject his testimony to the contrary and to conclude that his 

injury was caused by lifting and twisting trash cans over the 

course of an entire day in January 1995. An injury that results 

from cumulative trauma caused by repetitive motion is not 

compensable, as a matter of law, under the Workers' Compensation 

Act. See The Steinrich Group v. Jemmott, 251 Va. 186, 199, 467 

S.E.2d 795, 802 (1996). Thus, based upon this record, we cannot 

say as a matter of law that Smith's evidence sustained his burden 

of proving a compensable injury by accident. Accordingly, we 

affirm the commission's decision. 

 Because our ruling on the injury by accident issue disposes 

of this appeal, we need not address the causation issue. 

 Affirmed.