COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Chief Judge Moon, Judges Coleman and Bray 

Argued at Norfolk, Virginia 

CITY OF PORTSMOUTH 

 MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY 

v. Record No. 0029-96-1 JUDGE SAM W. COLEMAN III 

 JULY 2, 1996 

GEORGE GRANT, SR. 

 FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION 

 

 Sheila C. Riddick, Assistant City Attorney 

(G. Timothy Oksman, City Attorney; City 

Attorney's Office, on brief), for appellant. 

 Alan P. Owens for appellee. 

 The City of Portsmouth appeals the commission's order 

awarding George Grant, Sr. (claimant) temporary total disability 

benefits for injuries resulting from a fall on stairs during the 

course of his employment. The City contends that the evidence 

does not show that the claimant's injury arose out of his 

employment. We hold that credible evidence supports the 

commission's decision and affirm the award of benefits. 

 The claimant was employed as a classification officer with 

the Portsmouth Sheriff's Department. On February 21, 1995, he 

began to descend a stairway at the Circuit Court building after 

delivering update sheets to inmates in the city jail. The 

claimant testified that he "stepped off on the first step going 

down and [his] foot slipped and he [fell] . . . to the first 

 

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

designated for publication. 
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landing." According to the claimant, "the stairs [were] slick 

. . . [r]ight on the edges," and that is what caused him to fall. 

 The claimant could not identify any foreign substance on the 

stairs, but speculated that "a wax build up probably" caused them 

to be slick. He denied that he fell because he was talking with 

a co-worker and was not paying attention. 

 William McGlaughon and Donna Barnes, who are employed by the 

city department that is responsible for the maintenance of the 

stairway, testified on the City's behalf. They both testified 

that the steps on which the claimant fell are never waxed. 

However, neither witness investigated the stairway on the date of 

the accident, and they could not testify as to whether it was 

slick on that date. 

 The commission held that claimant's injury arose out of his 

employment in that it was caused by a condition of the workplace. 

Relying on this Court's unpublished decision in Fairfax Hosp. & 

Inova Health Sys. Found., Inc. v. Mitchell, Rec. No. 1729-94-4 

(Mar. 7, 1995), the commission held that the claimant's testimony 

that his fall was caused by something slick on the stairway was 

"uncontradicted" and that he was not required to identify the 

exact substance that caused him to fall. 

 In determining whether injuries resulting from a fall on 

stairs arose out of employment, the "inquiry must be whether 

credible evidence supports a finding that a defect in the stairs 

or a condition of [the claimant's] employment caused" the fall. 
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Southside Virginia Training Ctr. v. Shell, 20 Va. App. 199, 203, 

455 S.E.2d 761, 763 (1995). 

 Here, the claimant testified that the stairs were "slick" 

and it was that condition of the stairs which caused him to fall. 

Cf. County of Chesterfield v. Johnson, 237 Va. 180, 182, 376 

S.E.2d 73, 74 (1989) (finding that the claimant fell because his 

"knee gave way" and not because the stairs were defective); 

Shell, 20 Va. App. at 203, 455 S.E.2d at 763 (finding that the 

claimant's admissions "established that her fall was due solely 

to her own negligence"). Although William McGlaughon and Donna 

Barnes testified that the stairs were never waxed, neither could 

testify as to the condition of the stairs on the day of the fall. 

 Therefore, the claimant's testimony that the stairs were slick 

constituted credible evidence in support of a finding that his 

fall was caused by a condition of the stairs. We affirm the 

commission's award. 

Affirmed.