COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Judges Willis, Frank and Clements 

 

GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY AND 

 TRAVELERS INDEMNITY COMPANY OF ILLINOIS 

 MEMORANDUM OPINION*

v. Record No. 1753-00-3 PER CURIAM 

 NOVEMBER 28, 2000 

KATHRYN HINTON BOWE 

 FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION 

 (James A. L. Daniel; Martha White Medley; 

Daniel, Vaughan, Medley & Smitherman, P.C., 

on brief), for appellants. 

 (Stephen G. Bass; Carter, Craig, Bass, 

Blair & Kushner, P.C., on brief), for 

appellee. 

 

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

designated for publication. 

 Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and its insurer (hereinafter 

referred to as "employer") contend that the Workers' 

Compensation Commission erred in finding that Kathryn Hinton 

Bowe (claimant) proved that she sustained a compensable injury 

by accident to her left knee on April 2, 1999. Specifically, 

employer argues that claimant failed to prove that her left knee 

injury and disability were causally related to the April 2, 1999 

accident. Upon reviewing the record and the briefs of the 

parties, we conclude that this appeal is without merit. 
Accordingly, we summarily affirm the commission’s decision. See

Rule 5A:27. 

 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). "The 

actual determination of causation is a factual finding that will 

not be disturbed on appeal if there is credible evidence to 

support the finding." Ingersoll Rand Co. v. Musick, 7 Va. App. 

684, 688, 376 S.E.2d 814, 817 (1989). "In determining whether 

credible evidence exists, the appellate court does not retry the 

facts, reweigh the preponderance of the evidence, or make its 

own determination of the credibility of the witnesses." Wagner 

Enters., Inc. v. Brooks, 12 Va. App. 890, 894, 407 S.E.2d 32, 35 

(1991). 

 In holding that claimant established a compensable injury 

by accident to her left knee on April 2, 1999, the commission 

found as follows: 

[C]laimant's hearing testimony concerning 

the accident on April 2, 1999, is supported 

by the employer's clinic notes, as well as 

the subsequent medical reports. Dr. [Mark 

G.] Nevin and Dr. [Robert] Cassidy have 

related the claimant's left knee injury to 

the April 2, 1999, accident. We note that 

even if the claimant experienced problems 

with her left knee in December 1998, she had 

no additional difficulties and received no 

treatment until after the April 2, 1999, 

accident. While the surgery the claimant 

subsequently underwent for her left knee may 

have been similar to that on her right knee, 

this does not negate that, at most, in 

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December 1998 the claimant's x-ray of her 

left knee showed osteoarthritic changes. 

There was no evidence at that time of a torn 

lateral meniscus for which Dr. Cassidy 

operated on claimant after the April 2, 

1999, accident. While we have considered 

the report of Dr. [K. Thomas] Wagoner[, 

Jr.], we find that the medical reports of 

Dr. Nevin and Dr. Cassidy relating 

claimant's problem to the April 2, 1999, 

accident, are more persuasive. Dr. Wagoner 

never examined the claimant. He merely 

reviewed the medical reports supplied by the 

employer. His report does not consider that 

the December entry from the employer and 

Piedmont Prime Care may have incorrectly 

noted the left knee as opposed to the right 

knee. In addition, his report does not 

adequately take into consideration the onset 

of symptoms and findings by the physicians 

who treated the claimant in January 1999 and 

subsequently for her April 1999 accident. 

 In its role as fact finder, the commission was entitled to 

accept the opinions of Drs. Nevin and Cassidy, and to reject Dr. 

Wagoner's contrary opinion. "Questions raised by conflicting 

medical opinions must be decided by the commission." Penley v. 

Island Creek Coal Co., 8 Va. App. 310, 318, 381 S.E.2d 231, 236 

(1989). The opinions of Drs. Nevin and Cassidy, coupled with 

claimant's testimony, constitute credible evidence to support 

the commission's findings. "The fact that there is contrary 

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

evidence to support the commission's finding." Wagner, 12 Va. 

App. at 894, 407 S.E.2d at 35. 

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

 Affirmed. 

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