Opinion ID: 1489922
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Governing Provisions of Missouri Workers' Compensation Act

Text: Section 287.020.2 was amended in 2005 to narrow the definition of accident: 2. The word accident as used in this chapter shall mean an unexpected traumatic event or unusual strain identifiable by time and place of occurrence and producing at the time objective symptoms of an injury caused by a specific event during a single work shift. An injury is not compensable because work was a triggering or precipitating factor. § 287.020.2. The definition of injury in section 287.020.3 also was amended to require that the accident be the prevailing factor, rather than merely a substantial factor, in causing the resulting medical condition and disability: 3. (1) In this chapter the term injury is hereby defined to be an injury which has arisen out of and in the course of employment. An injury by accident is compensable only if the accident was the prevailing factor in causing both the resulting medical condition and disability. The prevailing factor is defined to be the primary factor, in relation to any other factor, causing both the resulting medical condition and disability. § 287.020.3(1). Section 287.020.3(2) also was revised to narrow the scope of those injuries that will be deemed to arise out of and in the course of employment: (2) An injury shall be deemed to arise out of and in the course of the employment only if: (a) It is reasonably apparent, upon consideration of all the circumstances, that the accident is the prevailing factor in causing the injury; and (b) It does not come from a hazard or risk unrelated to the employment to which workers would have been equally exposed outside of and unrelated to the employment in normal nonemployment life. § 287.020.3(2). Prior to the 2005 amendments, the act's provisions were required to be construed liberally in favor of compensation. § 287.800, RSMo 2000. In 2005, the act was revised to provide that its provisions are to be construed strictly and to require the evidence to be weighed impartially without giving any party the benefit of the doubt. § 287.800.