Opinion ID: 2013537
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether the Cumulative Injury Found to Exist Arose Out of Claimant's Employment.

Text: The first argument advanced by the employer is a claim that the evidence does not show that the cumulative injury found to have occurred subsequent to September 3, 1993, arose out of claimant's employment. The employer urges that, as this court recognized in Miedema v. Dial Corp., 551 N.W.2d 309 (Iowa 1996), to arise out of one's employment, the injury must not have coincidentally occurred while at work, but must in some way be caused by or related to the working environment or the conditions of ... employment. Miedema, 551 N.W.2d at 311. It is evident from the medical reports that were tendered in evidence that Dr. Coates, whose evaluations form the basis for the agency's finding of disability, had been made aware of the tasks that claimant performed on a routine basis. It is also clear that his determination was based on cumulative trauma sustained from the claimant's day-to-day work activities. We are satisfied that the additional disability resulting from these work activities was properly found by the commissioner to be a cumulative injury arising out of claimant's employment. Contrary to the employer's contention, there is no general principle in workers' compensation law that requires, as a condition of compensability, that workplace activities must involve more hazard or exertion than a claimant's activities outside of the workplace. That requirement is only true in selected instances, such as claims for heart attacks or mental illness. See Dunlavey v. Econ. Fire & Cas. Co., 526 N.W.2d 845, 858 (Iowa 1995) (mental injury); Sondag v. Ferris Hardware, 220 N.W.2d 903, 905 (Iowa 1974) (heart attack).