Chambers v. Monroe County Board of Commissioners

762 S.E.2d 133, 328 Ga. App. 403
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJuly 31, 2014
DocketA14A0265
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 762 S.E.2d 133 (Chambers v. Monroe County Board of Commissioners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chambers v. Monroe County Board of Commissioners, 762 S.E.2d 133, 328 Ga. App. 403 (Ga. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinions

Boggs, Judge.

We granted claimant Pamela Chambers’ discretionary application in this workers’ compensation case because it appeared that additional precedent in this area would benefit the bench and bar, and for a review of the entire record to ensure that the facts supported the Board’s findings. After considering the record, including the claimant’s testimony, and given the deferential standard of review, the Board’s finding that Chambers’ injury was not compensable because it was “idiopathic” — that is, not “arising out of” her [404]*404employment — was supported by some evidence and therefore must be affirmed.

When reviewing awards in workers’ compensation cases, both the appellate court and the superior court must construe the evidence in the light most favorable to the party prevailing before the appellate division of the State Board of Workers’ Compensation. It is axiomatic that the findings of the State Board of Workers’ Compensation, when supported by any evidence, are conclusive and binding.

(Citation, punctuation and footnote omitted.) Med. Office Mgmt. v. Hardee, 303 Ga. App. 60, 61 (693 SE2d 103) (2010). So viewed, the evidence shows that on January 27, 2012, Pamela Chambers was employed as an firefighter/EMT for Monroe County. After returning from a call to the fire station, she sat down at a desk to complete some paperwork and then remained at the desk watching television. Her supervisor asked her to get up from the desk so that he could use it. When she rose from her chair, Chambers felt and heard a “pop” in her left knee. She continued to work, but as the pain increased she went to the emergency room. She had knee surgery and will probably need a knee replacement.

The ALJ found the injury compensable on the basis that Chambers was required to be in the location where she was injured and was following her supervisor’s orders. The employer appealed, and the Appellate Division vacated the ALJ’s award. It found “no evidence that the Employee slipped, tripped, or fell or came in contact with any object or hazard that increased her risk of injury,” but that she simply rose from a seated position. The Appellate Division therefore concluded that Chambers had failed to show a causal connection between her employment and her injury or that her injury arose out of her employment. The superior court affirmed, noting the deference it was required to give the findings of the Appellate Division, and finding that some evidence in the record supported the award. From this judgment, Chambers appeals.

The legal standard governing whether an injury “arises out of” employment is well established. In Chaparral Boats v. Heath, 269 Ga. App. 339 (606 SE2d 567) (2004), a 12-judge whole court decision,1 we held:

Where the injury would have occurred regardless of where the employee was required to be located, and results from a [405]*405risk to which the employee would have been equally exposed apart from any condition of the employment, there is no basis for finding a causal connection between the employment and the injury, and no basis for compensation under the positional risk doctrine. The general rule still applies that the injury does not arise out of the employment where the causative danger is not “peculiar to the work” in a way that causally connects the employment to the injury.

(Citations omitted.) Id. at 343. In Chaparral Boats, Heath was walking “at a quicker than normal pace” across her employer’s parking lot in order to get to work on time when she “felt popping and pain in her left knee.” Id. at 339.

[T]he ALJ found upon review of the evidence that Heath’s knee injury was not the result of a slip, trip, fall, or contact with any object, and that there was no evidence Heath claimed any particular cause. The evidence showed that, when the knee injury occurred, Heath was simply walking at a pace of her own choosing.

Id. at 344 (1). Accordingly, we reversed the superior court’s order concluding that the Board erred in denying benefits because the injury did not arise out of Heath’s employment. Id. at 348.

Similarly, in St. Joseph’s Hosp. v. Ward, 300 Ga. App. 845 (686 SE2d 443) (2009), a nurse injured her knee when she turned to get a cup of water for a patient. Id. at 846. The Appellate Division found that “the employee was not exposed to any risk unique to her employment by standing and turning, and that, in turning, she did not come into contact with any object or hazard of employment.” Id. at 847. Once again, we reversed the superior court for substituting its judgment for that of the Board. Id. at 848 (1).

At the hearing, Chambers testified that she did not get up from her chair in an unusual manner. She offered no testimony to establish any causal connection between her employment and her injury: for example, that the chair or desk configuration caused her to lose her balance or strain to reach a standing position, that a work-related emergency such as a fire alarm caused her to jump out of the chair in a hurried manner, or that she came in contact with any object or hazard such as the desk, stairs, or a piece of equipment.

Chambers relies almost exclusively upon Harris v. Peach County Bd. of Commrs., 296 Ga. App. 225 (674 SE2d 36) (2009), arguing that we should apply across the board that case’s affirmance of the Appellate Division’s finding that the employee’s activity arose out of [406]*406employment. In Harris, the claimant, a custodian, dropped a pill on the floor. She injured her knee when she bent over to pick it up after her supervisor pointed it out to her. Id. at 226. The Board concluded that picking up obj ects from the floor was part of the claimant’s duties as a custodian, but the superior court reversed, concluding that her injury arose solely from her obesity, which placed unusual strain on her knee. Id. at 226-227. We reversed the superior court’s judgment, observing:

[T]he operative question is whether the claimant performed the activity in furtherance of her job duties, and this is a question of fact that is committed to the factfinder at the administrative level. In Chaparral Boats, the factfinder found that under the circumstances walking did not constitute an employment function, and we deferred to that finding. In this case, the factfinder found that under the circumstances bending over to pick up an object, even though it was the claimant’s personal medication, did constitute an employment function, and, again, we defer to that finding because the fact-finding body must in each case remain the final arbiter of the compensability of the injury and of whether the claimant’s disability arose out of the employment as well as in the course of it.

(Citations, punctuation and footnotes omitted; emphasis supplied.) Id. at 228-229.2

While the dissent asserts that we nevertheless may review de novo the findings of the Board in the case before us, the cases cited do not support the assertion that the Board’s determination of whether an injury “arises out of” employment is subject to de novo review. In Renu Thrift Store v. Figueroa, 286 Ga. App. 455 (649 SE2d 528) (2007), the compensability of an injury was not at issue.

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Bluebook (online)
762 S.E.2d 133, 328 Ga. App. 403, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chambers-v-monroe-county-board-of-commissioners-gactapp-2014.