## Facts

- Hammie L. Saunders worked for The Lane Company as a band-saw operator and generally used his upper body for his usual duties.
- On June 7, 1983, because there was no band-saw work, Saunders was assigned to operate a tennon machine, removing table tops and stacking them on a nearby truck.
- The tennon-machine work was repetitive and involved bending and twisting at the waist throughout the day.
- Saunders experienced back pain at an undetermined time during the morning; he identified no specific mishap, unusual occurrence, or particular moment when he was hurt.
- After work, his back hurt while getting into his car; he attributed the pain to the heavy work.
- On June 8, Saunders reported severe back pain to his supervisor; the company nurse recorded lower back pain “since yesterday,” radiating down his left leg, and noted that Saunders denied any injury on the job.
- Saunders told a foreman he did not know how he injured his back and could not pinpoint an event.
- Medical treatment progressed from sciatic pain management to a neurosurgical diagnosis of a herniated intervertebral disc, which was surgically removed; the medical history described increasing discomfort during the workday and severe pain the next morning.
- A deputy commissioner and the full Industrial Commission awarded workers’ compensation benefits, finding a compensable industrial accident; the employer and carrier appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether a herniated disc developing during and after a day of repetitive bending and twisting, without an identifiable mishap at a reasonably definite time, is a compensable “injury by accident” under former Va. Code § 65.1-7.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Virginia reversed the Industrial Commission and vacated the award.
- The Court held Saunders failed to prove an “injury by accident” because he did not identify a specific incident occurring at a reasonably definite time.
- The Court concluded the evidence showed gradual onset of symptoms from repetitive work rather than an accident within the statute.

## Legal Principles

- An “injury by accident” requires an identifiable incident occurring at a reasonably definite time that causes an obvious sudden mechanical or structural change in the body.
- Injury arising from cumulative or repetitive trauma with gradual onset, without a discrete, time-definite event, does not meet the statutory “accident” requirement.
- The claimant bears the burden to prove both an identifiable workplace incident and a causal connection between that incident and the resulting injury; lack of prior symptoms does not relieve the claimant of proving an accident.

## Conclusion

Because Saunders could not point to a time-definite workplace incident and his condition appeared to develop gradually from repetitive activity, the court held the statutory requirement of an “injury by accident” was not met and denied workers’ compensation benefits.


Lane Co. v. Saunders, 326 S.E.2d 702 (Va. 1985)