## Facts

- Bobchak fractured his left knee (an osteochondral fracture) on August 10, 1987, while working as a laborer for W. H. Gross Construction Company (Gross).
- Bobchak underwent arthroscopic surgery and received disability benefits from Gross until October 12, 1987.
- On October 12, 1987, Bobchak began working for Lockheed Missiles & Space Company (Lockheed).
- On February 25, 1988, after climbing and descending a ladder at Lockheed, Bobchak felt tiredness and weakness in his knee; later that day the knee became painful and swollen.
- Bobchak’s condition worsened and required additional surgery, and he sought workers’ compensation benefits for the renewed disability.
- Before the administrative-law judge (ALJ), Bobchak acknowledged he still had occasional knee pain before the ladder episode.
- A physician testified that people with fractures like Bobchak’s may need periodic surgical treatment.
- The ALJ received no evidence that Bobchak was heavily exerting himself when using the ladder, nor evidence that he twisted his knee or suffered other trauma at Lockheed.
- The ALJ found Bobchak’s Lockheed duties were not more strenuous than his earlier duties at Gross and found no incident at Lockheed that aggravated the prior knee injury.
- The ALJ concluded Bobchak experienced a “change in condition” for which Gross (the first employer) remained responsible; the State Board of Workers’ Compensation affirmed.
- The superior court reversed, ruling the disability resulted from a new accident and placing responsibility on Lockheed.
- Lockheed appealed to the Georgia Court of Appeals.

## Issues

1. Whether Bobchak’s renewed knee disability while employed by Lockheed had to be treated as a “new accident” attributable to Lockheed, or could be treated as a “change in condition” attributable to the prior compensable injury at Gross.
2. Whether the superior court erred by reversing the Board when there was evidence supporting the Board’s factual findings on causation and work-related aggravation.

## Decision

- The Georgia Court of Appeals reversed the superior court.
- The court held the Board’s finding—that Bobchak suffered a change in condition rather than a new accident—was supported by evidence and could not be disturbed on review.
- The result left responsibility for compensation with Gross (the first employer/insurer), not Lockheed.

## Legal Principles

- In Georgia workers’ compensation cases, the State Board is the factfinder; if any evidence supports the Board’s findings, reviewing courts may not reweigh the evidence or substitute their own factual determinations.
- A later period of disability after a prior compensable injury may be classified as either a “change in condition” (continuation or worsening of the original injury) or a “new accident” (a distinct work-related event or legally significant aggravation).
- A change in employer and work setting can be a relevant circumstance in deciding whether a later disability is a new accident, but it does not automatically shift liability to the later employer; the question remains whether there was an actual new accident or work-related aggravation at the later job.
- Where the evidence permits findings that the later work was not more strenuous than the earlier work and that no specific traumatic incident occurred, the Board may treat the later disability as a change in condition tied to the original injury.

## Conclusion

In *Lockheed Missiles & Space Co. v. Bobchak*, the Georgia Court of Appeals reversed a superior court order that had shifted workers’ compensation liability to Lockheed based on a ladder episode that preceded renewed knee symptoms. Because the ALJ and Board found (with evidentiary support) that Bobchak’s duties at Lockheed were not more strenuous than his prior heavy labor and that no incident at Lockheed aggravated the earlier fracture, the Board could classify the later disability as a change in condition from the original injury, leaving liability with the first employer, Gross.


Lockheed Missiles & Space Co. v. Bobchak, 390 S.E.2d 82 (1990)