Opinion
49224 Record No. 930465
February 25, 1994
Present: All the Justices
Workers' Compensation — Employee Defined — Burden of Proof
The Court of Appeals correctly ruled that the Workers' Compensation Commission did not err in ruling that the claimant was an employee of the defendant and that the defendant had failed to carry his burden of producing evidence upon which the Commission could find that the employer employed less than three employees regularly in service in Virginia and that decision is affirmed for the reasons stated by the Court of Appeals.
Appeal from a decision of the Court of Appeals of Virginia.
Affirmed.
Benjamin J. Trichilo (Dawn E. Boyce; Lewis, Trichilo, Bancroft, McGavin Horvath, on briefs) for appellant.
Howard B. Ackerman, for appellee.
In this case, we granted the petition for appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeals holding that the Workers' Compensation Commission did not err in ruling (1) that the claimant was an employee of the defendant and not an independent contractor, (2) that "once an employee proves that his or her injury occurred while employed in Virginia, an employer has the burden of producing sufficient evidence upon which the commission can find that the employer employed less than three employees regularly in service in Virginia," and (3) that the employer failed to carry this burden. Craddock Moving Storage Company v. Settles, 16 Va. App. 1, 427 S.E.2d 428 (1993).
We have considered the questions, and for the reasons stated in the opinion of the Court of Appeals, we will affirm the judgment below.
Affirmed.