Opinion
Record No. 0970-94-4
Decided: September 27, 1994
FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION
Affirmed.
(Robert B. Adams; Ashcraft Gerel, on brief), for appellant. Appellant submitting on brief.
(Joseph F. Giordano; Semmes, Bowen Semmes, on brief), for appellee. Appellee submitting on brief.
Present: Judges Baker, Elder and Fitzpatrick
Pursuant to Code Sec. 17-116.010 this opinion is not designated for publication.
William Wesley Minick (Minick) appeals a decision of the Workers' Compensation Commission (commission) finding that he sustained a noncompensable injury due to repetitive trauma rather than a compensable occupational disease. Minick contends that the full commission should have remanded this case for the taking of additional evidence in light of the Supreme Court of Virginia's decision in Merrillat Industries, Inc. v. Parks, 246 Va. 429, 436 S.E.2d 600 (1993). Finding no error, we affirm.
In Virginia Supermarkets v. George, 18 Va. App. ___, 445 S.E.2d 156 (1994), the commission failed to make any specific finding concerning whether the claimant had sustained a disease or an injury. Therefore, we remanded George "for the commission to make a factual finding whether George's carpal tunnel syndrome is a disease." Id. at ___, 445 S.E.2d at 157. In this case, the full commission found, based upon credible medical evidence, that Minick's rotator cuff condition constituted an injury rather than a disease. Accordingly, in this case, unlike George, there was no basis for a remand. Thus, the commission did not err in failing to remand Minick's claim to the deputy commissioner.
Factual findings of the commission will be upheld on appeal if supported by credible evidence. James v. Capitol Steel Constr. Co., 8 Va. App. 512, 515, 382 S.E.2d 487, 488 (1989). The commission's finding that Minick sustained an injury rather than a disease is supported by credible medical evidence.
In early 1992, after working for twenty-two years as a shelf stocker for Safeway, Inc. (employer), Minick began to experience left shoulder pain. His job required constant lifting and reaching. Dr. Brent R. Ain, the treating orthopedic surgeon, and Dr. Neil A. Green, the independent orthopedic surgeon, opined that Minick's condition was an "injury" probably related to his work for employer. There is no mention of a disease or disease process in the medical records or in Dr. Ain's deposition. Thus, the issue being one of fact, we are bound by the commission's finding that Minick sustained an injury due to repetitive trauma which is not compensable in Virginia.
For the reasons stated, we affirm the commission's decision.
Affirmed.