Hannon's Injury To The Cite Combs Case

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Hannon’s injury was an accident because she did not expect to be stabbed at work.

Hannon’s accident was an accident because the event caused structural and mechanical changes to her body. In Virginia, a workplace accident occurs when: (1) an injury occurs by a sudden precipitating event, resulting in mechanical or structural changes to the human body; and (2) the event was unusual or unexpected. Cite Combs case at 508 and Hadden case at 399.
In Combs, an employee aggravated a pre-existing cerebral aneurism during an employer-sponsored lunch hour aerobics class, during which she developed a headache. Combs at 506. She was taken to the company’s “quiet room” where she was supposed to be looked after by company personnel, but was not. Combs at 506. The Virginia Supreme Court held in that case that the failure of company personnel to adequately look after her was a sudden precipitating event, and that the resulting …show more content…

The stabbing resulted in severe mechanical and structural changes to her body that caused her to lose excessive amounts of blood, culminating in death. This is similar to Combs in that the injury was incidental to an event that occurred in the workplace, and from that incidental event, mechanical and structural changes to the body resulted. Combs at 508-509. Hannon’s injury also fits the second definition offered by the Virginia Supreme Court in Haddon that the injury be unusual and unexpected. Haddon at 399. Much as Haddon would not have expected to be harassed or discriminated at work, Hannon likely did not expect to be stabbed at her workplace. Haddon at 399. While we cannot know for sure that Hannon did not expect to be stabbed at work that day, it seems to be a reasonable deduction given that she voluntarily was watering the flowers and did not know the assailant. Accordingly, Hannon’s injury constitutes an accident under the Workers’ Compensation

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