COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA
Present: Judges Annunziata, Agee and Senior Judge Coleman
CLARA M. BALLARD
MEMORANDUM OPINION*
v. Record No. 2517-00-3 PER CURIAM
MARCH 6, 2001
HALLER CLOCK COMPANY OF AMERICA, INC.
AND PENNSYLVANIA MANUFACTURING ASSOCIATION
INSURANCE COMPANY
FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION
(Terry N. Grimes, on brief), for appellant.
(Susan Moloney Smith; Midkiff, Muncie & Ross,
P.C., on brief), for appellees.
Clara M. Ballard (claimant) contends that the Workers'
Compensation Commission erred in finding that she failed to
prove she sustained an injury by accident arising out of and in
the course of her employment on March 15, 1999. Upon reviewing
the record and the briefs of the parties, we conclude that this
appeal is without merit. Accordingly, we summarily affirm the
commission's decision. See Rule 5A:27.
In denying claimant's application, the commission relied
upon the deputy commissioner's credibility determination,
finding as follows:
* Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, this opinion is not
designated for publication.
The Deputy Commissioner found that the
claimant did not sustain her burden of
proof. His conclusion is based on a
comparison between the claimant's hearing
testimony and Dr. [John F.] Carmack's
medical records, which reflect that the
claimant had pain after lifting a bunch of
stuff and after performing repetitive motion
all day long. [The deputy commissioner]
ultimately determined that the claimant's
account at the hearing was not credible.
. . . We find that the record supports
the Deputy Commissioner's determination.
[Sandra] Hackney[, claimant's supervisor,]
credibly testified that the claimant did not
tell her that she hurt herself until several
weeks after March 15, 1999. The claimant
admitted that she did not tell Hackney
exactly how the accident occurred.
The claimant's testimony that she
refused the offer of medical assistance on
April 9, 1999, because her arm hurt too much
is implausible. Although she said that her
arm was "killing her," she waited over a
month to get treatment. The most
contemporaneous medical reports support a
finding that the claimant's injury was
caused by repetitive trauma, which is not
compensable.
In light of claimant's failure to report a specific
identifiable incident to her supervisor, the one-month gap
between the alleged incident and when claimant first sought
medical treatment, and the lack of any history of a specific
identifiable work-related incident in the contemporaneous
medical records, the commission, as fact finder was entitled to
find claimant's hearing testimony not credible and to conclude
that at most, she proved a non-compensable repetitive trauma
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injury. It is well settled that credibility determinations are
within the fact finder's exclusive purview. Goodyear Tire &
Rubber Co. v. Pierce, 5 Va. App. 374, 381, 363 S.E.2d 433, 437
(1987).
Based upon this record, we cannot find as a matter of law
that claimant's evidence sustained her burden of proof.
Accordingly, we affirm the commission's decision.
Affirmed.
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