Pro-Football, Inc. v. Uhlenhake

PRESENT: All the Justices

PRO-FOOTBALL, INC., T/A
WASHINGTON REDSKINS AND
GULF INSURANCE COMPANY

v. Record No. 020343 PER CURIAM
January 10, 2003
JEFFREY A. UHLENHAKE

FROM THE COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

In this appeal, the Court reviews a judgment of the Court

of Appeals of Virginia which affirmed an award of the Virginia

Workers’ Compensation Commission. Pro-Football, Inc. v.

Uhlenhake, 37 Va. App. 407, 558 S.E.2d 571 (2002). While

several issues were before the Court of Appeals, the only

assignment of error before us is as follows: “The Court of

Appeals departed from precedent and expanded the standard for

compensability under the Workers’ Compensation Act by deleting

the requirement that an accidental injury must be unusual and

unexpected.”

The Court of Appeals held that “[t]he commission correctly

ruled that professional football players are not exempt from the

coverage of the [Workers’ Compensation] Act when they suffer

injuries in the game they are employed to perform.” Id. at 417,

558 S.E.2d at 576.
 For the reasons set forth in the opinion of the Court of

Appeals, we will affirm that court’s judgment insofar as it

pertains to the assignment of error before this Court.

Affirmed.

2