Virginia: Sudden Gust of Wind Was Act of God, No Work-Related Injury

A Virginia appellate court affirmed a determination by the state's Workers' Compensation Commission denying workers' compensation benefits to a public school security officer who sustained injuries in a fall on school property during a windy day in March 2018. The court continued to follow Virginia's "actual risk test," noting that the sudden gust of wind that the officer claimed caused a metal gate to close quickly behind her, causing her to fall, was not connected to the employment. It was, rather, an act of God and her injuries did not arise out of a risk that she faced as a security officer.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Martin v. Virginia Beach Pub. Sch., 2020 Va. App. LEXIS 88 (Mar. 31, 2020)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 3.04.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see

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