Woodrow W. Nelson v. Town of Christiansburg and Starnet Insurance Company, 0313173

Claimant (utility supervisor) routinely marked underground utility meters by reaching into ~2-foot-deep meter boxes to clip/unclip transmitters and then standing and marking lines.
On June 24, 2015, after unclipping a transmitter while kneeling/squatting, claimant rose, twisted to his right, felt a “pop” in his back and fell; he was holding several light tools (≈11 lbs total).
Claimant testified the position and ground were not awkward or unusually strenuous and that no environmental factor contributed; he had performed this work hundreds/thousands of times.
Deputy commissioner and full Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission denied benefits, finding no work-related risk or hazard caused the injury; one commissioner dissented.
Claimant appealed, arguing the manner of performing the work (kneeling/squatting and rising/turning) created an employment-specific risk akin to prior compensable cases.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether claimant's back injury "arose out of" employment under the actual-risk test	The required body positions/movements (kneeling/squatting and rising/turning while holding tools) posed a work-specific hazard not common to the public	The incident was a routine, non-peculiar act (rising/turning) with no contributing environmental factor; thus not an employment risk	Commission's finding affirmed: injury did not arise out of employment under the actual-risk test
Whether the workplace contained a hazard "peculiar to the work" (causal link)	Claimant relied on repetition and job-required posture to show a causal link	Employer argued no unusual, awkward, repetitive, or hazardous condition like in precedents	Court held no peculiar hazard was shown—facts distinguishable from precedent

Southside Va. Training Ctr. v. Ellis, 33 Va. App. 824, 537 S.E.2d 35 (2000) (establishes that simple acts of bending/turning without other contributing factors are not compensable under the actual-risk test)
Grove v. Allied Signal, Inc., 15 Va. App. 17, 421 S.E.2d 32 (1992) (work in a crouched position several feet off the ground created a workplace hazard peculiar to the job)
Bassett-Walker, Inc. v. Wyatt, 26 Va. App. 87, 493 S.E.2d 384 (1997) (repetitive deep-knee bends created the critical link between employment and injury)
Artis v. Ottenberg’s Bakers, Inc., 45 Va. App. 72, 608 S.E.2d 512 (2005) (appellate review gives deference to Commission’s factual findings if supported by credible evidence)