47 When Are Falls Compensable in Alabama?

Mike Barratt

For injuries to be compensable under Article 3, the injury must be caused by an accident that “arises out of” and occurs “in the course of” the employee’s employment. Although these terms are of great importance when deciding whether a claim is compensable, the Alabama state legislature did not provide definitions for the terms. Without a clear definition, the Courts have been forced to interpret these terms and apply them to cases.

When a fall occurs during employment, there is often no dispute that the employee’s accident occurred “in the course of” his or her employment or within the period of employment at a place where the employee would reasonably be and while the employee was reasonably fulfilling employment duties or engaged in doing something incident to it. Rather, the issue presented is whether the employee’s accident arose out of his or her employment, i.e., whether there was “a causal relationship between the injury and the employment.” Dunlop Tire & Rubber Co. v. Pettus, 623 So.2d 313, 314 (Ala.Civ.App.1993). Simply put, suffering a fall while at work does not automatically create a compensable injury.

What has been revealed by the application of the arising out of requirement by Alabama courts is the distinction between accidents that are somewhat attributable to an employment (their job) contribution and those attributable solely to what is called idiopathic factors. This term refers to an employee’s preexisting physical weakness or disease that is peculiar to the individual employee. Ex Parte Patterson, 561 So.2d 236. Thus, a fall may, under the appropriate circumstances, properly be deemed an accident arising out of employment... in contrast, a fall may, under circumstances showing an idiopathic factor, not be an accident arising out of employment. Ex Parte Patton, 77 So.3d 591.

In Walmart v. Morgan, a cashier was walking to her register when she fell and broke her wrist. The Court put emphasis on the arising out of element of compensability and concluded it because the cashier did not know what had caused her to lose her balance and had admitted the workplace probably had nothing to do with the accident in which she was injured, no substantial evidence supported the proposition that the cashier’s injury arose out of her employment. The complete unknown reason for the fall as well as the acknowledging that her employment played no role in the injury failed to establish that the injury arose from the employment. Therefore, the claim was denied compensability as an unexplained fall.

Unexplained falls, as in the Walmart opinion, emphasize the need for a causal connection between the accident and the employment. However, the Courts have found a difference between a truly unexplained fall and one where the circumstantial evidence implies a workrelated cause for the fall.

Examples of somewhat similar situations have occurred when an employee falls or trips on something uncertain. In Crown Textile v. Dial, the employee testified that he “tripped over something” on the floor of the room and fell, breaking his hip. The trial court found the evidence to support the employee’s claim that the accident arose out of and in the course of his employment as it was established through testimony that the employee was required to walk back and forth on a floor littered with debris. The Courts have also found

this to be the case when the employee works on uneven ground, in dark areas, or when they are required to run, balance, or perform awkward physical tasks as a requirement of their employment.

When a fall occurs at work and there hasn’t been an increase in the risk of a fall or injury, then the fall may not be found to be compensable. The two most common examples are the idiopathic and unexplained falls. Idiopathic has been defined in the medical community as arising spontaneously or from an obscure or unknown cause. However, the Courts in Ex Parte Patterson explained this term differently as relating to an employee’s preexisting physical weakness or disease peculiar to the individual. If an employee is standing on a level surface and suffers a fall from a seizure, illness, or viral condition, then these falls will be considered idiopathic. These types of injuries should not be found to be compensable without the employment contributing to the fall.

Since the employee bears the burden of proving a definite causal connection between the accident and the employment, an unexplained fall does not generally arise out of the employment. To be clear, an employee is not required to know specifically what he/she tripped over, but it is more associated where there does not appear to be any clear reason for the fall and the employee’s statement or testimony does not properly explain the cause of the fall concerning the employment.

While these examples give some guidelines when addressing employee falls, the application still must take place on a case-by-case basis. The most valuable information is the initial statement received from the employee or witness providing detail as to how and why the fall occurred. This is the best time for the questions to be asked regarding what, if anything, caused the fall or if there was anything relating to the employment that attributed to the fall or injury.

Michael (Mike) Barratt graduated from the University of North Alabama in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science. He received his Juris Doctorate degree from Mississippi College School of Law in 2004. Mike has focused his practice on Alabama Workers’ Compensation cases, representing employers, insurance carriers, and third-party administrators in all aspects of workers’ compensation.

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