Claim of Zobel v. Chemung County

Summary

The New York Appellate Division affirmed a Workers’ Compensation Board decision awarding benefits to a correction officer who tore the medial meniscus in his right knee while turning to enter an elevator at work. The court held that substantial evidence supported the Board’s finding that the injury was a compensable workplace accident rather than an idiopathic injury.

Holdings

1. The Workers’ Compensation Board properly determined that claimant’s torn medial meniscus resulted from a workplace accident and was compensable under the Workers’ Compensation Law.
2. The employer failed to establish that claimant’s knee injury was idiopathic or unrelated to employment; the evidence supported finding that the twisting movement while entering the workplace elevator caused the injury.

Questions Presented

1. Whether substantial evidence supported the Workers’ Compensation Board’s finding that claimant sustained a compensable work-related accident.
2. Whether claimant’s knee injury was idiopathic and unrelated to the risks or duties of his employment.

Disposition

affirmed