Rakestraw v. General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc

I respectfully dissent from the majority’s holding that a claimant who alleges that he has suffered a work-related injury because of the aggravation of his symptoms “must prove that the injury is medically distinguishable from a preexisting nonwork-related condition . . . .” Ante at 222 (emphasis added). The majority’s holding reads into the statute a new test that the text of the statute does not require.1

The question whether an aggravation of symptoms constitutes a work-related injury is a difficult determination. The Worker’s Disability Compensation Act (wdca) is a remedial statute that…